Ancient Writings: Difference between revisions
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Revision as of 14:23, 21 April 2006
Summary
The Ancients are a race of humans who have existed for millions of years and were the builders of the Stargates. Through their writings, SG-1 has learned about their race and the technology these advanced humans left behind.
Ancient Language and Writings
Learning the Language
The Ancients used block-like glyphs in their writings. In some of their writings, there are no spaces between the glyphs to break them into concepts, sounds, or words. Their language when spoken sounds similar to Medieval Latin.
The first of the Ancients' writings was discovered on Ernest Littlefield's planet (aka P3X-972 and Heliopolis) in the room which held the Library of the Four Races. Daniel recorded the content of the wall with his video recorder and it is possible that Ernest wrote it down in his journal. Using Daniel's and Ernest's records, the scientists at Area 51 attempted to decipher the universal language displayed by the Library, but their research results have not been mentioned since. (1.11 "The Torment Of Tantalus", 2.14 "Touchstone")
Daniel made very little progress in translating the language because he had not identified the vowel sounds, but that changed when Jack took the first download from the Repository of Knowledge (on P3R-272) and he spoke the language aloud. After hearing it, Daniel made great progress in translating the language which he observed to be similar, but not identical, to Medieval Latin. With Jack's help in translating the inscription from the planet on which he took the download, Daniel identified the name of the race as the "Ancients." (2.16 "The Fifth Race")
The next time SG-1 encountered writings of the Ancients was on the planet P4X-639, where the Ancients had built a time machine. The Ancients failed in traveling far enough in the past to avoid a great catastrophe, assumed now to be a plague, so they gave up and recorded their history and the design of the machine on the walls surrounding the device. An alien archaeologist named Malikai attempted to get the time machine to work so that he could go back at least 12 years, but the machine did not function past generating a time loop of ten hours. If Malikai had possessed the skills to refine his translations of the writings, he would have known that the device did not work properly. Daniel, however, had the knowledge of the language to translate the inscriptions and with Teal'c's and Jack's help in retaining the translation in their minds during the loops, they were successful in translating the entirity of the writings which were equivalent to 400 pages of alien text. (4.06 "Window Of Opportunity")
Jack taught Daniel that the symbols on the Stargate are also sounds when he had the second download from an Ancient Repository of Knowledge (from P3X-439). This helped Daniel translate the words "Praclarush Taonas" into six Stargate address symbols. The point of origin symbol for Earth corresponds to the sound "at." (7.22 "Lost City Part 2")
Translations During Daniel's Absence
The Goa'uld who took billionaire Adrian Conrad as a host (5.11 "Desperate Measures") translated the next Ancient writings. The rogue NID cells which were operating under Col. Harry Maybourne (3.18 "Shades Of Grey") had discovered a tablet written in Ancient. This tablet was thought to lead to a weapons cache. The Conrad symbiote translated the tablet for Col. Frank Simmons, who in turn devised the plan to steal the Prometheus and take it to the coordinates of the planet referred to in the tablet. When they arrived at the coordinates, there was no planet (6.11 "Prometheus"). There could be several reasons for this, one being that the translation was wrong, or it could have been that the address was incomplete if this tablet was leading to the Lost City of the Ancients which was referred to in the tablet Daniel discovered on Abydos (6.22 "Full Circle"), since Atlantis' destination in the Pegasus Galaxy required an eighth symbol (Stargate Atlantis: 1.01 "Rising Part 1").
