[Infrastructure] After being mistaken for a god

In the next few months, the entire city of Uruk became a huge construction site in full swing.

All the vacant land in the city has long been requisitioned as workshops or barracks.In addition to the "people's men" recruited from neighboring city-states, even Uruk's farmers and shepherds can be transformed into porters, sawmills, carpenters, rope weavers, and apprentice coppersmiths during the slack season. Or even the average handyman.

Copper ore and tin ore were continuously transported from the upper reaches of the Euphrates, and once they reached Uruk, they were immediately sent to the smelters.There, the ore was picked, smelted, poured into pottery molds, and cast into various tools for city building, such as hammers, axes, shovels, brazing, chisels...

The banks of the Euphrates River are full of clarified clay bricks piled up to dry.The pottery brick kiln spits out black smoke day and night. Every brick fired will be knocked up, down, left, and right by experienced craftsmen. If it is not suitable, it will be crushed directly, and it will be crushed into powder with a stone roller and sent to the To pave the way outside the city.

The same is true for ropes. There are more ruthless supervisors in the rope-weaving workshops. Any hemp rope weaved can be traced to every weaving participant.Any problematic hemp rope may lead to severe punishment. After all, the lives of the city builders may hang on the quality of this tool or rope, and no one has the guts to take it lightly.

The logistics were originally handled by men, but later many women stepped forward and extended a helping hand to the busy men.Warm bread and delicious stew are always delivered to the camp along with beer and water.All material dispatch expenses are recorded and supervised by the temple's Shengchang, and there is no chance of error.

But none of this is surprising.

The most surprising thing is that all the Uruk people are full of motivation, thinking that "this is not what the king wants to do, but what we have to do."

That's what happened to them all after a "town meeting" in Uruk.

The foreign peasants were very uncomfortable. After all, they arrived in Uruk after being severely washed by the "brainwashing bag".

But here they saw various measures taken by the Uruk people to ensure construction safety, witnessed the dismissal of officials on the spot because of ignoring the regulations, and also saw that each construction site worked hard to compete secretly, and must kill the casualties. The number of people is controlled to the lowest minimum.

The "brainwashing bag" has finally gradually faded.

In addition, a group of civilians who have served in Uruk the longest have been notified of the "return home plan".

These folk husbands who have been away for a long time have been given the opportunity to "go home and have a look". They can choose to return to their hometown permanently, or they can come back after returning to their hometown.As a result, most people chose to return to their hometowns before returning to Uruk, and some even expressed that they wanted to drag their families and bring all their families with them, and settle down in Uruk——

They did have this opportunity, because the king of Uruk had already announced that the city had been built for three years and had never made any mistakes. Foreign civilian husbands would have the opportunity to obtain the status of "free people" in Uruk.

The promulgation of this decree completely shattered the "brainwashing package", making Uruk a desirable destination, and it was impossible to stop it.

The city wall of Uruk was quickly built amidst people's full enthusiasm for work.

In this busy building project, Wang and his friends can be seen every day——

Yes, Inan was dragged by Gilgamesh in this way, and stayed by the king's side.They are like close friends who are closer than brothers, and their daily routines are almost completely synchronized.Except for being often called to "change clothes" by the holy advocates of the temple, Inan hardly ever leaves Gilgamesh.She spends more time with Gilgamesh than even the king's pet, Hakesh the lion.

After all, every time Yinan wanted to slip away, Wang Ti would drag him back and bring him back, and Wang would ask confidently, "Are you talking about loyalty?"

Yi Nan: "I'll tell you, I'll tell you... I'm very loyal."

Why does this king need "loyal friends" so much? ——Inan often fell into deep thought about this.

Soon, the new year finally arrived.On New Year's Day, the city of Uruk will stop work for one day, allowing people who have worked for a whole year to relax and celebrate.

Since the morning of this day, the Uruk people have followed the custom and started their singing and dancing march.People lined up from the Inanna Temple at the highest point in the city, sang and danced, circled the city for a week, and finally returned to the square in front of the Inanna Temple.At that time, the square will be filled with good food and wine, and the happy people will stay there to continue drinking and feasting all night long.

It is said that this is a custom left by the goddess Inanna herself for the Uruk people—she is a god who likes excitement and dislikes sadness, and hopes to see joy.

The song and dance parade on this day is also very unique: because the city wall of Uruk has been built three quarters, the people of Uruk go out from one city gate, march around the city wall, and then enter the city through the next city gate. ...

When they were happily singing and dancing, they suddenly saw a group of merchants dressed in special styles and holding strange-shaped "horses" arriving outside the city gate.

