Some questions about history, I hope you can help me answer them.

1. The pyramids in Egypt were built 4,500 years ago, and were the tombs of the pharaohs (kings) and queens in ancient Egypt. The mausoleum is a square-cone building made of huge stones. Because it looks like the Chinese character "gold", it is translated as "pyramid".

Herodotus, known as the "father of western historiography", once recorded that the stones used to build pyramid of khufu were mined from the "Arabian Mountain" (probably Sinai Peninsula). However, we now know that most of the stones are mined locally, and the limestone used to decorate their surfaces is shipped from Tula mining area in Hedong. It was not easy to mine stones at that time, because people had no explosives and no steel. At that time, Egyptians used copper or bronze chisels to punch holes in rocks, then inserted them into wooden wedges and filled them with water. When the wedge was expanded by water, the rock cracked. This method may seem clumsy today, but it was a great technology more than 4000 years ago. It is also extremely difficult to transport from the quarry to the ruins of the pyramids. The ancient Egyptians put stones on sledges, which were pulled by people and livestock. Therefore, a wide and flat road is needed. It took 10 years to build the road for transporting stones and the catacombs of the pyramids. When building pyramid of khufu, Khufu forced all Egyptians to work for him. They are divided into large groups of 654.38+10,000 people to work, and each large group has to work for three months. There are slaves among these workers, but there are also many ordinary farmers and craftsmen. With the help of animal power and rolling timber, slaves in ancient Egypt transported huge stones to construction sites. They piled the sand in Zhou Tianran No.4 construction site into a slope and pulled the huge stones to the pyramids along the slope. In this way, a layer of slopes and stones are piled up, and the pyramid is gradually increased. It took 20 years to build pyramid of khufu.

For thousands of years, there has been a beautiful and touching legend about "Hanging Garden". The new king of Babylon, Nebuchadnezzar II (605-562 BC), married the princess of the Medes. The princess was beautiful and won the king's favor. But as time went on, the princess became very sad. Nebuchadnezzar doesn't know why. The princess said, "my hometown is full of green mountains and green waters, and birds are singing and flowers are fragrant." And here is the endless plain of Babylon, and even a hill can't be found. How I long to see the mountains and winding paths in our hometown again! " So the princess is homesick. Therefore, Nebuchadnezzar II ordered craftsmen to build a cascade garden in his palace according to the scenery of Mount Mitis, which was full of exotic flowers and herbs, and opened a quiet mountain path in the garden, with flowing water beside the path. The craftsmen also built a tower in the middle of the garden, which stood in the air. The exquisite garden scenery finally won the favor of the princess. Because the garden is higher than the palace wall, it feels that the whole imperial garden is hanging in the air, so it is called "hanging garden" and "hanging garden". Those who went to Babylon to worship, do business or travel in those days could see the golden roof shining in the sun from a distance. Therefore, by the 2nd century AD, Greek scholars listed the "Hanging Garden" as one of the "Seven Wonders of the World" when evaluating famous buildings and sculptures around the world. Since then, the "Hanging Garden" has become more famous.

Regrettably, the "Hanging Garden", like other famous buildings of Babylonian civilization, has long been lost in the rolling yellow sand. We can only understand the "hanging garden" through historical records of later generations and modern archaeological excavations.

However, there are also some records that although the "hanging garden" is mentioned, people think that the legendary "hanging garden" was not built by Nebuchadnezzar II, but was specially built by a Syrian king to please his beloved princess. Some records even think that the legendary "Hanging Garden" actually refers to the royal garden built by Assyrian King sinatra Herib in Nineveh, his capital.