Harry Maybourne enticed the SGC with the Stargate address of the planet to which he said that Conrad was attempting to reach with the Prometheus. He said that the Ancient weapons were there, hidden behind a door to which only he had the key. He used his possession of the key as a bargaining chip to get a Presidential pardon for treason. SG-1 went to the planet and discovered that the writings were not of the Ancients, but of the Furlings. The technology also was not of Ancient design. SG-1 took Harry back to the planet to use the key and he managed to get through the doorway, but Jack followed. They were transported to the moon of the planet. Harry had used the SGC's desire for Ancient technology to his advantage—it had all been a ruse so that he could find his retirement utopia. (6.15 "Paradise Lost")
Without Daniel's expertise in translating Ancient writings, SG-1 found themselves bringing back Ancient technology which proved to cause problems. One such instance was when they went to P9X-391 and brought back home a device which attracted creatures from another dimension and then gave the people who touched it the ability to see these creatures. The interdimensional device caused some chaos in the public when the charge to alter a person's own electrical field was passed from person-to-person. Jonas used some of Daniel's notes to make a rough translation to determine the device's purpose, but the glyphs on the device were not in the usual Ancient block writing and made translation difficult. Carter and Jonas were never successful at completely understanding the device nor the writings, but managed to successfully reconfigure the device's power crystals through the process of elimination (through placing them in the various positional combinations). (6.13 "Sight Unseen")
Nirrti was at it again in trying to create the perfect host. She was discovered to be using a device of Ancient design on the planet P3X-367 which resequenced the subject's DNA. Her experimentation on the people of the planet resulted in gross mutations and death. Carter recognized the technology to be that of the Ancients, but no writings were translated by the team. The console may have had Ancient writing on it which lead to Carter's conclusion. The DNA resequencer was destroyed by the people of the planet after they killed Nirrti and restored themselves. (6.16 "Metamorphosis")
The Search for the Lost City of the Ancients
The tablet found by Daniel on Abydos was the next major writing of the Ancients discovered. It was written in one of the oldest dialects of the language and told the story of two groups of Ancients: the ones who learned how to ascend to a higher plane of existence, and the ones who did not ascend and died of the plague. This tablet also mentioned a Lost City where powerful weapons were stored. Anyone who found this Lost City would most likely take control of the galaxy with the weapons it was said to contain. The finding of this tablet is what led SG-1 on the quest to find the Lost City of the Ancients, Atlantis. Daniel was an Ascended Being at this time and was removed from Abydos by force when he attempted to kill Anubis with his ascended powers. SG-1 was not witness to Daniel's removal and they thought that maybe he had been destroyed. (6.22 "Full Circle")
Ironically, it was Jonas' incorrect translation of this tablet that led SG-1 to the planet now referred to as Vis Uban where they discovered Daniel after he was returned to human form. Jonas used Daniel's old notes, which had been influenced by the Asgard's language to cross-translate the Ancient language. It is very possible that Jonas was inspired to take this course in his translations by Oma Desala, the Ascended Being who had helped Daniel ascend and then retake human form. It could be argued that Daniel's placement on the planet and Jonas' train of thought were too close to be coincidence, but we are never made quite certain that this is what happened. (5.21 "Meridian", 7.01 "Fallen Part 1", 8.18 "Threads")
Even though Daniel didn't know who he was or have any memories of his life before he appeared on Vis Uban, he was able to translate the tablet with great ease. He insisted that he knew what the tablet said, apparently remembering how to read the language from his "previous lives" (before and during his ascension). What he had told Jonas and Carter when he originally discovered the tablet on Abydos had been accurate—it was "Lost City," not "City of the Lost" per Jonas' translation. SG-1 spent nearly a year attempting to find the Lost City of the Ancients and it wasn't until Jack took the second download from the Repository of Knowledge that they made any more progress in this quest. Daniel's ability to translate the language, both spoken and written, however, was crucial in this search because Jack could only communicate with the Ancients' language after the download and Daniel was the only one who understood. (7.01 "Fallen Part 1", 7.21 "Lost City Part 1", 7.22 "Lost City Part 2")
