Searching for Lost Civilizations: The Buried Secrets of Ancient Egypt

Author: Su Mengwei
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2006-05-01
Features: When people think of the ancient land of Egypt, the first thing that comes to mind is its mysterious ancient civilization, which has left behind too much imagination and wonder. For 5,000 years, from 3100 BC to 50 AD, ancient Egyptian civilization was one of the most brilliant civilizations in human history. An American Egyptologist, Lionel Casson, once said: A thousand years before the Minoans built their palaces on Crete, and several hundred years before the Israelites followed Moses out of slavery, ancient Egypt was already a great power. When the tribal peoples of the Italian peninsula were still living in huts by the Tiber River, ancient Egypt was already prosperous. Two thousand years ago, the ancient Greeks and Romans looked at ancient Egypt, and it was already somewhat like modern people mourning the ruins of ancient Greece and Rome. From that time on, the magnificent pyramids stood on both banks of the Nile, overlooking the entire world. Long after the civilization of ancient Egypt had disappeared, Greek scholars were still sighing in regret while discussing its decline, and Roman rulers were still shocked by the obelisks of ancient Egypt and transported them to Rome's squares to be placed. Although the ancient civilization of Egypt is far away from us now, it has left behind too much mystery for later generations: the pyramids, the mummies, the obelisks, so many temples, and so many inscriptions written in ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs that we cannot understand today. All of this has made later generations think again and again: what does it mean? What is it saying? Why were such large pyramids built? What meaning were they trying to convey? This has created a very strong attraction for later generations, and this attraction did not start in modern times; it has been going on since ancient times. For example, the ancient Greeks were already very interested in Egypt in the Greek period. Herodotus wrote long passages about Egyptian history in his history, leaving behind much material that can be used for reference for later generations. Whether it is credible or not, at least it tells us that the ancient Egyptian civilization is worth exploring for later generations. In addition to these ancients, it is hard to imagine that Napoleon had a mysterious connection with the hieroglyphs of ancient Egypt. That is, when he led his army to fight the British and reached Egypt, his soldiers dug trenches in the area of Rosetta and discovered a stele, which was later named the Rosetta Stone. The Rosetta Stone is valuable because it has three types of writing on it: the top is ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs. Similar discoveries were made in ancient Egypt, such as ancient Egyptian murals and carvings, all of which are witnesses to the ancient civilization. The charm of ancient Egypt lies in its relentless demonstration of its own culture, from the pyramids of Giza, the Amun Temple of Karnak, and the tombs of the Valley of the Kings to the temple of Ramesses II at Abu Simbel, these distant buildings are still stubbornly showing their existence and the meaning of their continued existence to humanity and nature. Although the history of ancient Egypt has ended, we can still explore this brilliant civilization through the artifacts and texts left behind by the ancient Egyptians.