10 Recently Deciphered Ancient Writings

The ancients recorded their knowledge on scrolls, artifacts, and even cave walls. In some cases, the passage of time has erases our ability to understand a disused alphabet. In other cases, knowledge is purposely encrypted in complex codes understood by only a select (and long dead) few.

There are many such ancient writings, pictographs, and ciphers that still defy understanding. Whenever one is cracked, it almost always yields exciting new information. Here are 10 decoded books, paintings, scrolls, and artifacts that allow us an unprecedented glimpse into the secret societies, lost libraries, beliefs, and rituals of Antiquity.

10 Egyptian Book Of Spells

The Voynich Manuscript... Gerry Kennedy, Rob Chu... Best Price: $5.91 Buy New $2.99 (as of 12:20 UTC - Details) In 2014, after decades to trying, researchers finally deciphered an Egyptian codex, and they were amazed to discover that it was a spell caster’s handbook. The beautifully illustrated pages contain spells for Egyptians who wanted love, success in business, a cure from black jaundice, or to perform an exorcism. Depending on one’s mood, there are options to use a spell to either make peace with an enemy or to crush him.

The 1,300-year-old parchment references Jesus as well as an unknown godlike figure called “Bakthiotha.” Some invocations are even linked to an extinct religious movement, the Sethians, who in this codex, refer to Seth (third son of Adam and Eve) as “the living Christ.” It might sound like the Egyptians were religiously confused during this period, but researchers believe that the document marks the transition of a society moving from other belief systems to Orthodox Christianity.

Whoever owned and used the book remains a mystery. Nobody knows where it originally comes from, either. The “Handbook of Ritual Power” (as the researchers are calling it) did leave a clue, though. The Coptic writing style points to Upper Egypt, perhaps even the ancient city of Hermopolis.

9 The Ein Gedi Scroll

Spells for Eternity: T... Taylor, John H. Best Price: $21.85 Buy New $129.85 (as of 04:30 UTC - Details) Ein Gedi is a desert oasis located on the western shore of the Dead Sea. Its rich history includes nearly 5,000 years of off-and-on human occupation. Perhaps best known as the hideout of David when he fled from King Saul, Ein Gedi was also the site of a Byzantine Jewish village. At some point, the entire village burned down, including its mosaic-floored synagogue. In 1970, archaeologists unearthed a badly scorched scroll at the site where Ein Gedi’s synagogue used to be. Fire damage made it impossible to open, let alone read.

Almost 50 years later, modern technology did the unimaginable; it allowed the 1,500-year-old scroll to be read without unrolling it. Scientists scanned the parchment with specialized software that opened the scroll virtually. They were stunned when the process revealed legible writing, which nobody had truly expected. What they found were the opening verses of the Book of Leviticus. Now recognized as the oldest biblical text since the Dead Sea Scrolls, the Ein Gedi scroll is also the first Torah scroll to be unearthed in a synagogue during archaeological excavations.

8 The Real Shakespeare

Maps of the Ancient Se... Charles H. Hapgood Best Price: $11.99 Buy New $16.39 (as of 06:40 UTC - Details) A 400-year-old book about botany could be holding an extraordinary treasure—a portrait of William Shakespeare. It’s the only portrait known to have been created during the playwright’s lifetime. Since it was done during his living days, researchers believe that it shows what he really looked like—handsome, aged 33, and soon to pen Hamlet.

The now rare book, The Herball, came to the attention of historian Mark Griffith (also a botanist) when he was busy studying author John Gerard’s life. Griffith became convinced that four faces depicted on the title page weren’t merely decorative but rather were long-lost portraits of actual people. Griffith deciphered surrounding imagery connected to heraldry and emblematic flowers before their real identities emerged, namely the author of the book, another prominent botanist, and Queen Elizabeth’s lord treasurer.

Finding Shakespeare among them knocked Griffith’s socks off. What apparently identifies Shakespeare is the fact that he’s holding a fritillary and an ear of sweetcorn, both references to his works. Griffith also recognized an Elizabethan cipher beneath the Bard, which gave credibility to the discovery.

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