Daniel's ability to translate the Ancients' language was used to its fullest when he was sent on a mission with Jonas to board Anubis' mothership and hack into the computer systems to help destroy Anubis' superweapon. Anubis used one of the oldest forms of the Ancient language to encode his computer systems and even the Tok'ra were unable to translate it. Daniel and Jonas boarded the ship and gained access to the computers where Daniel successfully called up the ship schematics to determine the location of the ventilation shift used to cool off the superweapon. Jack and Carter used an F-302 to destroy the shaft and the superweapon overheated and exploded when Anubis tried to use it. Unfortunately, Jonas was captured and his mind probed during their mission on Anubis' ship, and this probe gave Anubis information about the SGC's search for the Lost City of the Ancients. Anubis started his own search to find the Lost City and gain access to its weapons which would ensure his galactic domination. (7.01 "Fallen Part 1", 7.02 "Homecoming Part 2")
Because Daniel had been ascended and had access to the Ancients' language and knowledge, Anubis sent Osiris to breach Daniel's subconscious while he slept in an attempt to determine the location of the Lost City of the Ancients. Osiris posed as his host, Sarah Gardner, in Daniel's dreams and introduced a tablet written in Ancient for him to translate. This tablet was supposed to jog his memory of the coordinates of the Lost City, if he ever knew. Because Daniel was not in control of these "dreams," he was not able to translate the tablet. This confused him because he knew how to translate the language and this confusion sparked suspicion that something wasn't right. Sarah's behavior in the dream also was different from the time that they had been lovers. Eventually, Osiris was caught and removed from Sarah, but Daniel's subconscious memories of his time ascended were never brought forth. (7.15 "Chimera")
Daniel's expertise in the Ancients' language was mentioned by other members of the SGC on various occasions. When SG-13 discovered Ancient ruins on the planet P3X-666, the archaeologist on the team said that Daniel would "die" when he saw the writings (7.17 "Heroes Part 1"). After SG-2 found Ancient writings in a colonnade on the planet P3X-439, the recordings of the writings were given to Daniel to translate. He discovered that there was another Repository of Knowledge on the planet. Daniel had to translate and solve a riddle in the writings to unlock the Repository. This is the second Repository of Knowledge from which Jack took the download—this time on purpose. That Repository was destroyed with explosives to prevent Anubis from gaining access to it. Even though they didn't find the Lost City of the Ancients with this download directly, they did find the Antarctic Outpost which had powerful weapons which destroyed Anubis' attacking fleet. (7.21 "Lost City Part 1", 7.22 "Lost City Part 2")
The search for the Lost City of the Ancients came to an end when Daniel researched the Ancient records left at the Antarctic Outpost. Through his knowledge of the Ancients' language, he uncovered the destination of the city-ship Atlantis. The address had eight symbols, indicating the destination was in another galaxy. Based on the address, Daniel determined that Atlantis had been flown to the Pegasus Galaxy. Atlantis slept at the bottom of an ocean on a planet in that far galaxy, waiting for the Ancients or their kind to return from Earth where they had fled to escape the Wraith, the most powerful enemy the Ancients had encountered there. Even though Daniel's expertise was highly valued and considered necessary for a trip to Atlantis, he has yet to set foot there, but not from the lack of trying. (8.12 "Prometheus Unbound", 9.01 "Avalon Part 1"; Stargate Atlantis: 1.01 "Rising Part 1")
Translations, Conspiracies, and Timeships
Daniel's ability to translate Ancient was used against him when members of The Trust kidnapped him and forced him to translate Ancient into Goa'uld while holding a gun to the head of a civilian, Krista James, who was also a friend of Teal'c's and who held the knowledge of Teal'c's innocence in a murder case. Daniel had done everything he could to avoid translating for The Trust, but when Krista's life was threatened, he did the translation. This act would come back to haunt him when he discovered that he had given The Trust the key to unlock the control systems of Osiris' cloaked al'kesh which he left in orbit from his time visiting Daniel in his dreams (7.15 "Chimera"). The ship was used to steal the Stargate from the SGC embarkation room and the Stargate was used to launch rocket-borne symbiote poison to various planets thought to be under Ba'al's rule. Since The Trust's information on these planets was at least six months old, they ended up killing a base full of innocent Rebel Jaffa. (8.07 "Affinity", 8.10 "Endgame")
