Why Write This?

The Mt. Ebal Curse Tablet

Preface I

[Post two of thirty-three]

For one, this story enthralls me.

While the setting is in this galaxy, even on this planet, the adventure starts a long, long time ago. It is far before Caesar and Hannibal. Imagine three hundred years before Alexander and Bucephalus. There you find the mysterious Homer. He spins 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.

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. Without extensive training in things like hieroglyphics or cuneiform, that is. No, you can read this after only a quick lesson in the alphabet and vocabulary. You can imagine it almost like 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. Many believed that these 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?
• What people, time, and language do they belong to?
• What sequence should we read them in?
• Do the letters coalesce into words?
• If so, in what sequence should we interpret them? and
• What is the message?

The solution to this puzzle rivals other famous puzzles. Consider the Seven Bridges of Königsberg, the Enigma Machine, and the Navajo Code Talkers.

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

It is this: A tragedy impends. I needed to warn and suggest how to avoid it.

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.

Next post: “Why the Fuss?”

To view the memorandum from the beginning, click here.

For the composite footnotes, click here.