The Luxopolis Codex, Page 17 Commentary and Translation by Guglielmo Baldarini
The Luxopolis Codex is one of our most valuable insights into the history of the ancient kingdom
of Naptesh.
Many lesser scholars have frittered away their lives debating its contents; they have grown hoary
with age picking over its every detail, seeking to imagine some new implication – how many nights
did they eschew wine and song for such pursuits? Here, I shall finally resolve one of its greatest mysteries.
I present here the definitive translation of the famous Verses of Amet-Ptuk.
According to the learned Professor Schiffer, these texts are merely “a ghoulish tale for children”. Others
have supposed they represent a historical record of the punishment for tomb robbers. My translation
shows both views to be incorrect. I write it below – square brackets indicate supplements or corrections
to the damaged papyrus.
1 THE LAST LIVING PRINCES PREPARE THEIR FOREVER
PALACES IN THE IMMORTAL CITY.
2 IN THEIR OWN HOMES THEIR ANCESTOR’S SERVANTS
WAIT UPON THEM.
3 IN THE IMMORTAL CITY THEIR ANCESTOR’S [ARMIES]
SLEEP, WRAPPED IN BANDAGES,
4 WALLED UP AWAITING THE [ARRIVAL OF THEIR MASTERS], BLADEARMED,
SHIELD-BOUND.
5 STORES OF WEAPONS BUT [NO FOOD. . . THEY CAN]
CUT BUT NOT EAT.
6 SIR HEZEK OF [A LATE NAPTAAN SPLINTER]
[ENTERED] THAT GREAT CITY.
7
HE TOOK THREE GUARDS AND
[ . . . PORTERS.] WE NEEDED GOLD FOR TRADE.
8 ONE TOMB WAS OPENED. DUST ISSUED [FORTH].
HEZEK ENTERED.
9 HEZEK’S FAMILY NOW COUNTS ITSELF FATHERLESS.
A PORTER RETURNED.
10 THE TOMB HAD GUARDS, UNBREATHING, DUST-FLECKED, DEADLY.
As anyone of the meanest intelligence can see, the most valuable information contained in these
verses is not the robber’s fate, but rather the guards — cursed with undeath as the legends of the
old kingdom say, and sealed inside their masters’ tombs! A journey to the
ruins of Luxopolis is all
that is required for proof that I am correct. I dispatched my assistant Beppe on a south-bound ship
to investigate such a possibility, but he has not yet returned. No doubt the lazy boy has absconded
with the money I gave him...
