Decoded at last: the ‘classical holy grail’

Oxyrhynchus papyriScientists begin to unlock the secrets of papyrus scraps bearing long-lost words by the literary giants of Greece and Rome (By David Keys and Nicholas Pyke, 17 April 2005)

For more than a century, it has caused excitement and frustration in equal measure – a collection of Greek and Roman writings so vast it could redraw the map of classical civilisation. If only it was legible.

Now, in a breakthrough described as the classical equivalent of finding the holy grail, Oxford University scientists have employed infra-red technology to open up the hoard, known as the Oxyrhynchus Papyri, and with it the prospect that hundreds of lost Greek comedies, tragedies and epic poems will soon be revealed.

In the past four days alone, Oxford’s classicists have used it to make a series of astonishing discoveries, including writing by Sophocles, Euripides, Hesiod and other literary giants of the ancient world, lost for millennia. They even believe they are likely to find lost Christian gospels, the originals of which were written around the time of the earliest books of the New Testament.

Bron: The Independent, Decoded at last: the ‘classical holy grail’ that may rewrite the history of the world, 16 April 2005.

Gepubliceerd door Stijn Vogels

Sinds 2003 deelt Stijn Vogels zijn mening over mondiale merkwaardigheden. Gewapend met een geschiedenisdiploma en een scherpe pen zoekt hij naar zin in de chaos. Misschien vind je iets wat je aan het denken zet. Misschien ook niet. Maar dat is het risico van nieuwsgierigheid.