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[mortality]

Ethan doesn't seem to have time to do all the research. Maybe providing him the background information (e.g. book subjects; details behind those names) will help him make sense of our findings? Sounded like he didn't just want puzzle solutions, especially since he didn't even realize there was a puzzle.

[noam]

mortality wrote:

Anyone want to send Ethan an email summarizing the background on the books and names? Maybe the 1 is on a website whose name we get when we figure out the solution to these puzzles.

So far, the information we have is that the books pointed to Three Kings who were wise, and now we have three names of Kings, right? I don't know what else we can draw conclusions of other than this.

[mortality]

Anyone want to send Ethan an email summarizing the background on the books and names?

Maybe the 1 is on a website whose name we get when we figure out the solution to these puzzles.

[Sylvia]

[google]Simson line[/google] might help solve this. Maybe.

[zizka]

wkelly42 wrote:

Bottom right corner -- a 3 inside a triangle. Probably related to the 2 with the caret above it in the previous letter. I'm wondering where #1 is ....

I know I promised to go to bed, but 2 got 2 lines (a carat / \ ), 3 got 3 lines (a triangle / _ \ ). No ideas, just observations...

[wkelly42]

Bottom right corner -- a 3 inside a triangle. Probably related to the 2 with the caret above it in the previous letter.

I'm wondering where #1 is ....

[mortality]

Email from Ethan re: "hi nahi"

Quote:

Dear Mort, Sorry I wasn't able to look into this earlier today, had a bunch of other case work to do, then the new envelope came in. Been hopping. Not too presumptuous. Christopher is fluent in several languages, but Hindi and Tamil are a couple of them. I'll pass this on. Thanks, Ethan Grant Associate Researcher The Whitechapel Foundation ethanSPLATwhitechapelfoundation.org www.whitechapelfoundation.org

[zizka]

deep down, I know it can't be true, but part of me thinks this thing is some highly idiosyncratic, patterned cypher of a sumerian anagram.

This is my last utterly useless comment for hte night. I'll catch up tomorrow and start making marginally useless comments then.

[mortality]

To summarize so far: not sure where this is going. Just have to keep an open mind.

Our first puzzle solve popped up one solution and two possible sub-solutions. One of which could have been an anagram for Hansel, the other was Hindi/Sanskrit for "not" something or other (cypher, laughter, the sky, Shiva, auspiciousness, knowledge... etc.).

I think we might need to go back and pay more attention to the subjects of the books from the first puzzle.

Invisible Cities is Italian magical realism. (Aside: I overheard a conversation on the train last month; someone was talking about getting their magical realism works published. Quel coincidence.) Marco Polo converses with Kublai Khan about cities he visited.

In the Hall of the Dragon King is the first book in a fantasy trilogy.

Quote:

A dying knights urgent plea propels a disenchanted young acolyte into a deadly mission. On the shoulders of the unsuspecting Quentin rests the course of a kingdom; and ahead of him, a quest that will lead him out of the darkness of the old gods . . . and into undreamed-of spheres of conflict, magic, and light. -Amazon

Labyrinths is written by the founder of Latin American magical realism.

Janissary Tree is a mystery set during the waning of the Ottoman Empire.

Quote:

the reader is treated to an appropriately exotic tour of a time and a place where intrigue, deceit, and corruption fueled perilous personal and political passions. -Amazon

Wise Woman is a collection of fantasy stories.

[noam]

I was originally attracted by the Wandering Jew angle (I think part of me wanted it to be in the story) but I think it's more pointing towards Kings and leaders. Enlil, "Lord of the Command" (or Wind), King Xerxes as "Ahasuerus", and William Wallace. The triangle is weird, though.

There's something bugging me about this, though. This foundation deals with paranormal and crytozoological activities, yet this has nothing (yet) to do with either. Just some weird letters.

[zizka]

still not caught up (not even read the first full post ), but Ahasuerus = "(1) A shoemaker of jerusalem: One of the personalities and names ascribed to the wandering jew." To make a long story short, he was a jerk to jesus as jesus walked past his shop with the cross on his back. Ahasuerus was then condemned to wander without rest for eternity. "(2) In the book of esther, [he was] king of Persia, husband of Esther. [etc] Ordered the slaughter of Jews in his realm; when he learned that the jews were Esther's people, he reversed his orders."

I'd lay odds on the former's being the correct reference.

Maybe wikipedia has more info...

ETA:
dammit mort. I was typing out of a book...a real book, with pages and everything

I still like the wandering jew angle; granted, I've no idea what's going on yet. Is this more of an "Apocraphal Christian Mythology" story or a "Persian Kings in the Old Testament" story?

E(again)TA:
Enlil was the first conquorer of Tiamat. The earth, air, and storm god of Sumerian and semetic myth. His roles and deeds were later ascribed to Marduk and Bel. Iirc, Bel was the god that became identified as "El" by the Hebrews, though I'm 100% certain that waht I just said is a major heresy in a handful of religions.

more later.

[mortality]

W. Wallace could be William Wallace of Braveheart fame.

Ahasuerus, per wikipedia, is a name found repeatedly in the Old Testament and is apparently the Hebrew equivalent to Xerxes.