These merchant travelers were all men, most of whom wore tight-fitting straight gowns with extraordinarily gorgeous loincloths around their waists.Most of them bare their upper body, but the weather in Uruk during the New Year is not that warm, so most of these men wear woolen blankets purchased around this area to keep out the cold.

Their "horses" are the most special.At the beginning, the Uruk people thought that these horses were born tall with low necks, and the merchants carried two hills of goods on their backs.

Unexpectedly, when these "tall horses" come close, people can see clearly. It turns out that their necks naturally lean forward, and there are two fleshy "humps" growing on their backs.

Some curious Uruk stopped to watch these strange livestock.The merchants in the caravan didn't care, but let people watch at will.

Fortunately, although it is the New Year, the foreign-related agencies in Uruk City that receive foreign business travelers are still operating as usual.Immediately, some officials came out of the city gate to meet these foreigners, greeted them with clay tablets, and asked, "Guests who have come from afar, do you know where you have been?"

The outlanders obviously spoke a language quite different from the local ones, but luckily they had an interpreter with them, who had the Amorite accent of Sumerian, but was good enough for the officials to hear. understood.

"We have come to Uruk to meet the king of Uruk—"

The interpreter relayed the words of the caravan leader to the officials.The officials exchanged glances, not daring to be negligent.

"Well, welcome, you have come to Uruk—"

The leader of the caravan pointed curiously at the majestic city wall built with clay bricks in front of him, and asked a question.After the interpreter translated, the officials realized that the person in front of them was asking: "Is this a temple dedicated to some god?"

The head of the caravan pointed to the city wall that was beyond sight, with a look of awe on his face.

The city wall is made of clay bricks with a khaki-yellow surface.The city wall is about four or five people high, and the side facing the outside of the city has been polished extremely smooth.

This city wall, if it were a complete temple, it is, is too magnificent.

The officials laughed and shook their heads to explain: "No, this is not a temple dedicated to the gods—this is the residence of people! You see, so many of us live in this city."

When he spoke, he pointed out, and the members of the caravan saw crowds of Uruk people, men and women, of all ages, all blushing and singing, and entering the city through a city gate. up.

The head of the caravan who came from afar just listened to the interpreter's message at this time, and was surprised for a moment before showing understanding: "It turns out that this is Uruk."

—It is indeed different from where they came from.

The officials of Uruk immediately showed a hospitable attitude and warmly welcomed the group into the city: "After entering the city, there are three hotels of different grades to choose from, and your livestock can be handed over to the hotel to be fostered by a special pasture. After you stay , merchants from Uruk will also come to the hotel to visit you... By the way, where are you from?"

"We're from . . . Memphis."

The guests from afar spoke in extremely blunt Sumerian language.

"Memphis?"

As soon as Inan heard about this, she immediately jumped up from where she was, which surprised Gilgamesh who was lazily resting beside her.

Memphis was once the capital of Egypt—and Inan is well aware of that.

She doesn't study the history of ancient Egypt, so she doesn't even know whether it is the first dynasty or the second dynasty, but—the caravan from Memphis arrived in Uruk, which means that the ancient Egyptian civilization and Mesopota Mia civilization, these two civilizations have finally intersected today, at this moment.

Gilgamesh was not interested in this. "Caravans... It's good to have officials to receive them. They want to see the king, so does the king have to see them?" He still sat lazily on the soft wool cushion, putting half of his body weight on it. On the low table under the right arm.

Yi Nan pinched him and said, "Haven't you heard? The Memphis caravan was brought by the guides and interpreters of the Amorites. The Amorites have always supplied various important building materials to Uruk, but now Memphis and The Amorites hooked up..."

Compared with the Mesopotamia, Egypt has the advantage that Upper Egypt itself can produce abundant stone materials.But Egypt has always needed natural wood from Syria, cedar, fir... This kind of hardwood happens to be the most abundant resource in the territory of the Amorites.

The businessmen who came all the way from Memphis may be future partners or potential competitors.If everyone wants to get a share of the resources of the Amorites, then this group of merchants may also have come to Uruk to find out the truth.

"King, do you remember that you rejected the marriage request of the Amorites?" Inan pushed Gilgamesh, "If the Amorites do not do business with the Sumerians in the future, but only trade with the caravans of Memphis, think about it. what should you do?"

Gilgamesh sat up abruptly, and said with a solemn voice, "...that doesn't make the king betray his appearance."

Inan was speechless, and only after he felt familiar with this guy did he realize that Gilgamesh was actually a guy who could say anything.

"Duo, since you are interested, the king condescends to meet the businessman from Memphis."

Yinan rolled his eyes and said, "Let the officials think of a way to trip up that Amorite interpreter and block it from outside, so that only the merchants from Memphis can come in."

"Then what if you can't understand what the businessmen are saying?"

"I have my own way!"

