Egypt announces new archaeological discovery in Alexandria

[Imperial Dave]

https://dailynewsegypt.com/2021/01/30/new-archaeological-discovery-in-alexandria/

really could be out of a film...

[Jim Webster]

https://dailynewsegypt.com/2021/01/30/new-archaeological-discovery-in-alexandria/

really could be out of a film...

I just want them to discover a mummy which has been stuffed with the complete works of Gnaeus Pompeius Trogus 

[Erpingham]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-55902631

Doesn't add much but does have a nice picture of one of the gold tongues.

[Nick Harbud]

Presumably a gold tongue is even better than a silver one for pulling the wool over people's eyes? 

[Erpingham]

Presumably a gold tongue is even better than a silver one for pulling the wool over people's eyes? 

More an insurance policy.  You needed a tongue to answer for yourself if you were going to get into the afterlife.  Fleshly tongues decay, gold ones don't, so you wouldn't get caught out.

[Justin Swanton]

Presumably a gold tongue is even better than a silver one for pulling the wool over people's eyes? 

More an insurance policy.  You needed a tongue to answer for yourself if you were going to get into the afterlife.  Fleshly tongues decay, gold ones don't, so you wouldn't get caught out.

What did they have to answer for exactly?

[Erpingham]

Presumably a gold tongue is even better than a silver one for pulling the wool over people's eyes? 

More an insurance policy.  You needed a tongue to answer for yourself if you were going to get into the afterlife.  Fleshly tongues decay, gold ones don't, so you wouldn't get caught out.

What did they have to answer for exactly?

You have to recite the Negative Confession in the Hall of the Maati.

https://www.ancient.eu/The_Negative_Confession/

"The Negative Confession (also known as The Declaration of Innocence) is a list of 42 sins which the soul of the deceased can honestly say it has never committed when it stands in judgment in the afterlife. "

The exact versions of the Negative Confession vary a bit through time.

You also have to make an address to the gods of the Tuat, including this declaration

"Grant ye that I may come before you, for I have not committed sin, I have done no act of deceit, I have done no evil thing, and I have not borne [false] witness; therefore let nothing [evil] be done to me. I have lived upon truth, I have fed upon truth, I have performed the ordinances of men, and the things which gratify the gods. I have propitiated the god by doing his will, I have given bread to the hungry man, and water to him that was athirst, and apparel to the naked man, and a ferry-boat to him that had no boat. I have made propitiatory offerings and given cakes to the gods, and the "things which appear at the word" to the Spirits."

[Imperial Dave]

Presumably a gold tongue is even better than a silver one for pulling the wool over people's eyes? 

metaphorically speaking of course

[Justin Swanton]

You have to recite the Negative Confession in the Hall of the Maati.

https://www.ancient.eu/The_Negative_Confession/

"The Negative Confession (also known as The Declaration of Innocence) is a list of 42 sins which the soul of the deceased can honestly say it has never committed when it stands in judgment in the afterlife. "

Interesting. Reminds me of the 10 Commandments with some refinements.

[Erpingham]

You have to recite the Negative Confession in the Hall of the Maati.

https://www.ancient.eu/The_Negative_Confession/

"The Negative Confession (also known as The Declaration of Innocence) is a list of 42 sins which the soul of the deceased can honestly say it has never committed when it stands in judgment in the afterlife. "

Interesting. Reminds me of the 10 Commandments with some refinements.

There are also quite similar Mesopotamian texts.  You might also compare Matthew 25 (the parable of the sheep and the goats) e.g.

34 "Then the King will say to those on his right, 'Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. 35 For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, 36 I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.'

It seems similar moral ideas were swirling around the ancient Middle East for quite a while.  Such things do risk taking us from the true path of military history though

[Justin Swanton]

Such things do risk taking us from the true path of military history though

True. I can imagine the 10 Commandments of a Hannibal being somewhat different.

[Justin Swanton]

Dragging this into SoA relevance, it prompted me to think of the kind of 10 Commandments Hannibal would come up with. This is my effort:

1. I am thy Commander and Lord, Hannibal the Illustrious. Thou shalt heed my every word, else the afterlife thou desirest shalt immediately be thine.
2. Thou shalt despise the Romans as a cowardly and degenerate people, easy prey for the noble arms of Carthage.
3. Thou shalt fight like the Romans and use their weapons and tactics.
4. Thou shalt kill every Roman thou clappest eyes upon.
5. Thou shalt not kill any Ally, but shalt embrace him as a brother and send him on his way.
6. Thou shalt pillage the lands of Romans and Allies alike, to show thou art boss.
7. Thou shalt kill every Roman thou clappest eyes upon.
8. If the field be in thy favour and the Romans will not fight thee, thou shalt call them by their true names: cowards and sons of mangy dogs, to provoke them to battle.
9. If the field be not in thy favour, thou shalt not fight the Romans, though they name thee cowards and sons of mangy dogs.
10. Thou shalt kill every Roman thou clappest eyes upon.

[Nick Harbud]

Presumably a gold tongue is even better than a silver one for pulling the wool over people's eyes? 

More an insurance policy.  You needed a tongue to answer for yourself if you were going to get into the afterlife.  Fleshly tongues decay, gold ones don't, so you wouldn't get caught out.

Things are so much easier when all one has to do is get one's mother to open the pearly gates.....

[Mark G]

Justin,

I think you doubled up and missed a couple.

Never press your advantage to achieve strategic victory

Always hang around waiting for a surrender when the chance presents itself

Always assume your enemy thinks like you do