I’ve seen this one before, or something like it, but while perusing some blogs I stumbled upon this meme over at belladame’s (but she’s not the only one): find the nearest book, turn to page 123, find the fifth sentence in, and quote the next three.
Perhaps the statue was that gift to decipherers, a bilingual text. If so, and if the language was Semitic, then the letters [picture here] could read b-c-l-t, the supralinearc being the Hebrew ayin, a harsh laryngeal sound absent in European languages, often missed out in transliteration. It could refer to Baalat, the female of Baal, a Semitic equivalent of the goddess Hathor.
[...] Via Helio. Take the nearest book to you, turn to page 123, find the fifth sentence and quote the next three. [...]