This will take you to a fantastic breakthrough. A huge stash (i.e., garbage dump) of papyri, which had been considered unreadable, have been read using infrared technology.
The result will be a huge florescence in our study of Greek and Roman literature. It is expected that many long-lost plays and other works will be recovered. Those of us who love the Greek and Roman classics are waiting now with bated breath as they begin the tedious but steady work of making them available.
More Euripides! More Sophocles!
Might even be different versions of the gospels, or new (to us) apocrypha and gnostic "gospels."
Just thought you'd want to know.
Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
As I'm reading Dan Simmon's "Illium" right now, I find this utterly cool! Posted by Dan_raven (Member # 3383) on :
Wow.
I want the new translations NOW.
I also want to make a joke about Torn Scrolls and Euripides, but luckilly I can't.
Posted by romanylass (Member # 6306) on :
I look forward to the translations!
Posted by katharina (Member # 827) on :
No way! This is wonderful!
Posted by Taalcon (Member # 839) on :
*bounces up and down*
Posted by Derrell (Member # 6062) on :
Posted by TheTick (Member # 2883) on :
That's amazing. Technology rocks.
Posted by advice for robots (Member # 2544) on :
Wow.
Posted by TMedina (Member # 6649) on :
Yes, technology is scrolling ever onward.
-Trevor
Posted by Brian J. Hill (Member # 5346) on :
(this news is WAY TOO COOL for only one party)
Posted by twinky (Member # 693) on :
That's really, really cool. Posted by Dagonee (Member # 5818) on :
Very, very cool.
Posted by Kwea (Member # 2199) on :
You are right, that is incredible! There are SO many woks that are lost to us compated to teh little that did survive, works that we only know about because they are referenced by another work we DO have, that this just really excites me.
Kwea
Posted by Orson Scott Card (Member # 209) on :
But what I REALLY want is Aristophanes' Rolodex.
Posted by TMedina (Member # 6649) on :
Actually, I'd like to hear some critical reviews by peers of some of the more famous works.
-Trevor
Posted by Lupus (Member # 6516) on :
wow, that is amazing. I think it will be really interesting to see if they are right...and there are writings from the early church that were previously lost. That would be an amazing find.
Posted by Taalcon (Member # 839) on :
Much of the writings of the first couple centuries of the Church exist only in quotations from others, such as Eusebius. If the full copies were found (such as a copy of the so-called Secret Gospel of Mark), then, wow. Wowwy wow wow wow.
Posted by Bob_Scopatz (Member # 1227) on :
quote:It could easily double the surviving body of lesser work - the pulp fiction and sitcoms of the day.
quote: Sophocles: "Lucian! you got some 'splainin' to do"
Lucian: "Waaaaaaaahhhh"
Euripedes: <giving thumbs up sign> "Ehhhhh!"
Posted by Teshi (Member # 5024) on :
Oh my goodness! SO exciting!
*bounce*
Posted by Jim-Me (Member # 6426) on :
Bob_S
Posted by Astaril (Member # 7440) on :
Yes! I just *knew* there would be a fantastic job opening waiting for me as soon as I graduated with a degree involving Ancient Greek! So where do I apply to be a translator? Anybody??
Seriously though, this is great. Depending what they find, it seems funny to think that so much of what I've learned over the past few years might be taught quite differently in the future. So many new clues to examine! Exciting indeed.
Posted by Cor (Member # 4295) on :
Yay! I knew sooner or later the Xena scrolls would be unearthed! Heh. Posted by Dragon (Member # 3670) on :
That is so awesome!
Posted by The Rabbit (Member # 671) on :
Wow!! I'm really interested in the technology they are using to do this. I do spectral image processing and I'm wondering what techniques they are using to enhance contrast between the ink and the papyrus. There is alot of information in the infrared images besides the texts themselves. We might also make some interesting finds about how and where the different scrolls were made, how the ink was applied, who handled them, how far they were transported and so on.
I wonder if the are using only infrared absorbance measurements or if they might also be looking at infrared fluorescence -- which could lead to fine puns about fluorescence and florescence.
Posted by Lyrhawn (Member # 7039) on :
My greco roman history prof is going to have a heart attack when he reads that.
Awesome news though! (the discovery, not the heart attack)
Posted by MyrddinFyre (Member # 2576) on :
Sweet! Just in time for my Roman Literature class I'll be taking.
