Renascent Renaissance

Thanks to a tip from Robot Guy, Eric pointed me toward the latest article on the Oxyrhynchus papyri, promising a 20% increase in the body of classical texts. I'd seen an earlier, shorter version of the story but this one made it seem much more significant.

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.

I doubt they'll be able to produce much of any real significance (i.e. more or less complete works accessible to the public or even the mass of general scholars) for a number of years, having first to photograph the fragments, read them individually, and painstakingly reconstruct texts over time.

Individual scholars will find many tenure-seeking articles in the process and there will doubtless be much speculation and challenges to traditional thought ('For centuries scholars have believed X, but three lines attributed to Hesiod suggest rather that ...').

More importantly, though, scholars like Dirk Obbink (we're lucky to have him at the head) will ensure that the work is done properly and pays out as promised.

It will be a fertile period. And they laughed when I said I wanted to be a classicist. 'It's a dead language,' they'd always say.

But frankly I question the timing. This is a great boon to an Oxford classics program that is currently in a bit of turmoil, suffering criticism of lagging standards and finding itself in a quandary over funding.

Oxyrhynchus to the rescue!

posted by Dennis on 04.18.05 at 08:49 AM





TrackBack

TrackBack URL for this entry:
http://classicalvalues.com/cgi-bin/pings.cgi/2217



Listed below are links to weblogs that reference Renascent Renaissance:

» Everything I Know Is Wrong. Maybe. from Bloggledygook
Are we witnessing the revelation of once hidden knowledge? What if we find out that the number of the Beast, for instance, has been wrongly attributed and we find out that the world ended in 1996? That would at least explain the second Clinton Administ... [Read More]
Tracked on April 18, 2005 12:12 PM
» Oxford Hits a Homer from Done With Mirrors
How exciting is this? Technology has finally caught up with the "Oxyrhynchus papyri," a wad of old paper plucked years ago from an ancient Egyptian trash dump. Everybody knew it was chock full of classical literature -- most of which has been lost si... [Read More]
Tracked on April 19, 2005 08:12 PM



Comments

I thought Oxyrhynchus was a dinosaur!

Eric Scheie   ·  April 18, 2005 06:16 PM

Nah, not a dinosaur, a cross between a rhino and a water buffalo.

DeputyHeadmistress   ·  April 18, 2005 07:57 PM


December 2006
Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat
          1 2
3 4 5 6 7 8 9
10 11 12 13 14 15 16
17 18 19 20 21 22 23
24 25 26 27 28 29 30
31            

ANCIENT (AND MODERN)
WORLD-WIDE CALENDAR


Search the Site


E-mail




Classics To Go

Classical Values PDA Link



Archives




Recent Entries



Links



Site Credits