"So, you're saying that buried here is a great warrior and a navigator?" the Tribal King asked curiously after Liang En gave a brief introduction.
Although he had studied in the Western world for a long time and obtained a degree, he still didn't know much about such obscure topics, so he had to ask Liang En, the expert.
But then again, knowledge about ancient Phoenicians is indeed quite rare, regardless of whether one is in a Western school or out in the African wilderness.
"Yes, according to the epitaph, he killed an elephant with a spear. Although he sacrificed his life in the process, such an act can be considered heroic," Liang En said, pointing to the inscription on the stone.
"Indeed, he was a warrior." After hearing this, the Tribal King and several nearby chiefs all nodded solemnly in agreement. To them, challenging a lion alone was already the limit of their capabilities; facing an elephant was beyond imagination.
"By the way, you mentioned earlier that he was a navigator. What do you mean by that?" After paying his respects to this ancient warrior, the Tribal King asked Liang En, "Since you say he's famous, he must have left some record in history, right?"
"Of course, the expedition he was part of did indeed leave its mark in history," Liang En replied with a smile. "They were the first expedition to circumnavigate Africa in recorded history."
According to current legends and records, during the 26th Dynasty of ancient Egypt, Pharaoh Necho II, seeking to expand overseas, ordered a voyage along the African coast.
From the time he ascended the throne, this Pharaoh continued his father Psamtik I's policy of promoting trade. With his support, Phoenician sailors completed the first circumnavigation of Africa.
The background of this voyage was that, under the Pharaoh's leadership, Egypt completed the Nile-Red Sea Canal. However, fearing potential changes in water levels and enemy invasions, the project was later abandoned.
There is no historical record explaining why Necho II decided to send a fleet on a voyage around Africa, but it is certain that he dispatched this fleet almost immediately after abandoning the canal project.
Some believe it might have been related to the political situation at the time. As the threat from the East grew stronger, they had to take every possible measure to confront it.
At that time, Nebuchadnezzar II, the King of Babylon, was waging war, and every Egyptian knew that this war would soon reach their homeland.
Unfortunately, the overall situation became increasingly desperate for the Egyptians. In 609 BC, the very year Necho II ascended the throne, he fought the Kingdom of Judah and killed King Josiah in the Battle of Megiddo.
But this was not the beginning of a series of great victories, merely the last rays of a dying sun. In 605 BC, Necho II attempted to support the declining Assyrian Empire by sending troops to Mesopotamia.
He was defeated by Nebuchadnezzar II in the Battle of Carchemish and was forced to abandon his territories in Syria and Palestine. The Assyrian Empire finally fell.
In 601 BC, Necho II repelled an invasion by Nebuchadnezzar II at Egypt's borders, but this only temporarily halted the enemy's advance. The entire country remained in peril.
More importantly, after losing the Near East, one of Egypt's two key regions, Egypt was left without its greatest buffer against Eastern threats and lost a crucial source of wealth and military power. This marked the beginning of the nation's decline.
It certainly seemed dire, but compared to other nations, it might not have been so bad. For example, the famous Kingdom of Judah was utterly destroyed in this wave of invasions.
Nebuchadnezzar II, the King of the Neo-Babylonian Empire, captured Jerusalem twice in 597 BC and 586 BC, bringing an end to the Kingdom of Judah.
He ordered that all the nobles, priests, merchants, and craftsmen among the Jews be taken as captives and marched in droves to Babylon, leaving only the poorest behind in Jerusalem to tend vineyards and farm the land.
These Jews remained in Babylon for decades until the rise of the Persian Empire. Cyrus the Great eventually allowed them to return to Jerusalem, an event known in Jewish history as the "Babylonian Captivity."
In such perilous times, Necho II persisted in his overseas expeditions. Such a grand undertaking was already an incredible feat for the nation.
For Necho II, living in an era of despair, his country was surrounded by enemies on all sides. Every action he took was aimed at saving his nation, protecting his people from the threat of Babylon.
Thus, he joined forces with Tyre, which was also under Babylonian attack, to embark on this daring mission, hoping to find more resources and markets to compensate for the loss of the eastern territories.
Unfortunately, there are very few records of their voyage. The only source of information comes from some descriptions by the Greek historian Herodotus, but even he lived over a century after the voyage took place.
However, through these precious records, some important details of the voyage can still be discerned, such as the route of the fleet and what they experienced.
According to the records, the Phoenician fleet spent their first year in familiar territory. They sailed along the Red Sea and passed through Punt, a country that frequently traded with Egypt, where they spent the first year.
After restocking their supplies, they left Punt far behind, and only then did the fleet enter an unknown world.
Here, they may have seen a whale for the first time in their lives. They crossed the equator and repeatedly landed in the African jungle, building homes and planting crops.
One thing that can be confirmed is that during this voyage, the crew discovered that the sun in the sky moved in the opposite direction from what they were used to.
Interestingly, Herodotus did not believe this. In his writings, he stated, "These returning sailors spoke of some nonsensical things that I do not believe."
"Though others may accept this rumor, they claimed that while sailing along the western coast at the southern tip of Libya, the sun appeared to the north of them, which is simply impossible."
This was the most enlightened view of the time because other writers did not believe in this voyage at all, so naturally, there were no records of it.
Ironically, the very things that were doubted became significant evidence that the Phoenicians had indeed circumnavigated Africa. Today, in large parts of southern Africa, the sun does indeed appear in the northern sky.
The Phoenicians were the first, apart from the local indigenous people, to witness this phenomenon and prove that they had indeed navigated along the coastline of a vast continent.
Liang En had now discovered a tomb belonging to one of the captains of this expedition, a relic that testified to humanity's first circumnavigation of Africa, making it a highly valuable historical artifact.
Thank you for reading this far! You can access more chapters from HERE by joining my Patreon community. You'll gain exclusive early access to the COMPLETE NOVEL.
As a member of my Patreon community, here is what you'll get:
- Early access to the COMPLETE NOVEL.
- You also get access to all the novels I'm translating, you can find them here HERE.
- You Get Ad-free Chapters.
- Plus, you can Cancel your membership at any time.
