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or you can get all of History Daily plus other fantastic history podcasts at into History.com. It's around 392 CE in Northern Egypt. A laborer lifts a hammer high above his head and brings it down against a stone wall.

The wooden handle hums as the hammer crunches into the stone, but the laborer ignores the discomfort and raises his arms for another sway.

He's getting paid to bring down an old temple

and the thought of a few coins in his pocket

spurs him on to hit the sturdy wall over and over.

Four centuries ago, the last Pharaoh was deposed and Egypt was

assimilated into the Roman Empire. Recently, Christianity has taken root in Rome and the Emperor has issued a decree closing all non-Christian temples

and shrines.

That includes this one that the worker is demolishing, which has been used to worship the old

gods for hundreds of years.

After the laborer's next swing, a crack opens in the middle of the wall.

He concentrates his efforts on that area,

and before long, the wall collapses.

The laborer waves away the dust that rises from the rubble,

and as the air clears, a dark stone catches his eye.

It's over three and half feet long and over two feet across.

There's something carved into it, an inscription including letters and small pictures.

But the laborer has no idea what it says. It's in a long forgotten script that no one uses anymore.

After examining the old engraving for a moment, the laborer pulls the heavy dark stone to one side.

...