Iliad fragment found in Roman-era mummy • Hacker News Board

Re: Iliad fragment found in Roman-era mummy

#171

Post by adastra22 » Thu, May 21, 2026, 6:37 AM UTC

mattfrommars wrote: post #117

brudgers wrote: post #110

Unearthed from a 1,600-year-old Roman-era tomb That's c. 400 AD. Closer to today, than to the time of King Tut...and King Tut was closer to the TFA mummy than to the First Dynasty. Ancient Egypt is really really old. The Great pyramid was 3000 years old at the time of the TFA mummy. The TFA mummy is about equidistant between today and the events of the Iliad and the book was already more than 1000 years old in 400 CE…

That sounds about right. People generally under estimate how old Ancient Egyptian really are, me included and think it sometimes around the era of Middle Ages.

Ancient Egypt had archeological museums showing dug up artifacts of even more ancient Egypt.

Re: Iliad fragment found in Roman-era mummy

#172

Post by adastra22 » Thu, May 21, 2026, 6:38 AM UTC

maksimur wrote: post #168

mr3martinis wrote: post #120

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What is the “TFA” mummy?

TFA originally meant "The Fucking Article" but on HN seems to have morphed its meaning to "The Fine Article" or "The Featured Article". I can't stop reading it as the former every time I come across it.

Those multiple readings date back to Slashdot and have stayed consistent. It just means in plain speech the linked article in the original post. Now get off my lawn!

Re: Iliad fragment found in Roman-era mummy

#173

Post by modo_mario » Thu, May 21, 2026, 6:40 AM UTC

protocolture wrote: post #162

xdennis wrote: post #154

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

No I legitimately don't care about those things. They could cast the smurfs if they had a cool period boat and nice period armor. You are the one who has some weird race based conditioning where you are hyper-vigilant where it comes to race and need to act offended about it. Seek medical assistance.

To be fair it is fairly onesided towards european history/folklore/tales and noticably always with black people inserted making it feel like there's some very... american focus on this from the opposing perspective as well. (And when it's anything east asian they typically insert a white main character) Which isn't helped by the industry basically farming this situation from both sides with actors and articles claiming queen charlotte, cleopatra and such were back. (to the point of leading to legal complaints in egypt, etc)

Re: Iliad fragment found in Roman-era mummy

#174

Post by stinkbeetle » Thu, May 21, 2026, 6:41 AM UTC

tiahura wrote: post #108

The Catalog of Ships is certainly the section I want to be buried with.

Back then, ships might almost have felt like the starships of our scifi today. Capsules that can transport mankind beyond the limits of the known universe to discover strange new worlds and civilizations. Certainly worthy of epic cataloging.

Re: Iliad fragment found in Roman-era mummy

#175

Post by jimnotgym » Thu, May 21, 2026, 6:46 AM UTC

protocolture wrote: post #116

zulux wrote: post #102

>>If Christopher Nolan’s coming adaptation of the Odyssey happens to do well enough to get Hollywood back on its feet, A typical laconic reply works here: "If"

It looks pretty shonky. I dont care about the casting. But the costumes look like ass (One of the extras was saying he had fit into the same armor for a low budget sword and sandal film), they are using a viking longboat as a greek ship (have already seen half a dozen experts spitting chips over the difference in boat design). I just cant bring myself to care about the film. "Oh its a fantasy film" its set in a histo…

Would you choose the weapons, armour and tactics as described in the Iliad? Even though it is thought they are inaccurate for the time period that they think the Iliad is set? Not so easy I would say.

And the extra you describe, where does he appear on screen? Front and centre, or in the fourth rank behind the people in better costumes?

And the longboat, does it appear on screen in its original form, or with additions to make it look more period accurate?

