Thread Rating:
  • 0 Vote(s) - 0 Average
  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5
papyrology, carbonized Pompeii scrolls
#1
I can't find the original thread on this one ('search is disabled') but for those curious, here's the fellow who's been deciphering the carbonized papyrus scrolls from Pompeii: (from Archaeology Odyssey magazine)<br>
<br>
Papyrology Gets Its Due<br>
Oxford Scholar Receives MacArthur Grant<br>
<br>
Last October the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation named Oxford University papyrologist Dirk Obbink one of 23 recipients of its "genius" awards.<br>
<br>
MacArthur fellowships, which honor those who contribute to the expansion of knowledge, are awarded each year with no strings attached. Fellows receive a stipend of $500,000 over a five-year period.<br>
<br>
As a papyrologist, Obbink recovers text from often fragmentary and nearly illegible papyrus scrolls. His conservator's skills and "intimate knowledge of several different dialects of ancient Greek" have allowed him to expand "our access to a body of ancient documents, opening new windows on poetry, society, and philosophy in the classical period," reads the foundation's announcement.<br>
<br>
To recover documents from Herculaneum buried in the 79 A.D. eruption of Mount Vesuvius, Obbink invented a method for reading badly charred papyri. He slices away strips of the carbonized papyrus scrolls until the original column sequences can be reconstructed. Using this technique, Obbink has recovered previously unknown Greek works, including treatises by the first-century B.C. philosopher Philodemus.<br>
<br>
Obbink is also curator of the Oxyrhynchus Papyri collection in Oxford's Ashmolean Museum. The ancient settlement at Oxyrhynchus, a small Ptolemaic-Roman town about 100 miles south of Cairo, has yielded around 50,000 Greek papyrus documents. Most of these papyriâ€â€Â
Richard Campbell
Legio XX - Alexandria, Virginia
RAT member #6?
Reply


Possibly Related Threads…
Thread Author Replies Views Last Post
  Herculaeum scrolls kavan 0 156 09-09-2023, 10:15 AM
Last Post: kavan

Forum Jump: