livius drusus
11-28-2006, 06:07 PM
New technology is making ancient documents which had been scrubbed clean and overwritten in the Middle Ages legible once again. It's still hard work, mind you, even with the x-rays, but it's worth it.
A Layered Look Reveals Ancient Greek Texts (http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/27/arts/27greek.html).
The Archimedes Palimpsest, sold at auction at Christie’s for $2 million in 1998, is best known for containing some of the oldest copies of work by the great Greek mathematician who gives the manuscript its name. But there is more to the palimpsest than Archimedes’ work, including 10 pages of Hyperides, offering tantalizing and fresh insights into the critical battle of Salamis in 480 B.C., in which the Greeks defeated the Persians, and the battle of Chaeronea in 338 B.C., which spelled the beginning of the end of Greek democracy.
[...]
The new Hyperides revelations include two previously unknown speeches, effectively increasing this renowned orator’s body of work by 20 percent....
Hyperides lived from 390 or 389 B.C. until 322 B.C. and was an orator who made speeches at public meetings of the citizen assembly. A contemporary of Aristotle and Demosthenes, he wrote speeches for himself and for others and spoke at important political trials. In 322 B.C. Hyperides was executed by the Macedonians for participating in a failed rebellion.
I love the thought of all the lost ancient texts being rediscovered in the pages of extant manuscripts. The odds of uncovering some new hoard of books is pretty slim, after all. X-raying the books we've got is a far more accessible means of uncovering ancient written treasures.
A Layered Look Reveals Ancient Greek Texts (http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/27/arts/27greek.html).
The Archimedes Palimpsest, sold at auction at Christie’s for $2 million in 1998, is best known for containing some of the oldest copies of work by the great Greek mathematician who gives the manuscript its name. But there is more to the palimpsest than Archimedes’ work, including 10 pages of Hyperides, offering tantalizing and fresh insights into the critical battle of Salamis in 480 B.C., in which the Greeks defeated the Persians, and the battle of Chaeronea in 338 B.C., which spelled the beginning of the end of Greek democracy.
[...]
The new Hyperides revelations include two previously unknown speeches, effectively increasing this renowned orator’s body of work by 20 percent....
Hyperides lived from 390 or 389 B.C. until 322 B.C. and was an orator who made speeches at public meetings of the citizen assembly. A contemporary of Aristotle and Demosthenes, he wrote speeches for himself and for others and spoke at important political trials. In 322 B.C. Hyperides was executed by the Macedonians for participating in a failed rebellion.
I love the thought of all the lost ancient texts being rediscovered in the pages of extant manuscripts. The odds of uncovering some new hoard of books is pretty slim, after all. X-raying the books we've got is a far more accessible means of uncovering ancient written treasures.