A French Egyptologist has uncovered seven secret messages hidden on Paris's Luxor Obelisk, revealing ancient Egyptian secrets that have remained undiscovered for hundreds of years.
Dr Jean-Guillaume Olette-Pelletier from Paris's Sorbonne University made the remarkable discovery whilst granted special access to the monument during renovations ahead of the 2024 Paris Olympics.
The 3,000-year-old granite structure, located in Place de la Concorde, has stood in the French capital since 1836.
The obelisk is one of a pair originally created under Egyptian Pharaoh Ramses II around 1250 BC, carved from red granite.
While one remains at Egypt's Luxor Temple, the other was transported to Paris aboard a custom-built ship in the early 1830s.
Both feature hieroglyphic text carved in sunken relief on all four sides.
Dr Jean-Guillaume Olette-Pelletier (pictured) made the remarkable discovery whilst granted special access to the monument
JEAN-GUILLAUME OLETTE-PELLETIER
Until now, experts believed they had fully deciphered these ancient inscriptions following translations by French Egyptologist Francois Chabas in the 19th century.
But Dr Olette-Pelletier's analysis revealed hidden "crypto-hieroglyphs" never before discerned by modern scholars.
One secret message contains the cryptic phrase "Appease the ka-force of Amun" referring to the ancient Egyptian god of the air.
"This phrase is there to remind us that men must constantly make offerings to the divinities in order to appease their sometimes destructive vital force," Dr Olette-Pelletier said.
Another message on the obelisk represents "a true propaganda message of Ramses' absolute sovereignty".
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The 3,000-year-old granite structure, located in Place de la Concorde, has stood in the French capital since 1836
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During Covid lockdowns, Dr Olette-Pelletier became the first specialist to access the top of the Paris obelisk since its installation in 1836.
He was authorised to use scaffolding erected for pre-Olympic renovations, allowing him to take measurements and analyse artistic patterns over several days.
The Egyptologist is one of only six people worldwide able to read "crypto-hieroglyphs" - secret texts inserted into hieroglyphic inscriptions visible only to a select elite.
"I understood that the obelisk contained multiple hieroglyphic cryptography," Dr Olette-Pelletier told French magazine Sciences et Avenir.
The west face of the obelisk was originally designed to be seen only by nobles arriving by boats on the Nile.
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The obelisk is one of a pair originally created under Egyptian pharaoh Ramses II around 1250 BC - one of which remains at Egypt's Luxor Temple
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Meanwhile, the east face - which originally faced the Sahara desert - contains subtle bull horns inside a headdress worn by Ramses II.
"From a hieroglyphic point of view, the bull horns form the word 'ka', which designates the vital force of the divinity," he explained.
According to Sciences et Avenir, what Dr Olette-Pelletier has discerned was "beyond the grasp of any Egyptologist who knew how to read hieroglyphs".
All seven secret messages discovered on the Paris obelisk will soon be published in the Montpellier Egyptology journal ENIM.
And its twin monument in Egypt is not identical to the Paris obelisk, suggesting it could also contain hidden messages along its slightly taller height.