Daniel was a happy camper when he saw the Ancient writings on Harry Maybourne's planet (the planet the Tok'ra placed him on after his rescue from his paradise utopia which turned into his personal hell in the episode, 6.15 "Paradise Lost"). Although Harry could read the Ancient writings with some degree of accuracy, he admitted that he was not as skilled a translator as Daniel. These writings were left by a time traveling Ancient who had written of future events which Harry used to save the people from catastrophes, such as a flood. The people made him their king and he took the role with great enthusiasm. Daniel's translation of the writings revealed the details of the time machine and the fact that it could be on the planet somewhere near the ruins. SG-1 discovered the timeship and Jack used it to destroy the mothership of the Goa'uld Ares who was returning to take his planet back. This event was foretold in the Ancient writings. The identity of the time traveler or his/her fate was not revealed. (8.13 "It's Good To Be King")
The timeship was used by a future version of SG-1 to go back in time to 3000 B.C. to place a Zero Point Module (ZPM) in a First Dynasty Tomb in Egypt which was discovered by the present SG-1 (thus, the present SG-1 did not have to go back in time!). This ZPM was used to form a stable wormhole to Atlantis so that several Marines and their weapons could help defend the city-ship against a large-scale attack by the Wraith who were seeking Earth for their new "feeding grounds." After the wormhole was shut down, the ZPM was placed on Prometheus' sister-ship, the Daedalus, which was sent to the Pegasus Galaxy to help in the battle. (8.19 "Moebius Part 1", 8.20 "Moebius Part 2", Stargate Atlantis: 1.20 "The Siege Part 2")
Dakara
One of the largest Ancient writings was discovered on the planet Dakara. This planet not only had been home to the Ancients, but also to the Goa'uld. It was the site of where Anubis was said to have first risen from the dead and where the first prim'ta implantation ritual had been performed, thus creating the first Jaffa. The Jaffa held this place as sacred and the Rebel Jaffa determined that if they could take control of the temple on Dakara, they could prove once and for all that the Goa'uld are not gods. The wall containing the Ancient writings included another riddle which Daniel was not there to solve. He had been captured by the human form Replicator Carter and his mind was being probed for his ascended knowledge. Carter and Jacob/Selmak used Daniel's notes to help in their translations and together, they unlocked the access door to the powerful weapon left by the Ancients. This weapon was capable of destroying the Replicators, as well as all life in the galaxy. Jacob/Selmak were successful in calibrating the weapon and the Replicators were destroyed. The Rebel Jaffa destroyed the weapon and have made Dakara the home of the new Free Jaffa Nation. (8.16 "Reckoning Part 1", 8.17 "Reckoning Part 2", 8.18 "Threads")
The control room for the weapon on Dakara held technology of the Ancients from two eras. The stone console which had moving panels with Ancient writing was at the center of the room, while a large blue computer screen with floating Ancient writing provided information about the device. The large blue screen is similar to those which exist on Atlantis. The time period of Atlantis' technology is considered to be between five to ten millions years ago. This coincides to when the device on Dakara was used to reseed life after the plague swept through the galaxy. Currently, it is assumed that the city-ship Atlantis left Antarctica at about the same time the plague killed off many of the Ancients in the Milky Way. (8.17 "Reckoning Part 2", 8.18 "Threads"; Stargate Atlantis: 1.01 "Rising Part 1")
Avalon and the Ancients' Origin
Vala Mal Doran, the thief who tried to steal the Prometheus and sell it for refined weapons grade naquadah, contacted the SGC and asked that she get Daniel's help in locating a treasure written about on a tablet she claimed she stole from a man who told her that the treasure was on Earth. Remembering that Daniel was an archaeologist and historian, she took a chance that he'd understand the Ancient text. The tablet was encrypted, but Vala had the key. Translating the tablet was one thing, but understanding it was another. Daniel translated the tablet using the key and discovered that the man who carved it had been one of the Ancients who returned to Earth from Atlantis in the Pegasus Galaxy 10,000 years ago (his name appeared on the list in the database retrieved by the Atlantis Expedition Team). This man's name was Myrddin, and based off of the description of the treasure, Daniel determined that this Myrddin was the same as Merlin of the King Arthur legends. (8.12 "Prometheus Unbound", 9.01 "Avalon Part 1")
Daniel's investigation into the Arthurian legends led him to believe that the treasure might be located in the depths of the Glastonbury Tor in England. Using the Prometheus' Asgard scanners, they found hidden caverns and used the Prometheus' ring transporter to penetrate the Ancient shielding and to lock onto the ring transporter therein. As soon as their presence was sensed, a sword in the stone and a holographic message from Merlin appeared, challenging them to prove themselves as possessors of "truth of spirit" and "wealth of knowledge" in order to reveal the hidden riches. Teal'c and Cameron Mitchell, the new leader of SG-1, went into one puzzle room while Daniel and Vala went into another. Daniel was able to translate his puzzle clues, written in Ancient, easily, the challenge