There is no way Yi Nan can do it, she is just relying on her ability to understand and translate all languages ​​so she is confident.

No matter how clever Gilgamesh was, he never imagined that Inan was a genius who was a "interpreter".But since his friend said so, he must have his reasons—Gilgamesh had no doubts, and really followed Inan's arrangement.

The merchants from Memphis had an audience with the king of Uruk, and the place of the audience was arranged at the Temple of Inanna, the highest point in the city.While the merchants were struggling to climb the famous long staircase, the interpreter from Amori was quietly detained by the officials.

When the Egyptian businessmen struggled to reach the temple steps, the first thing they saw was a majestic lion, lying on the temple steps at the moment, propped up, staring at the panting lion who had just arrived. Merchants in front of the stage.

The merchants who were panting for breath were all frightened back—even if the lion was raised by humans...it was not tied to a lion rope.

But the more they were like this, the more vigorous the male lion was, and he stood up with his limbs propped up, and the mane on his neck seemed to stand up one after another.The ferocious beast is eager to try, and it seems that it can rush forward at any time and tear the "prey" in front of it into pieces.

At this time, a man's reprimand came from the temple: "Hakesh—"

The lion immediately calmed down, looked at the merchants again, turned around, and lay down again, wagging its tail at the people bored, and then fell asleep again.

This "near danger" made the merchants sweat all over their heads, and their hearts jumped out of their throats-this is probably the legendary combination of grace and power?In short, after this, no one in the caravan dared to despise the king of Uruk any more.

The king of Uruk is sitting in the highest temple in the city.Needless to say, the king's appearance is majestic, but the king seems to be sitting in the palace casually, and the Egyptian merchants can feel the pressure doubled when he glances at him——

It seems that Wang can see through their intentions at a glance.

And next to Wang sat cross-legged a thin and beautiful young man, with a pair of clear and big eyes curiously looking at these business travelers from afar.

The Egyptian businessmen hurriedly saluted, and when they opened their mouths, they realized that their interpreter was missing.

How do people communicate with this?Did you use gestures?

"Dear King of Uruk, we are Egyptian merchants from Memphis, here to pass on the friendship from Pharaoh Sened to you. Pharaoh Sened wishes the king to enjoy prosperity and the city of Uruk to remain glorious forever."

The Egyptian merchants did not expect Gilgamesh to understand these long words, because they had communicated with the interpreter earlier and knew the Sumerian language and their language, from pronunciation to sentence structure. The composition is completely different, and there is not even a one-to-one correspondence.

Sometimes it is difficult for interpreters to express their meaning accurately. Businessmen need assistance with facial expressions and body language to be understood.

Therefore, at this moment, the leading businessman tried his best to show respect and piety, for fear that the eyes of the king on the seat would be too sharp, and he would directly see through their intentions.

Unexpectedly, the beautiful boy next to the throne turned his head and said something to the king.The caravan leader could barely recognize a word or two, thinking it was the language of the Sumerians.

Could it be that this young man can understand their language?

The king of Uruk nodded after hearing this, and turned his head to say something to the young man. After hearing this, the beautiful boy immediately turned his head and looked at the merchants.

These merchants from Memphis immediately heard the Memphis accent, and said to them: "Welcome to Uruk, thank you for the greeting from Pharaoh Senid, and please also convey to him the greetings of King Gilgamesh. "

The answer was concise and decent, but did not include the long string of "King of Kings, King of Kings" that Amori's interpreter often talked about-it seems that this king is not like As arrogant and arrogant as rumored.

Of course, what shocked them even more was the "interpreter", a beautiful young man with a beautiful face and long, soft black hair, who spoke in an accent they were familiar with.The head of the caravan looked at it for a long time and came to a conclusion: that boy must be an Egyptian just like them.

Before they recovered from the shock, the king of Uruk spoke again. The boy only needed to turn his head to translate what Gilgamesh said into the local dialect of Memphis: "Well, I dare to ask everyone who came from afar, Why exactly?"

Gilgamesh went straight to the point: Since the other party did not meet with his peers as soon as they entered the city like ordinary caravans, but chose to come to meet the king of Uruk, then Gilgamesh did not intend to be polite, and asked directly: Hello, What are you doing!

The leader of the caravan bowed his head to pay tribute to Gilgamesh, and he didn't dare to go around any more, and finally told his story.

"We came to Uruk to present a wonderful book to the king."

"Strange book?"

Yi Nan was so curious. It was the first time she heard someone say the word "book" in ancient times.

After all, the world is still waiting for the ancient civilizations in the East to invent papermaking. Although Uruk has begun to build a "library", the collection is huge, one piece after another.

