"What did you say? Constantinople!" Pierce, who was standing next to him, suddenly stood up excitedly.
As a European who deals with antiques and ancient history all day long, it's normal for Pierce to have some special feelings towards the only country in history that has united the Mediterranean coast and has had a huge impact on modern Europe.
So, the treasure is right by my side!
Seeing Pierce's excited reaction, Leonard Ethan showed a bewildered expression. Then, with a slow tone, he broke some bad news for Pierce from a certain perspective.
"Yes, the meaning of this word is indeed Constantinople. But the problem is that this vocabulary is written in Ottoman Turkish." Leonard Ethan said, gently tapping the characters on the bottom of the pot.
Ottoman Turkish is a member of the Turkic language family, which is actually Turkish spelled in Arabic alphabet.
At the time of the Kemal Reforms in the early 20th century, this alphabet was considered an old-fashioned symbol and was abolished. It was replaced by modern Turkish, which is based on the Latin alphabet.
"And don't forget, Constantinople is a name foreigners call that city, while they often refer to it as New Rome themselves." Leonard Ethan said, raising his head to look at Pierce. "This is what we were taught in college."
"Then, could this thing be a relic left by Turkic merchants during the Eastern Roman Empire era?" Pierce thought for a moment and put forth his own speculation.
As a devotee of Rome, it isn't a happy thing for him to find a cultural relic related to both the Ottoman Empire and Constantinople. So, he quickly suggested an alternative possibility.
"It is possible because in ancient times, merchants from the entire old world had the habit of writing or engraving the names of places they visited on something they carried with them."
Leonard Ethan considered Pierce's speculation to be a possibility. But the truth won't be revealed until the entire pot bottom is cleaned.
To avoid destroying possible traces, the two people cleaned the pot's bottom very slowly.
Finally, more than an hour later, they successfully cleaned the pot bottom, which had accumulated centuries of ashes and revealed more than a dozen Ottoman Turkish words engraved on the bottom.
"What's this say?" Pierce looked at the ancient script, which resembled Arabic writing and was somewhat confused. "I only understand the Arabic numeral 62."
"The top line is the place names. It can be seen from the handwriting that these place names were written by different people at different times." Leonard Ethan pointed to the top line of text and translated them one by one.
"Constantinople, Belgorod City, Aleppo, Ridanian, Cairo, Rhode Island, Mohachic, Vienna."
"What about the line below that?" As an archaeology student at the university, these place names were already enough for Pierce to associate with many things. However, his curious spirit wanted to take a final shot. "The line with the Arabic numeral 62."
"Kmat, Solak, 62nd Regiment." Ethan Leonard translated the text that could prove the pot's identity. "This pot belonged to the Ottoman Turkish New Army, and it is very likely the important emblem of the regiment - the Kazan."
The so-called Kazan is a huge copper pot that was treasured by every soldier of the New Military Forces. Apart from serving as cookware, it played a role similar to the Eagle flag of the ancient Roman Empire.
In the early days, the Turkish New Army had 196 regiments, each with a pot for cooking porridge used as military rations for the whole regiment.
Of course, this regiment and modern regiments are not the same. In the early days, a regiment of the New Army had only about 30 people, and it wasn't until the late Ottoman Empire that a regiment would expand to a bloated size of hundreds of people.
According to records, this pot is considered a reflection of the camaraderie among Turkish New Army soldiers and is a social center, as well as an irreplaceable mascot.
While marching, the pot will be carefully transported by chefs, and every soldier and officer who passes it will solemnly stand to show respect. In times of triumph, they will also parade with the pot.
If the battle is intense, this pot can boost morale like a horn, and in the chaos of the battlefield, soldiers will also seek shelter with their comrades using the Kazan as a rallying point.
Even if the New Army staged a coup, they would rush into the kitchen while cooking and overturn the pot as a symbol, similar to the Chinese custom of breaking cups as a signal.
If the pot is lost in battle, it would be regarded as a great shame for the team. The unit would be deprived of the right to participate in various triumphant ceremonies.
"So, this thing might be a treasure." After hearing Leonard Ethan saying that this pot is the symbol of the Ottoman Turkish Empire's New Army, Pierce immediately became excited.
After all, as refined as refined is, one must still conduct business.
"Yes, this thing is absolutely a treasure." Leonard Ethan nodded because just after recognizing the pot, a new silver card and three black cards appeared in his mind.
Based on the characteristics of black cards being N cards and bronze cards being R cards, this card should be the SR card he had never seen before.
According to Leonard's previous discoveries, the higher the historical value and the more cherished the object, the higher the card level naturally.
Of course, using the Golden Finger to identify the value is not a suitable reason for informing Pierce. Fortunately, the words at the bottom of the pot clearly indicate the preciousness of the pot.
"You see, the original meaning of Kemat here refers to the crowd, er, it means ordinary New Army soldiers here. Among the 101 regiments of ordinary New Army soldiers, the 60th to the 63rd regiments are elite units, called the Sorak Regiments, usually composed of elite marksmen."
Leonard took his hand away from the text below and pointed to the text above, saying, "As for the information contained in this line of text, it is even more important. If I'm not mistaken, these place names represent the major battlefields they have been through."
"You mean major battlefields?" Pierce suddenly became invigorated at Leonard's suggestion.
"That means this pot followed the Turkish New Army in their first conquest of Constantinople, then marched through the Warragh invasion, exterminated the Egyptian Mamluks, conquered Rhode Island, swallowed Hungary, and finally broke its spear under the walls of Vienna."
"The conquest of Constantinople can be regarded as the real rise of an empire, while the failure at the gates of Vienna marks the turning point of the Ottoman Empire from expansion to defense. The most precious thing about this pot is that it has experienced the entire great expansion era."
As a professional, Pierce quickly read enough information from the text just translated by Leonard after being pointed out in this aspect.
The reason why this pot appears here is very simple, because after the Ottoman Turkish Empire's army was defeated under the walls of Vienna, they abandoned most of their weapons and baggage, and a pot was naturally nothing among them.
Perhaps this pot was picked up by some people near the battlefield, then used as their own pot, and after several changes of hands, it became the cookware for cooking food for the servants in the manor, eventually being discovered by Leonard Ethan.