being about having truth of spirit, or honesty. Mitchell's puzzle was to arrange a set of eight blocks into their order, but he wasn't able to read the clue. After Daniel solved the puzzle in his chamber, he quickly made it to Mitchell's where the ceiling was starting to descend after Mitchell incorrectly arranged the blocks. Through the chamber's stone door, Mitchell described each of the glyphs to Daniel and Daniel translated the first word and concluded the rest of the clue. Mitchell's description of each glyph was quite creative and Daniel's ability to translate them, impressive. ("U" with a square over it. Chair with a little square. Upside-down backwards "L", call that "seven." Squares unevenly stacked. That chair thing again. Big "N" and "sad face.") Mitchell's puzzle clue was "reflect on the eightfold path" which is part of the Buddhist teachings of the Eightfold Path to Enlightenment. The Path to Enlightenment is the ascension to a higher plane of existence. (3.20 "Maternal Instinct", 5.21 "Meridian", 9.02 "Avalon Part 2")
Eventually the makeshift team solved the puzzles and demonstrated courage after Mitchell vanquished the holographic knight which was brought forth after he pulled the sword from the stone. Since the sensors recognized Mitchell as the deserving party, the rest of the team returned to the Prometheus. Mitchell's courage was rewarded with the appearance of the treasure. He called the rest of the team back and they sifted through the gold, jewels, and other precious artifacts. Daniel found a large book, written in Ancient, which told the story of a race of humans called the Altera who had traveled from a galaxy thousands of years away, settled in the Milky Way, and built the network of Stargates. Daniel excitedly read the pages, written as fiction, and determined that the Altera were the Ancients of this galaxy. Additional writings in the book described a communications device designed to connect its users across galaxies. Used in conjunction with the long-range communications stones already on hand at the SGC, the communications device connected Daniel and Vala with a married couple who lived in the Ancients' home galaxy. (8.15 "Citizen Joe", 9.02 "Avalon Part 2")
The Path to Enlightenment
While linked to the married couple, Harrid and Sallis, in the Ancients' original home galaxy, Daniel and Vala discovered that the Ancients had left behind a civilization of advanced humans who also learned to ascend to a higher plane of existence. These Ascended Beings were known as the Ori, and they demanded that the second evolution of humanity in their galaxy worship them as gods. The communications link translated English to Ancient and vice versa so that Daniel and Vala could actively communicate with the humans living in the village of Ver Ager. (9.03 "Origin Part 3")
While in the village, Daniel and Vala attracted attention, and unable to prevent it, Vala was burned as a possessed woman. Miraculously, she was brought back to life by a Prior of the Ori. He claimed that the Ori were the ones who resurrected Vala, and he took Daniel and Vala to the City of the Gods on the Plains of Celestis via a ring transporter. The Prior showed them to a room where there was a large copy of The Book of Origin, written in Ancient and the holy book of the religion called Origin. This book revealed that the Ori promised the Path to Enlightenment, or ascension, to all their believers. Eventually, Daniel discovered that this promise is a lie and that the Ori aim to build up their power in the ascended planes by sapping the life force of their worshippers. Unwittingly, Daniel and Vala had revealed the existence of humanity in the Milky Way Galaxy, and the Ori plan to convert or destroy that humanity. (9.03 "Origin Part 3", 9.10 "The Fourth Horseman Part 1")
Ascension was the goal of Anubis' research in his underground lab on the planet P3X-584. This goal was not for himself, since he had accomplished ascension with the help of Oma Desala, but for his genetically engineered human-Goa'uld hybrid named Khalek. Using an Ancient DNA manipulation device, identical to the one which Nirrti used on the planet P3X-367, Anubis was advancing Khalek's evolution toward ascension with an eight-step treatment in the device. Even though Anubis had been prevented by Oma from doing any further harm, his left-over research proved just as dangerous as he. Khalek was accidently revived from his stasis chamber, and after Daniel read Anubis' research (displayed from the DNA manipulation device and Anubis' research database), he discovered Khalek's true nature. Khalek intended to complete his treatments and ascend, but he was killed by Daniel and Mitchell. Khalek only received five of the eight steps (perhaps a scientific version of the Eightfold Path) and reached 80 percent of his mental development. According to the Ancient research into ascension, wilful ascension requires close to 90 percent mental development. (6.16 "Metamorphosis", 8.18 "Threads", 9.09 "Prototype")
Articles on the Ancients
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This series of articles covers the history, language, writings, knowledge, and technology of the Ancients.
