Golden ‘Etruscan’ Orphic Book – Six Golden Pages Of The Oldest Book In History Of Mankind
A. Sutherland – MessageToEagle.com – More than sixty years ago, a very unique discovery was accidentally made in the Valley of Struma River, the greatest river in western Bulgaria, during road construction works.
A small book was found in an old tomb covered with frescoes. It is the world’s oldest book in the history of mankind, made of gold and dated to 600 BC.
The illustrated six golden pages are made of 23.82-karat gold (measuring 5 centimeters in length and 4.5 centimeters in width) and fastened together with gold rings. The pages are covered with text and decorated with images of warriors, a horseman, a Siren, and a lyre.
The authenticity of the book was confirmed by two independent experts from Bulgaria and England.
According to researchers from the National Museum of History in Sofia, Bulgaria, the six sheets are believed to be the oldest comprehensive work involving multiple pages. As the expert said, “there are about 30 similar pages known in the world, but they are not linked together in a book”.
This precious work was written in Etruscan language that belonged to the Etruscans, one of Europe’s most mysterious ancient peoples, who are believed to have migrated from Lydia, in modern western Turkey, settling in northern and central Italy nearly 3,000 years ago.
They were wiped out by the conquering Romans in the fourth century BC, leaving few written records.
The real problem with deciphering Etruscan language lies in understanding the exact meanings of the words and grammatical forms. The Etruscan language itself has been already deciphered, but most Etruscan texts remain totally obscure.
Apparently, the mysterious language cannot be related to any other known language, living or dead.
Etruscan language had regrettably lapsed into oblivion, and today no one can read this over 2,5 thousand years old book. However, the unique artifact can be seen at the National Museum of History in Sofia, Bulgaria where it was placed on public display.
The world’s oldest printed book was produced in China in 868 AD.
The artifact was discovered along with other printed manuscripts, in a walled-up cave in Dunhuang (means “blazing beacon”), located in Jiuquan of Northwest China’s Gansu province in 1907.
The place, which is probably the most famous and largest of the Buddhist cave temple complexes in the world, is renowned for numerous caves decorated with beautiful frescoes.
The cave complex at Dunhuang forms one of the world’s largest repositories of Buddhist art with 45,000 square meters of paintings preserved in the 492 remaining caves.
It was discovered by the Hungarian born archaeologist and explorer Sir Marc Aurel Stein (1862-1943), during his second expedition in 1907. Sir Stein reached “The Caves of the Thousand Buddhas” at Dunhuang and there he met a Taoist priest and abbot of the ancient caves, who was the discoverer of the Dunhuang manuscripts.
See also:
Tages: Etruscan Prophet Who Revealed Sacred Knowledge Before He Vanished
The Name Vatican And Etruscan Goddess Vatika Of The Underworld – What Is The Connection?
Hungarian-born Marc Aurel Stein, a British archaeologist, and explorer reached Dunhuang in 1907 and bought several cases loaded with paintings, embroideries and other artifacts.
He was also able to purchase seven thousand complete manuscripts written in Chinese, Sanskrit, Sogdian, Tibetan, Runic Turki and Uighur. Among these manuscripts, there were some of the world’s oldest surviving Buddhist paintings and the book is known as “Diamond Sutra” from 863 AD.
“Diamond Sutra” is in the form of a scroll of seven strips of grey paper printed with Chinese characters and joined together around a wooden pole. The first sheet of the book, which is cut with great skill, is decorated with an illustration.
The scroll, which is about 17 and a half feet long and 10 and a half inches wide, has the following inscription:
“reverently made for universal free distribution by Wang Jie on behalf of his parents on the fifteenth of the fourth moon of the ninth year of Xian Long (May 11, 868)”.
The book teaches the practice of the avoidance of extremes of mental attachment. The reader gets help to overcome human prejudices and limited perception of reality.
First version of this article was originally published on May 28, 2015
Written by A. Sutherland – MessageToEagle.com Senior Staff Writer
Copyright © MessageToEagle.com All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed in whole or part without the express written permission of MessageToEagle.com
