Tommi Huhtamaki Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> > Herodotus witnessed them reading the writing
> on
> > the wall of the pyramid. The Egyptians of
> this
> > time could easily read hieroglyphic. Which
> one
> > was lying? Where's your proof?
>
>
> Who exactly were these Egyptians reading the
> hieroglyphics to Herodotus? Where's your proof?
>
Herodotus explains the differences between priests and commoners.
Quote
They are religious excessively beyond all other men, and with regard to this they have customs as follows:--they drink from cups of bronze and rinse them out every day, and not some only do this but all: they wear garments of linen always newly washed, and this they make a special point of practice: they circumcise themselves for the sake of cleanliness, preferring to be clean rather than comely. The priests shave themselves all over their body every other day, so that no lice or any other foul thing may come to be upon them when they minister to the gods; and the priests wear garments of linen only and sandals of papyrus, and any other garment they may not take nor other sandals; these wash themselves in cold water twice in the day and twice again in the night; and other religious services they perform (one may almost say) of infinite number. Book II, 37
It is apparently quite obvious when one is being addressed by a priest, as opposed to a deceptive tour guide. In addition, access to the sacred sites was probably not quite the same as we see it today. This was not a tourist trap.
And, to be sure, he says the information was given to him by a priest:
Quote
"Thus the priests of the Egyptians told me..." Herodotus, Book II, 120
He continues his narration uninterrupted after this identification of who was telling him the facts he relates.
There is no logical reason to assume he was wrong in his identification of the men translating the inscriptions, as there is no evidence to support such a conjecture.
Anthony
You can lead a horse to water but you can't make him think.