Gilgamesh was sitting next to Inan, and when he saw his friend like this, he knew that it was Inan himself who was really curious.He coughed loudly twice, at first he wanted to whet his friend's appetite again, but finally asked casually: "What kind of wonderful book, please submit it."

The head of the caravan respectfully bowed down, solemnly took out a small box from his arms, raised his hands, and handed it to Yinan who was the "interpreter".

Even though Inan wanted to open the box to have a look, she was concerned about Gilgamesh's authority, and she couldn't do this kind of "go ahead".

Unexpectedly, Gilgamesh seemed to have seen through her thoughts, and said, "Since you are an interpreter, you should open it first and see what is in this box for the king."

Inan nodded, accepted Gilgamesh's kindness, and opened the box carefully.

"Papyrus②?!"

Yi Nan couldn't help but make a sound in surprise.

This sentence was actually her own emotion, and she didn't say it to anyone, but the same sentence fell into the ears of Gilgamesh and the Egyptian merchants, and they were two completely different voices. One was describing strange things in Sumerian, and the other felt that she was using Memphis dialect, screaming and breaking their proud treasure-papyrus.

Papyrus is a plant that grows on the banks of the Nile River. Using the plant fiber of the papyrus stem, it can be pressed into a kind of "paper" covered with plant texture. The papyrus is dipped in charcoal ash and other pigments You can draw on this paper.

When the Egyptian merchants heard Yi Nan sip the texture of the strange book in the broken box, they looked at each other and became more certain, thinking that Yi Nan must be one of their own.

Yi Nan carefully took out the papyrus roll from the box as if he were dealing with ancient cultural relics, and slowly unfolded it. He saw that there were not many hieroglyphs used in the "book" drawn on the papyrus roll. , the vast majority are various scenes expressed in paintings.

She only looked at one or two pictures, and immediately lost her voice again in surprise: "This is... the Book of the Dead!"

The leader of the Egyptian merchants had a very ugly face, and it took him a long time to hold back a question: "You...how did you know?"

Papyrus is currently the monopoly of the Egyptian royal family. If it hadn't been sent by the royal family, their caravan would have absolutely no chance of getting the "Book of the Dead" drawn on papyrus scrolls—but this boy immediately took this kind of The content that only members of the royal family can witness was uttered in one breath.

Could it be that the little prince who failed in the royal struggle fled to Uruk?And became a popular person beside the king of Uruk?

This……

Gilgamesh tilted his head, looked at Yi Nan, and asked casually, "The Book of the Dead... What is this? What is it about?"

"The Book of the Dead is..."

Yi Nan quickly read the papyrus scroll sent by the caravan from beginning to end—for fear that she would say more than what was drawn on the papyrus scroll in front of her.

"...after death, a person will go through God's judgment. If he is judged by the "God of Justice", he is an upright and kind person, and he has not committed any evil during his lifetime, he can board a solar ship and gain eternal life , and live as good a life in the next life as in this one.”

She pointed to Gilgamesh's most famous scene from the group of papyrus scrolls: "This is the judgment of the dead by the 'God of Justice'—the heart of the dead will be placed on scales, and if the scales hold Balance, the dead can pass the trial and gain eternal life; but if one end of the heart is heavy, it means that the dead is a person who has committed many evils, and his heart will be thrown to the monster next to him to eat, so that the dead will not be able to gain eternal life..."

Gilgamesh, who had never heard of this, frowned and asked, "Weighing the heart? Immortality?"

The pictures on the papyrus scroll in front of me are very good, the scales, the heart, and the monsters beside the heart are all lifelike.

But Gilgamesh seemed to have a hard time accepting this view of life and death. He asked strangely, "Will you be able to gain eternal life if you successfully pass the trial?"

Inan translated the king's question to the caravan people, and the head of the caravan immediately greeted Gilgamesh very respectfully: "It is true. As long as you can pass the trial before the 'God of Justice', you can continue to live in a beautiful afterlife." happy life."

"But as long as he carries such a 'Book of the Undead' with a balance balance drawn on it, the king can be sure that after death, he will definitely pass the trial of the 'God of Justice' and go to the afterlife."

Yi Nan has indeed heard of this. Later generations of archaeological excavations, ranging from Egyptian pharaohs to dignitaries, will put this "Book of the Dead" in the tomb. Of course, the heart of the deceased will be placed on a balance balance—— — After all, they have power and wealth, and hope that through such a method, they can bless them to pass the customs smoothly.

From this perspective, the "Book of the Dead" can be regarded as a cheating weapon prepared by the Egyptian dignitaries for their smooth eternal life.

The head of the caravan raised his head at this moment, looked at Gilgamesh, and said very respectfully: "And we heard that the king of Uruk needs this very much."

Inan and Gilgamesh at the same time: What do you mean by that? !