Villa of the Papyri or what authors would you hope most for?

[Eleatic Guest]

Hello,

just read about the Villa of the Papyri and the thought is fascinating that actually some ancient lost authors may lay undiscovered under the tuff of the Vesus:

It is believed that there are thousands more scrolls in the building, much of which lies beneath the modern town of Ercolano, and that they may include lost works by Aristotle, Livy and Sappho.

That would be too good to be true, wouldn't it? I am though very sceptical, but I would like to use the opportunity to ask around which authors you hope the most for to be discovered?

I think in the field of history I would go for those who have proved their worth, even though a large extent of their work is already brought to us indirectly via others authors:

Ptolemy
Livy
Polybios
Sulla's commentarii

In other fields:

Philosophy:
some stoic works
Epicure

Poetry:
Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides

Engineering & technology:
?

Your choices?

[P. Lilius Frugius Simius]

Well,

it is really hard to choose....

Aeschillus, obviously, he's one of my favourites... :-) )

Aristophanes would also be cool.

Socrates!! Please... :-) )

Then, I'd love some Archimedes, Thucidides, Xenophon, and we know we are missing lots of History and Biographical works, those would be cool as well...

For Roman stuff, I'd love to find some correspondence of the late Republic (C. Iulius and M. Crassus, Pompeius Magnus, Cicero, Cato, M. Iunius Brutus (and his epitomes!), D. Brutus, and even sooner (Sulla and Marius, anyone?)) and what about more Seneca, Virgilius, or even Nero himself? (hehe :-) )

Anyway, whatever gets out (if anything) will be welcome, even if all of the works are already known, they will surely complete our current corpus with different versions/missing parts/whatever...

Correspondence would be cool, I think, as it display the widest range of information (philosophical, political, cultural, religious, emotional, etc...)

anyway, who am I to ask? :-) )

uale!

[Q Rutilius]

Sulla's autobiography. Claudius's history.

[TraderTrey9785]

Any Greek tragedians...it's a shame that only a small glimpse of their brilliant minds is available for us to enjoy. I'm sure Aeschylus has more brilliant plays, as well as Euripides and Sophocles. Some comedy too, like maybe Menander would also be nice....but I guess we'll see!

[Nathan Ross]

The complete text of Cornelius Nepos' De viris illustribus would be nice - particularly the section on latin poets, for some biographical info on Catullus, amongst others.

I did think that it wouldn't be long before some millionaire type offered to bankroll a full excavation of the villa. It is, however, far from an easy task - this picture gives some idea of the depth of rock that would need to be quarried away, and the pretty meagre remains of the villa itself:



A few years back I got to visit the site of the excavation - you can pre-book visits with a group, or could do in 2003 at any rate. To be honest, for all the thrill of actually seeing a place I'd only read about (and attempted to visit before without much luck!), the remains as they exist today are not especially awesome. You can stand on the broad terrace at the front of the villa, but rather than a wonderful view out over the bay, all you can see is a wall of dripping rock!

Most of the villa is still deep underground, known only from the map painstakingly constructed via small tunnels by the Bourbon excavator Carl Weber back in the 18th century. This map is itself interesting, and allows a reasonable reconstruction of the villa to be made - Getty, famously, built his own interpretation in California, although these might be more authentic versions:



[url:1jmsokwb]http://myweb.tiscali.co.uk/jghsillustration/portfolio/villa.jpg[/url]

I'd be almost as interested to see the villa itself emerge as to discover the contents of the 'second library' (if it exists!). But, as has been pointed out, to dig it up would not only involve evicting the inhabitants of the town built over it, and shifting a vast quantity of rock, but also exposing the uncovered remains to the corrosion and decay of the elements - and while the excavated section of Herculaneum itself is rapidly deteriorating, this might not be such a smart plan!

- Nathan

[Jona Lendering]

Your choices?

The illustrated edition of the molles libelli by Elephantis that is mentioned by Martial 12.43.4 would be nice. :oops: :wink:

[caiusbeerquitius]

A complete Petronius.

[Robert Vermaat]

Claudius' History of the Etruscans.

[Caius Fabius]

A complete works the encylopedias of Aulus Cornelius Celsus? Some totally unknown first century historians? A complete military manual from the time of Augustus or Vespasian? A discussion on tunic color and marching? :lol:

[Dan Diffendale]

All of Naevius, Ennius, Livius Andronicus, Lucius Accius...

something Oscan?

Pompeius Trogus.

Take your pick...

[taira1180]

Claudius, Petronius, the lost part of the poetic of Aristotle,the missing books of Titus Livius.