Why Write This?

The Mt. Ebal Curse Tablet

Preface I

[Post two of thirty-two]

For one, this story enthralls me.

While it is set in this galaxy, even this planet, the adventure starts a long, long time ago. It is far before Caesar, Hannibal, or Alexander. Imagine three hundred years before Phillip of Macedonia’s legendary son and his horse, Bucephalus. There, you find the mysterious Greek sage, Homer, spinning his supernatural-laced tales of half a millennium before his time. Still, our saga begins a century, if not three, before those storied events. That is before Achilles’ epic feats, the Battle of Troy, and Odysseus’ journey home.

Note

This is the second post of my memorandum about the Mt. Ebal Curse Tablet.

If you have accessed this post from other than captivatingtwists.com and wish to start the journey from the beginning, click here.

Otherwise, proceed below.

Alexander and Bucephalus, Battle of Issus, 333 B.C.

Plus, it is a story about writing by people considered unable to do so. By that, I mean unable to write in a way that you or I would find understandable. That is, without extensive training in things like hieroglyphics or cuneiform. No, you can read this after only a short lesson in the alphabet and vocabulary. You can imagine it almost as a news feed on your phone.

Well, I have to walk that back a bit. We would have to account for the boustrophedon track. Some ambiguity that adds to the message without blurring its gist. I will explain this later.

Still, this is about us reading the thoughts of someone thirty-five hundred years ago.

But it goes beyond that. The inscription seems to detail events and personages we know. These, many believed, were the stuff of mythology. They are Moses, Joshua, and the Hebrews of the Conquest.

Further, this involves a fascinating epigraphic puzzle with challenging questions like:

• Are marks on the tablet coincidental glyphs or human-inscribed symbols?;
• Do the symbols constitute writing?;
• Could they be phonetic letters?;
• To what people, time, and language do they belong?;
• In what sequence should they be read?;
• Do the letters coalesce into words?;
• If so, in what sequence should they be interpreted?; and
• What is the message?

The solution to this puzzle rivals those of the Seven Bridges of Königsberg, the Enigma Machine, and the Navajo Code Talkers.

Yet, beyond my interest, there is another, more compelling reason for my writing.

It is this: A tragedy impends. Of such, I needed to alert and offer aid to avoid.

Beginning in my next post, I will explain this further.

Now, a question: What would you like to learn from a news feed from thirty-five hundred years ago? Let me know in your comments.

Thank you for engaging with this topic thus far!

In our next post, we address “Why the Fuss?”

I look forward to continuing with you there.

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Next post: “Why the Fuss?“