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An entire Herculaneum scroll has been read for the first time

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Re: An entire Herculaneum scroll has been read for the first time

#81

Post by matneyx »

verditelabs wrote: post #21
tsol wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How do get to do that? As in what did you study to get the prerequisite knowledge, and how did you find this particular job? When I see interesting jobs I'm anyways curious what path lead there

I am a computer scientist. I studied CS in university, worked in the semiconductor industry for a while, got started as a participant in the challenge aspect of the Vesuivus Challenge. They were hiring, I sent in an application, interviewed, and was offered the job.

That last sentence is so perfect, like my dad answering the question of how he lost weight. "I ate less and exercised more."

Re: An entire Herculaneum scroll has been read for the first time

#82

Post by Waterluvian »

mattbettinson wrote: post #53

I wonder what the parellel would be 2,000 years for now: A Post-Great Solar Flare of 2484 Step Brothers DVD Has Been Decoded

We have successfully uncorrupted audiovisual media of what we believe to be an oral retelling of the long lost ending to Chekhov‘s “The Three Sisters.” It turns out the light was on.

Re: An entire Herculaneum scroll has been read for the first time

#85

Post by Matticus_Rex »

suddenlybananas wrote: post #19
adriand wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What are the wildest, most exciting but plausible things that might be discovered in these documents?

Probably a lot more texts of Epicurean philosophy and not a whole lot else unfortunately according to my papyrologist friend.

That's what was thought, but maybe not -- only one of the three so far looks Epicurean, which is not what was expected. Maybe it's a fluke, but historians are buzzing a bit about whether it might be broader than expected.

Re: An entire Herculaneum scroll has been read for the first time

#86

Post by vitally3643 »

inglor_cz wrote: post #61
sevenzero wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>technology that build the pyramids You mean ropes and carts?

The stones were cut with enormous precision, at least relative to what we know about the available cutting tools. You cannot still stick a knife between a lot of these stones. Maybe we will learn more about that.

I'm pretty sure we've conclusively answered these questions. Hand tools, skill, and absolutely unreasonable amounts of time and patience.

Any master stoneworker from any era should be able to carve stone to that level of precision given enough time and reason. The problem, as always, is that there is usually very little reason to put in that amount of time and effort when you can get 90% as good for 50% the effort.

Re: An entire Herculaneum scroll has been read for the first time

#87

Post by readthenotes1 »

verditelabs wrote: post #12
adriand wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What are the wildest, most exciting but plausible things that might be discovered in these documents?

I am not a papyrologist or a classicist, rather I'm a computer scientist, so my expertise is unfortunately not in _what_ the scrolls say, rather how we get there. That being said I think and hope that there will be a trove of things that has no known provenance at all, completely lost works that elude the public memory.

Your response reminds me of Nigel Richards :)

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

Congratulations, and thank-you!

Re: An entire Herculaneum scroll has been read for the first time

#88

Post by ogogmad »

cwnyth wrote: post #57
cwmoore wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why would Epicurean philosophy be unfortunate? I was under the impression that there was almost nothing left of that school of thought, and that it’s writings had been destroyed. What would you like to have instead?

The unfortunate part is the lack of anything else therein, not that it's Epicurean philosophy.

The Jewish Talmud uses Epicurus's name as a term meaning "heretic".

Re: An entire Herculaneum scroll has been read for the first time

#89

Post by bibimsz »

clickety_clack wrote: post #16

When I read translations like these, I always wonder if the tone is translated. Did the writer mean to convey a very formal “to the utmost”, or was it a more casual “to the max”. How much of the translators bias makes these seem like academic papers instead of social media posts.

let's translate the ancient classic poem Mugger's Paradise by the poet Somewhat Frosty:

While I step through the valley of the shadow of death,

I contemplate my life and perceive that nothing remains.

For I have hurled weapons and laughed for so long that

Even to my mother, my mind appears to have departed.

Yet I have deceived no one except him who was worthy of it;

For me to be held as a coward—that indeed is unheard of.

Beware what you speak and where you set out,

Lest you and your companions be outlined in chalk.

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