Hidden Writing In Ancient Manuscripts To Be Published Online

[naomi24]

Not a question, but for anyone interested:

An ancient collection of liturgical texts, including some of the earliest Christian writing and second in size only to the Vatican, is going to be made available online for scholars all over the world. A team of scientists and photographers has been using multi-spectral imaging to reveal passages hidden beneath the manuscripts' visible text. These include early medical guides, obscure ancient languages, and illuminating biblical revisions.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-44144527

[Peter Pedant]

Yeah in the papers a day or so ago
The forbidden library ( never forbidden to scholars etc ) is being digitised....
till costa bomb!
They have Henry VIII's application for a divorce - we have lost ours.

other sources - Dirk Obbink yes he really is called that has digitised some of the unpublished Oxyrhynch papyri which you can read - but not what the intellects think about them ox.ac.uk somewhere

La libraria de las Indias - the King of Spain nationalised all the papers concerning sarf america in 1784 (Felipe V I think) and they have started digitising the documents

unthinkable twenty years ago - if you wanted a law report or archeological publicaiton you had to go down to the relevant library and pluck the volume from the shelves......

[EDDIE51]

Thanks, very interesting.I will be looking to see what is published about it when the texts have been translated into modern English .

[rowanwitch]

Trouble with translations there is always a degree of linguistic bias

[kvalidir]

That's fascinating thank you Naomi, I'll have a look :) x

[EDDIE51]

^ Yes that has always been a problem with translations, particularly of The Bible and other Religious texts.
When very few people could read , they had to take accept the reading /translation offered by scholars, usually Monks and Priests , as 'Gospel'. Of course the translations were more often than not biased towards what the 'Church' wanted them to hear. The reality was often very different.

[Old_Geezer]

Well... hopefully there'll be enough readers of ancient languages that any disagreements will be all over the Net before an official church friendly version is compiled.

[jno]

in a world that doesn't trust experts, such disagreements look likely to bring more heat than light, OG?

I remember the Lewis twins helped bring the Cairo Geniza to light - there was an exhibition partly about them at the British Museum a couple of years ago.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cairo_Geniza

[atalanta]

Palimpsests are not uncommon among ancient parchments. Parchment is expensive and takes a great deal of time and effort to make, so it is not surprising to find it being re-used. To do so, scribes would scratch off the old ink with a blade, and try to smooth over the scratched surface in order to write on it again. There is no need to assume that the writing underneath was in any way secret or coded.

[Lie-in King]

Fascinating stuff & that must be such rewarding, interesting work - ta Naomi :-)

[Mamyalynne]

Fascinating, thank you Naomi.