September 13, 2007 12:17PM
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Registered: 19 years ago
Posts: 1,953
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In defending the accuracy of Herodotus description of the GP, Anthony has made much of the inscription found on Manekaure's pyramid in 1968. He referred to it, I believe, as "an original inscription remaining on the casing stones . . . ." Whatever it is, however, it is certainly not original and does not date to the 4th Dynasty. Zahi Hawass's website states at one point: "at the pyramid's entrance, there is an inscription [that] records that Menkaure died on the twenty-third day of the fourth month of the summer and that he built the pyramid. It is thought that this inscription dates to the reign of Khaemwas, son of Ramsses II. At anothre point, Hawass states, "At the pyramid's entrance there is an inscription thought to be dated to Dynasty XXVI. It records that Menkaure died on the twenty-third day of the fourth month of the summer and that he built the pyramid. It is also thought that this inscription dates to the reign of the New Kingdom restorer, Khaemuas, son of Ramesses the Great." So the inscription is quite late in any case,and it appears to relate, not to the original burial of the king, but to his reburial. This is plausibly suggested by JD Degreef who writes on another site: "Maybe it marked the king's reburial, since a Late Period sarcophagus with Menkaure's name was found by VYSE in the large chamber after the portcullises room (object now in the British Museum)."
So the verdict must be, in my opinion, that (1) Herodotus might have seen an inscription; (2) the inscription might have been translated for him --
into Greek -- by Egyptian priests whose grasp of hieroglypics (whether of the OK or the NK) might have been shaky, and whose Greek may have been suspect as well; and (3) that the original in the process of transmission got severely garbled. AQnyone wo has played the party game "translation" knows what I mean by this, and knows how easily the original message can be reduced to something completely incomprehensible. A couple of false cognates and the game is both afoot and flat-footed.
I read Herodotus with great interest -- and great skepticism
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Jon_B |
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MJ Thomas |
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Anthony |
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Hermione |
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MJ Thomas |
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Anthony |
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Anthony |
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Anthony |
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fmetrol |
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Hermione |
September 14, 2007 08:22AM |
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MJ Thomas |
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Hermione |
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Anthony |
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Hermione |
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Anthony |
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Hermione |
September 05, 2007 01:59PM |
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fmetrol |
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Hermione |
September 05, 2007 09:46AM |
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Anthony |
September 05, 2007 10:06AM |
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Hermione |
September 05, 2007 10:33AM |
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Ritva Kurittu |
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Lee |
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Anthony |
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Hermione |
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Hermione |
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Anthony |
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Lee |
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Anthony |
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Anthony |
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Hermione |
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