Lara Croft's online conversation with treasure
hunter Stephen Taylor,
October 14th, 2005
Hello, Lara. Safely arrived in Cairo?
Hello, Stephen. I'm fine, thanks. What did you find out at Paris?
Well, the history of Nubia is an incomplete picture. While
the earlier rulers, the kings of Kush, had used Egyptian hieroglyphics, the
kingdom of Meroe developed a new script and began to write in the Meroitic
language, that has yet to be fully deciphered. It all began around
300 BC when Arqamani, the king of Kush, was accused of blasphemy by the priests
of the goddess of blood (her name is not mentioned, probably a taboo). They
demanded the king should be sacrificed to the goddess. Instead, Arqamani
decided to have the priests sacrificed for wrong interpretation.
Sounds like a smart ruler to me.
Indeed, but the fragmentary Egyptian scriptures at the museum tell me
about a terrible revenge of the goddess, whatever it was like. The surviving
people abandoned the royal city Napata, yet for centuries it was a custom
in Nubia that every Meroitic king was buried at the deserted city, thus he
returned after his death - like a symbolic sacrifice. They also
built a new temple to Apedemak, the lion-headed god of victory. 23
AD, when the Romans ruled over Egypt, an army under commander Publius Petronius
went southwards to Nubia. Rarely enough, the legion returned empty handed
and reported the land was "not warranting colonization", although it is known
they reached Napata and saw its decaying, but untouched riches and plenties.
We can only speculate what forced the army of Rome to retreat, it surely
wasn't the poor army of Kushites who had provoked them by small scale attacks
on Egyptian towns. This part of the country remained quiet and
deserted. 1906, there suddenly was a report about an earthquake.
Yes, I found a rather poetic account here in the archives at Cairo
today. "The earth trembled, as if the ground cracked open. The jackals howled
across the land, peasants whispered in fear of the apocalypse" etc. etc.
I guess they're still hiding LOL.
Stephen... be serious. Did you know quite a lot of people were reported
missing in the area afterwards? I thought at first, many unfortunates got
killed by landslides, but even more people disappeared in the years after
the earthquake! Strange. You have told me when we met in London that there
were also two British expeditions to Nubia after the earthquake?
Yes, and I found out more details. 1914, the first British expedition disappeared
in Nubia. They had planned to explore the area around the former Royal
City, nobody knows how far they got. After the war, it took a while before
somebody remembered the oddities in that area. 1932, the second expedition
went into the country, this time via Suakin at the east coast, instead
of taking the old route up the river Nile. It was a mixed bag of not very
professional archaeologists, 4 Brits, 2 Italians and 2 Swedes, hoping for
quick success in an area that had not been of great interest to historians
yet. Honestly, it was no surprise that they failed miserably, as they went
straight into the Nubian desert without knowing the landmarks! Fortunately,
they had a film camera with them, and some footage survived. I discovered
it in a silent movie collection at Berlin.
Amazing job! I see you travelled a lot for me.
Well, you promised me 20% of any treasure you find at the temple of the
Blood Goddess, I won't forget to remind you. It's only one roll
of film, though, originally found by a native who discovered the abandoned
camp and picked up some of the crew's valuables to sell at the Omdurman
market. Here are some stills.
First they discovered skeletons, apparently with bite marks. They must be
many centuries old, though. Also there is a black temple at the end of a
narrow valley. You see the entrance in the middle - or guess where it is,
obviously the quality is bad. One of the expedition members got killed, apparently.
But how it happened is not on film, and this is pretty much where it ends,
anyway.
"Al-banat hamra tarja, bijib al-mot..."
I beg your pardon, Lara?
"The red daughter returns to bring death." This is what the natives here
say about the Blood Goddess. "Red Daughter" is a euphemistic term for "the
devil's daughter". They use it obviously because they are scared. Anything
else I need to know about the film?
In the same leather bag with the film roll, by the way, there was the map
which expedition member Svensson carried with him. I emailed it to you a
minute ago, and I have marked the route that the first expedition took with
a red line, the second expedition with a blue line. This is only an estimate,
though, since the first expedition disappeared without a trace, and Svensson's
diary is incomplete.
Thanks for your investigation. There are still a lot of questions,
but I have to see myself if I find any traces.
Which direction are you going to take?
I've obtained a few satellite photos of the area. Almost legally. Wait a
second... now you should have them on your screen.
Yes. I see the 4th cataract of the Nile marked on the first pic.
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Right. On the second pic, an enlargement of that area, you see the ruins
of the old city at the river (1), a square structure which possibly is a
military camp (2), and a dark narrow gorge (3). I suppose this could be the
one that the 1932 expedition captured on film. I can`t see a temple, but
I suppose it is very dark and blends into the rocks. I'm off to take a closer
look therefore, bye for now!
Wait a second, Lara! Are you really sure you want to go there alone?
Sudan has been in a state of civil war for years, and in the mountains,
there are mercenaries who shoot first and ask questions later. You have to
pass by that military camp, if it is one.
It looks deserted though. Nevermind, Stephen, have I been afraid of
bad boys before? I'm quick on the draw myself, they should be afraid of
me instead ;-). (Logs off.)