It was not until the end of 19 that German archaeologists excavated the ruins of Babylon. When they excavated Nangong Garden, they excavated an unusual, semi-underground and almost rectangular building in the northeast corner, with an area of about 1.260 square meters. This building consists of two rows of log cabins, each row is only 6.6 square meters on average. There is a corridor between the two rows of cottages, which is symmetrically arranged and surrounded by tall and generous walls. A well with three sinks, one square and two ovals, was found in a hut in the west row. According to the analysis of archaeologists, these huts may be the original water rooms, and those tanks were used to install the pressurized water machine. Therefore, archaeologists believe that this place is probably the site of the legendary "Hanging Garden". At that time, the Babylonians paved the solid vaults of these huts with mud, raised them layer by layer, and planted flowers and trees. As for irrigation water, it is continuously supplied by the pressurized water machine in the underground cabin. Archaeologists have proved through textual research that the principle of using pressurized water machine at that time was basically the same as the chain pump we use now. It ties several buckets to a chain belt and connects them with a wheel placed on the wall. When the wheel rotates once, the bucket will rotate with it, completing the whole process of lifting and pouring water, and then the water will flow into the garden through the sink for irrigation. This kind of pressurized water machine is still widely used in the two river basins. In addition, archaeologists did find a lot of traces of planting flowers and trees in the site. However, so far, no exact documents have been found in the clay tablets of Babylonian cuneiform characters. Therefore, whether the archaeologist's explanation is correct needs further study. In short, the true face of the legendary "hanging garden" is still hidden in the fog of history. (Chen Xiaohong Mao Rui) (from Lost Civilization: Babylon, East China Normal University Press)

The most magical part of the hanging garden is the water supply system. Because there is not much rain in Babylon, and the ruins of the hanging garden are thought to be far away from the Euphrates River, the researchers believe that there should be many water conveyance facilities in the hanging garden, as shown in the figure. The slaves kept pushing the handle with gears to transport the groundwater to the storage tank on the top floor and then return to the ground through the artificial river. Another problem is maintenance, because it is impossible for ordinary buildings to resist the erosion of the river for many years without falling down. Because there are not many stones in Mesopotamia, researchers think that the bricks used in hanging gardens are different. They added reeds, asphalt and tiles, and there are even documents that the stone was covered with lead to prevent the river from infiltrating into the foundation.

3. Simu Wuding is a bronze Fang Ding used for royal sacrifice in China in the late Shang Dynasty (about16th century BC to1th century BC). It was unearthed in the farmland of a family in Wuguan Village, Anyang City, Henan Province on March 1939. It was named after the word "Si Mu Wu" written on its abdomen. Simuwu Ding is tall and heavy, also known as Simuwu Dafang Ding, with a height of 133 cm, a mouth length of 1 10 cm, a mouth width of 79 cm and a weight of 832.84kg.. It has a rectangular abdomen, two straight ears (only one ear was found, and the other ear was later copied and supplemented by the other ear), and there are four cylindrical ding below. This tripod was cast by Zu Geng or Zujia of Shang Dynasty as a sacrifice to his mother.

The handle of Simu Wuding is also beautifully decorated. The two dragons and tigers opened their huge mouths and contained a head, which later evolved into an auspicious pattern of "playing with pearls in a dragon". It is generally believed that this kind of art shows the deterrent power of nature and God. Now some people speculate that the man is a virgin who presides over divination. He put his head into the dragon's mouth on his own initiative in order to show off his courage and magic and make people submit to his orders. It is entirely possible that the Virgin appeared with two beasts, and such patterns can often be seen in bronzes and Oracle Bone Inscriptions.

This tripod is huge, vigorous and powerful, with the word "Simuwu" cast on its abdomen; This was cast by Zu Geng or Zujia of Shang Dynasty to offer sacrifices to his mother. The tripod body and tripod feet of Simu tripod are integrally cast, and the tripod ears are cast after the tripod body is cast. To cast such a tall bronze ware, the required metal material should be above 1000 kg, and there should be a larger melting furnace. According to the determination, the content of copper in Smerdy is 84.77% and lead 1 1.64%, which is basically consistent with the ratio of copper and tin recorded in ancient literature. Simu Wuding fully demonstrated the production scale and technical level of bronze casting industry in Shang Dynasty.