- Ancients: History (Main Article)
- Altera: The Ancients as Advanced Humans in Their Home Galaxy
- The Others: The Ancients After Ascending
- Ancient Language
- Ancient Writings
- Ancient Knowledge and Technology
- Complete Timeline of the Ancients (50 Million Years Ago to Present)
Episodes
- 1.11 "The Torment Of Tantalus"
- 2.14 "Touchstone"
- 2.16 "The Fifth Race"
- 3.18 "Shades Of Grey"
- 4.06 "Window Of Opportunity"
- 5.11 "Desperate Measures"
- 5.21 "Meridian"
- 6.11 "Prometheus"
- 6.13 "Sight Unseen"
- 6.15 "Paradise Lost"
- 6.16 "Metamorphosis"
- 6.22 "Full Circle"
- 7.01 "Fallen Part 1"
- 7.15 "Cimera"
- 7.17 "Heroes Part 1"
- 7.18 "Heroes Part 2"
- 7.21 "Lost City Part 1"
- 7.22 "Lost City Part 2"
- 8.12 "Prometheus Unbound"
- 8.13 "It's Good To Be King"
- 8.15 "Citizen Joe"
- 8.16 "Reckoning Part 1"
- 8.17 "Reckoning Part 2"
- 8.18 "Threads"
- 8.19 "Moebius Part 1"
- 8.20 "Moebius Part 2"
- 9.01 "Avalon Part 1"
- 9.02 "Avalon Part 2"
- 9.03 "Origin Part 3"
- 9.09 "Prototype"
- 9.10 "The Fourth Horseman Part 1"
Related Articles
Characters
- Col./Brig. Gen. Jack O'Neill
- Dr. Daniel Jackson
- Capt./Maj./Lt. Col. Samantha Carter
- Teal'c
- Jonas Quinn
- Lt. Col. Cameron Mitchell
- Anubis
- Ares
- Ba'al
- Jacob Carter/Selmak
- Adrian Conrad
- Sarah Gardner
- Harrid
- Khalek
- Krista James
- Prof. Ernest Littlefield
- Malikai
- Col. Harry Maybourne
- Myrddin
- Nirrti
- Oma Desala
- Osiris
- Replicator Samantha Carter
- Sallis
- Col. Frank Simmons
- Vala Mal Doran
Keywords
- Abydos
- Al'kesh
- Altera
- Ancient Communications Stones
- Ancient Communications Terminal
- Ancient Time Machine
- Ancient Timeship
- Antarctic Outpost
- Ascended Beings
- Asgard
- Atlantis Expedition Team
- Avalon
- Celestis
- Cloning
- Dakara
- Daedalus
- DNA Manipulation Device
- Ernest's planet (P3X-972, later PB2-908)
- F-302
- Free Jaffa Nation
- Goa'uld
- Harry Maybourne's Planet
- Interdimensional Device
- Library of the Four Races
- Lost City of the Ancients
- Marines
- Naquadah
- Ori
- P3R-272
- P3X-367
- P3X-439
- P3X-584
- P3X-666
- P4X-639
- P9X-391
- Praclarush Taonas
- Priors of the Ori
- Prometheus
- Rebel Jaffa
- Replicators
- Repository of Knowledge
- Ring Transporter
- SG-1
- SG-2
- SG-13
- Stargate
- Stargate Command (SGC)
- Symbiote Poison
- Tok'ra
- The Trust
- Ver Ager
- Vis Uban
- Wraith
- Zero Point Module (ZPM)
Other
Further Reading
--DeeKayP 14:42, 16 Apr 2005 (PDT)