Re: Iliad fragment found in Roman-era mummy

#176

Post by dmos62 » Thu, May 21, 2026, 6:52 AM UTC

UberFly wrote: post #170

dmos62 wrote: post #167

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The pyramids aren't actually datable, because it's rock. Maybe if you were to find something with carbon that's provably from the time of construction, that could be used, but I don't think that happened. The popular datings for the older pyramids are educated guesses. Edit: the Sphynx dating is even more controversial, because it seems to have rain erosion on it.

Within the rock construction are wood beams, mortar and charcoal that are all datable.

I stand corrected.

Re: Iliad fragment found in Roman-era mummy

#177

Post by bee_rider » Thu, May 21, 2026, 7:13 AM UTC

jimnotgym wrote: post #175

protocolture wrote: post #116

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It looks pretty shonky. I dont care about the casting. But the costumes look like ass (One of the extras was saying he had fit into the same armor for a low budget sword and sandal film), they are using a viking longboat as a greek ship (have already seen half a dozen experts spitting chips over the difference in boat design). I just cant bring myself to care about the film. "Oh its a fantasy film" its set in a histo…

Would you choose the weapons, armour and tactics as described in the Iliad? Even though it is thought they are inaccurate for the time period that they think the Iliad is set? Not so easy I would say. And the extra you describe, where does he appear on screen? Front and centre, or in the fourth rank behind the people in better costumes? And the longboat, does it appear on screen in its original form, or with addition…

> Would you choose the weapons, armour and tactics as described in the Iliad? Even though it is thought they are inaccurate for the time period that they think the Iliad is set? Not so easy I would say.

Either “best attempt at historical accuracy” (although that would have been difficult given the sparse record), or “true to Homer’s anachronistic story” would have been reasonable ways to go. Sounds like they picked neither, though…

Re: Iliad fragment found in Roman-era mummy

#178

Post by Melatonic » Thu, May 21, 2026, 7:18 AM UTC

adastra22 wrote: post #171

mattfrommars wrote: post #117

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That sounds about right. People generally under estimate how old Ancient Egyptian really are, me included and think it sometimes around the era of Middle Ages.

Ancient Egypt had archeological museums showing dug up artifacts of even more ancient Egypt.

Isn't that just like our normal museums now ?

Re: Iliad fragment found in Roman-era mummy

#179

Post by vidarh » Thu, May 21, 2026, 7:22 AM UTC

klausa wrote: post #132

protocolture wrote: post #116

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It looks pretty shonky. I dont care about the casting. But the costumes look like ass (One of the extras was saying he had fit into the same armor for a low budget sword and sandal film), they are using a viking longboat as a greek ship (have already seen half a dozen experts spitting chips over the difference in boat design). I just cant bring myself to care about the film. "Oh its a fantasy film" its set in a histo…

> "Oh its a fantasy film" its set in a historical time period, I wouldnt watch a WW2 Zombie movie if the nazi zombies were wearing viking armor driving an Abrams tank either. WW2 Zombie movie with Nazis in Viking armors and random tanks sounds so much more _fun_ than a "historically acurate Nazi Zombie" movie!

The example was really to me because one of the better Nazi zombie movies is Norwegian (Dead Snow) and given the Nazi obsession with old Germanic and Norse myths, it wouldn't seem wrong at all to come across Nazi Vikings in a movie like that.

Re: Iliad fragment found in Roman-era mummy

#180

Post by bee_rider » Thu, May 21, 2026, 7:23 AM UTC

lkrubner wrote: post #104

baud147258 wrote: post #100

I am a little disappointed the tomb where the mummy was found is from the time where Egypt was part of the Roman Empire. At this point ancient Egypt had been a colony of Rome for quite some time and beforehand a Greek/Macedonian colony for a few more centuries (under the Ptolemaic dynasty, founded by a general of Alexander the Great). If it was from a previous era, it would have been a much more interesting find (in…

The Iliad was written after the classical era of Bronze Age Egypt, so no classical age mummy could be buried with the Iliad because it didn't exist yet.

That would have made it all the more exciting! Although less likely.