Mysterious Manuscript of the Ruins of a Roman City in the Brazilian Jungle

2024 Author: Seth Attwood | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 15:55

The National Library of Brazil in Rio de Janeiro contains a mysterious document that caused the deaths of hundreds of travelers. The manuscript entitled "Manuscript 512" tells about the discovery of the ruins of an ancient city in the jungle of Brazil, as well as gold deposits nearby.

Judging by the descriptions contained, the abandoned city was built by a civilization of the Greco-Roman type, and the described arches and columns are very reminiscent of European buildings of the ancient world.

The manuscript is a rather detailed account of the journey of the Portuguese expedition of the Bandeirans, Indian and treasure hunters, in the middle of the 18th century. The document bears the title "Historical Relation about an unknown and large settlement, the oldest, without inhabitants, which was discovered in the year 1753" (port Relação histórica de uma occulta e grande povoação antiquissima sem moradores, que se descobriu no anno de 1753). The description of the trip deep into the jungle is made with great plausibility, and its authenticity does not cause doubts among most researchers. On 10 pages of text, written in the form of a letter, its author gives a detailed description of the trip, as well as the city itself. Unfortunately, the manuscript is not in its original form, some part of the text has been irretrievably lost. But what you can read is quite enough for a real sensation.

Apparently, the Bandeirant expedition went into the Brazilian jungle in search of the legendary Moribeki mines. Instead, they discovered an abandoned city built by a mysterious civilization.

The main entrance to the city was decorated with three arches, similar to those that were common in Greco-Roman culture. Everything else was also built in the antique style: two-story residential buildings, public buildings, arches and temples. In the center of the city there was a square on which a monument to a man was erected. All rooms were completely empty, with no signs of furniture or other household items. Some of them were destroyed, and some of them had inscriptions that the author of the manuscript sketched in his report. The symbols used are reminiscent of the letters of the Greek and Phoenician alphabets, as well as some Arabic numerals.

The expedition moved on and, going down the river, discovered two mines. As determined by the members of the expedition, gold ore was mined in one of them, and silver in the other.

The manuscript was discovered in 1839 in the repositories of the library of Rio de Janeiro and has been haunted by researchers, travelers and gold prospectors ever since. Several expeditions were sent in search of the ruins of the ancient city and mines. Best known is the journey of Percy Fawcett, who traveled to the Brazilian jungle in 1925 and never returned. More than 10 expeditions were looking for them, but no trace of the detachment could be found. In this area, in the deep jungles of the state of Bahia, tribes of Indians lived, hostile to the new population. And the main version of the disappearance of the Fawcett expedition is associated precisely with the aboriginal tribes.

Manuscript 512 could well pass for a literary work in the genre of fiction, if not for the latest discoveries made by scientists in the Amazonian jungle. A group of archaeologists led by Michael Heckenberger discovered the remains of ancient settlements with stone walls, protective ditches and remains of pottery. Despite the fact that outside the window is the beginning of the XXI century, in the jungle of the Amazon there are still many places where researchers have not set foot. Therefore, it is possible that in the course of further expeditions the ruins of a mysterious ancient city, which is described in Manuscript 512, will be discovered.