Hi UncleG
Modern technology is advancing our understanding of ancient texts so fast it is truly awe-inspiring. If you want a flavour for how much can now be done on what looks like a burnt up old piece of firewood, try this: Unlocking the scrolls of Herculaneum - BBC News
I haven’t heard anything recently about progress on the Papyri’s contents, but I am agog at the possibilities.
[quote]MartyMonster wrote:
Hi UncleG
Modern technology is advancing our understanding of ancient texts so fast it is truly awe-inspiring. If you want a flavour for how much can now be done on what looks like a burnt up old piece of firewood, try this: Unlocking the scrolls of Herculaneum - BBC News
I haven’t heard anything recently about progress on the Papyri’s contents, but I am agog at the possibilities.[/quote]
Wow, that’s actually really impressive how they’re doing that… and unfortunate that they’re still having trouble recognizing the chemistry of the ink from the paper.
Somewhat related are the Persepolis Fortification Tablets in Aramaic, from the Achaemenid Persian empire.
Western history seems to ignore/neglect the various Persian empires, but the first Persian empire (Achaemenid Empire) was larger than the Roman empire ever was. They united many different people and used Aramaic as their lingua franca for running things, and these tablets are one of the few remaining traces of that particular dialect.
FWIW, this was the empire that freed the Jews from captivity in Babylon.
Hi LoRez,
Quite interesting comment on Persia there. I’m interested in the amount of cross fertilisation there was between the Greeks and Persians during Ancient and Classical periods. We know that both societies maintained scholars in Mathematics and Astrology/Astronomy but are sadly lacking in details about how much they influenced each other. If only they’d published the conference notes!
One of the possibilities with the Antikythera Mechanism is that it was manufactured somewhere outside Greece. You would immediately think Persia if this was the case, but I’ve never found any reference to such devices being made outside Rhodes. About the only things that come close are the comparatively simply water clocks in use throughout Greece, Persia and Rome. Vitruvius makes no mention of anything as complicated as this.
[quote]MartyMonster wrote:
Hi UncleG
Modern technology is advancing our understanding of ancient texts so fast it is truly awe-inspiring. If you want a flavour for how much can now be done on what looks like a burnt up old piece of firewood, try this: Unlocking the scrolls of Herculaneum - BBC News
I haven’t heard anything recently about progress on the Papyri’s contents, but I am agog at the possibilities.
[/quote]
That’s very exciting! They may find one of the lost Greek Epics within our lifetimes.
[quote]Uncle Gabby wrote:
[quote]MartyMonster wrote:
Hi UncleG
Modern technology is advancing our understanding of ancient texts so fast it is truly awe-inspiring. If you want a flavour for how much can now be done on what looks like a burnt up old piece of firewood, try this: Unlocking the scrolls of Herculaneum - BBC News
I haven’t heard anything recently about progress on the Papyri’s contents, but I am agog at the possibilities.
[/quote]
That’s very exciting! They may find one of the lost Greek Epics within our lifetimes.
[/quote]
Totally. But even if they only find the mans accounts and taxation records that could still be usefull.
And check this out. Its a video of diving on the wreck site, including the moment they find a 2M Bronze spear.
The 2015 dive is back on and the teams are in the water and over the wreck site.
Check the website for further details.