Quote:

Ahasuerus may refer to: * The name of the King of Persia in the Book of Esther[1]. He was generally identified with Xerxes I of Persia[2], although this assumption is now rejected by most scholars[3]. The Greek version of the Book of Esther refers to him as Artaxerxes, and Josephus relates that this was the name by which he was known to the Greeks[4]. Similarly, the Midrash of Esther Rabba, I, 3 identifies him as Artaxerxes. The Ethiopic text calls him Arťeksis, usually the Ethiopic equivalent of Artaxerxes. Bar-Hebraeus identified him as Artaxerxes II, a view strongly supported by the 20th century scholar Jacob Hoschander. * The name of a king of Persia in the Book of Ezra[5]. Jewish tradition regards him as the same as the Ahasuerus of the Book of Esther. (The Ethiopic text calls him Arťeksis, as it does the above figure in Esther.) 19th century Bible scholars suggested that he might be Cambyses II. * The name of an associate of Nebuchadnezzar, who together with him, destroyed Niniveh just before Tobit's death, according to some versions of the deuterocanonical Book of Tobit 14:15. A traditional Catholic view is that he is identical to the Ahasuerus of Daniel 9:1[6] In the Codex Sinaiticus Greek (LXX) edition, the two names in this verse appear instead as one name, Ahikar (also the name of another character in the story of Tobit). Other Septuagint texts have the name Achiachar. Western scholars have proposed that Achiachar is a variant form of the name "Cyaxares I of Media", who historically did destroy Nineveh, in 612 BC. * The name of the father of Darius the Mede in the Book of Daniel[7]. Josephus names Astyages as the father of Darius the Mede, and the description of the latter as uncle and father-in-law of Cyrus by mediaeval Jewish commentators matches that of Cyaxares II, who is said to be the son of Astyages by Xenophon. Thus this Ahasuerus is commonly identified with Astyages. He is alternatively identified, together with the Ahasuerus of the Book of Tobit, as Cyaxares I, said to be the father of Astyages. Views differ on how to reconcile the sources in this case. One view is that the description of Ahasuerus as the 'father' of Darius the Mede should be understood in the broader sense of 'grandfather' or 'ancestor'. Another view notes that on the Behistun Inscription, "Cyaxares" is a family name, and thus considers the description as literal, viewing Astyages as an intermediate ruler wrongly placed in the family line in the Greek sources. * The real name of the Wandering Jew[8] in some versions of the legend. The Wandering Jew is a figure from medieval Christian folklore whose legend began to spread in Europe in the thirteenth century and became a fixture of Christian mythology, and, later, of Romanticism. The original legend concerns a Jew who taunted Jesus on the way to the Crucifixion and was then cursed to walk the earth until the Second Coming. The exact nature of the wanderer's indiscretion varies in different versions of the tale, as do aspects of his character; sometimes he is said to be a shoemaker or other tradesman, sometimes he is the doorman at Pontius Pilate's estate, and sometimes the myth is transferred to a Roman rather than a Jew. -Wikipedia

The Wandering Jew is essentially about penance for sin.

Enlil

Quote:

Enlil (EN = Lord+ LIL = Air, "Lord of the Open Field" or possibly "Lord of the Wind") was the name of a chief deity in Sumerian religion, perhaps pronounced and sometimes rendered in translations as Ellil in later Akkadian. He was considered to be the god of wind, air and space, separating earth and heaven. The name is of Sumerian origin and has been believed to mean 'Lord Wind' (though this interpretation is now disputed); a more literal interpretation is 'Lord of the Command'.

[noam]

There's a new update:

Quote:

** UPDATE - New Information as of 28 Nov 07 - 20:15 EST** The following information has just been received. Earlier this evening (28 Nov 07) Diane Fulmer was finishing up work at the New York office of the Whitechapel Foundation. At approximately 18:30 she left her office to take a tea cup back to the break room, which is situated at the rear of the office. As she returned to her office (approximately 5 minutes later), she noticed that a white envelope had been slid through the mail slot in the office door during the time that she was in the break room. She immediately looked out of the door's peephole and verified there there was no one on the lander. Upon examining the envelope she found that the word "Whitechapel" was written on green Sharpie marker on the front and that it had been sealed with a piece of blue painter's tape. Having found the original letter, Ms. Fulmer immediately called Christopher Patel to let him know what she had found. He confirmed that there did not appear to be anything inside the envelope other than a single sheet of paper and instructed Ms. Fulmer to open it and describe the contents. Upon hearing the description, he asked Ms. Fulmer to scan the envelope and letter and mail copies to himself and to Ethan Grant, so that the images [see below] could be posted immediately to the Open Cases site. In light of the useful feedback we have receive so far, and in the interest of time (should that prove to be a factor), the images are being made available without prior research by the Foundation. Additional information will be added here as it becomes available.

So there's a second letter, with this triangle thingy inside.

AHASUERUS, ENLIL, W.WALLACE

Anagrams, maybe? There's also a 3 inside of a triangle on this letter. Definitely not anagrams. The foundation provides us with these clues, they're apparently names and:

Quote:

From personal experience, though, the name ENLIL jumps out as a major Sumerian god [281107-2035 EG].

[zizka]

I;m not up to speed yet...