Posted by Avadaru (Member # 3026) on :
This is so exciting! I can't wait to see what exactly has been discovered. Posted by mackillian (Member # 586) on :
This is fanfreakingTAStic!
Posted by Carrie (Member # 394) on :
Oh, score!
Posted by Audeo (Member # 5130) on :
My Latin/Greek prof was telling us about this a few months ago. He actually has copies of the new texts and he's working on translating them and deciding who wrote them. He's a specialist in a rather obscure ancient Greek writer, the name isn't coming to mind, but he's focusing on his work.
Posted by Lost Ashes (Member # 6745) on :
Sure would be cool to find amongst the writings an undiscovered author of greater ability than his or her peers.
Posted by Ele (Member # 708) on :
Wow, I wonder if Aristotle *did* write about comedy!
I can't wait to find out what's there! Posted by Megan (Member # 5290) on :
Cool! Posted by ProverbialSunrise (Member # 7771) on :
Interesting. This should be cool. Posted by Bob_Scopatz (Member # 1227) on :
quote:But what I REALLY want is Aristophanes' Rolodex
Funny, I want his Rolex. Tell you what, you hold him down and I'll mug him, and we'll split the proceeds.
Posted by Elizabeth (Member # 5218) on :
Well, you will have to split the proceeds, since it will be made of rock.
Posted by Verily the Younger (Member # 6705) on :
He's not that old. He'd at least have a bronze Rolex.
Posted by Bob_Scopatz (Member # 1227) on :
Yeah, one of those really cool Swiss wrist-sundials.
Posted by Verily the Younger (Member # 6705) on :
Yeah, those are cool. Of course, they don't work too well in the dark. You have to use a flashlight to see them. Posted by Lyrhawn (Member # 7039) on :
quote: My Latin/Greek prof was telling us about this a few months ago. He actually has copies of the new texts and he's working on translating them and deciding who wrote them. He's a specialist in a rather obscure ancient Greek writer, the name isn't coming to mind, but he's focusing on his work.
My prof was telling about this tonight. He said they made the find like two years ago. What is the name of your prof?
Posted by Elizabeth (Member # 5218) on :
Actually, Bob, I was thinking more along the lines of the Clepsydrex.
[ April 19, 2005, 11:48 PM: Message edited by: Elizabeth ]
Posted by The Reader (Member # 3636) on :
This is great! I hope there are great works of philosophy and art, and not 1st century sitcoms. I wonder is this is comparable to the find of the Rosetta Stone.
Why is this being compared to "The Holy Grail"? What would happen to the Holy Grail? It would be stuck in a museum. Nothing could be learned from it, and all that could be said about it is "This is it." These scrolls are far greater than a cup. We can learn from these scrolls for years.
Posted by Lyrhawn (Member # 7039) on :
I'd say it's more comparable to the Dead Sea Scrolls. It'll take the same amount to get all this stuff out and translated and credited as it took for the Dead Sea Scrolls to be translated.
Posted by Brian J. Hill (Member # 5346) on :
I agree. Actually finding the Holy Grail would be sort of disappointing. "Hey, we found the cup Christ drank from. Cool! Now what?" "Umm . . . put it in a museum?" The Holy Grail comparisons are based on the fact that it is an object that many have spent their entire careers searching for, which is sort of applicable to this discovery.
Posted by mothertree (Member # 4999) on :
Part of the interest is that people have been trying to read these scrolls for decades. Various methods that have been tried included unrolling the scrolls on racks of a forerunner of scotch tape, and just sawing the suckers in half in hopes that the core might have readable material. Conservators were kind of stymied by it. I'm not sure what the background of the IR dudes is, but the show I watched about it in the summer of 2003 said they were from BYU. But I don't know where the actual translating effort may be going on. I figured that since it was on TV, it must be common knowledge Posted by Olivetta (Member # 6456) on :
*imagines what her classical Greek final would have been like if they'd let us translate something HALF that cool*
This news has me positively drooling.
I think I'm going to drag out my Greek New Testament and see how much I can still read. I'm prepared to be disappointed. Posted by Noemon (Member # 1115) on :
quote:It'll take the same amount to get all this stuff out and translated and credited as it took for the Dead Sea Scrolls to be translated.
Maybe, maybe not. Most of what slowed down the translation and publication of the scrolls was academic politics. While that could easily happen with these texts, it doesn't *have* to.
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