“'The trouble with these boys',said a grim old classical scholar looking up from some milk-and-watery entrance papers which he had been marking: 'the trouble with these boys is that the masters have been talking to them about the Parthenon when they should have been talking to them about the Optative.'”
-C.S. Lewis
Thursday, October 20, 2016
Thursday, September 22, 2016
Some Exciting News!
The Associated Press:
JERUSALEM (AP) — The charred lump of a 2,000-year-old scroll sat in an Israeli archaeologist's storeroom for decades, too brittle to open. Now, new imaging technology has revealed what was written inside: the earliest evidence of a biblical text in its standardized form.
The passages from the Book of Leviticus, scholars say, offer the first physical evidence of what has long been believed: that the version of the Hebrew Bible used today goes back 2,000 years.
The discovery, announced in a Science Advances journal article by researchers in Kentucky and Jerusalem on Wednesday, was made using "virtual unwrapping," a 3D digital analysis of an X-ray scan. Researchers say it is the first time they have been able to read the text of an ancient scroll without having to physically open it.
"You can't imagine the joy in the lab," said Pnina Shor of the Israel Antiquities Authority, who participated in the study.
The digital technology, funded by Google and the U.S. National Science Foundation, is slated to be released to the public as open source software by the end of next year.
Researchers hope to use the technology to peek inside other ancient documents too fragile to unwrap, like some of the Dead Sea Scrolls and papyrus scrolls carbonized in the Mt. Vesuvius volcano eruption in 79 CE. Researchers believe the technology could also be applied to the fields of forensics, intelligence, and antiquities conservation.
The biblical scroll examined in the study was first discovered by archaeologists in 1970 at Ein Gedi, the site of an ancient Jewish community near the Dead Sea. Inside the ancient synagogue's ark, archaeologists found lumps of scroll fragments.
The synagogue was destroyed in an ancient fire, charring the scrolls. The dry climate of the area kept them preserved, but when archaeologists touched them, the scrolls would begin to disintegrate. So the charred logs were shelved for nearly half a century, with no one knowing what was written inside.
Last year, Yosef Porath, the archaeologist who excavated at Ein Gedi in 1970, walked into the Israel Antiquities Authority's Dead Sea Scrolls preservation lab in Jerusalem with boxes of the charcoal chunks. The lab has been creating hi-resolution images of the Dead Sea Scrolls, the earliest copies of biblical texts ever discovered, and he asked researchers to scan the burned scrolls.
"I looked at him and said, 'you must be joking,'" said Shor, who heads the lab.
She agreed, and a number of burned scrolls were scanned using X-ray-based micro-computed tomography, a 3D version of the CT scans hospitals use to create images of internal body parts. The images were then sent to William Brent Seales, a researcher in the computer science department of the University of Kentucky. Only one of the scrolls could be deciphered.
Using the "virtual unwrapping" technology, he and his team painstakingly captured the three-dimensional shape of the scroll's layers, using a digital triangulated surface mesh to make a virtual rendering of the parts they suspected contained text. They then searched for pixels that could signify ink made with a dense material like iron or lead. The researchers then used computer modeling to virtually flatten the scroll, to be able to read a few columns of text inside.
"Not only were you seeing writing, but it was readable," said Seales. "At that point we were absolutely jubilant."
The researchers say it is the first time a biblical scroll has been discovered in an ancient synagogue's holy ark, where it would have been stored for prayers, and not in desert caves like the Dead Sea Scrolls.
The discovery holds great significance for scholars' understanding of the development of the Hebrew Bible, researchers say.
In ancient times, many versions of the Hebrew Bible circulated. The Dead Sea Scrolls, dating to as early as the 3rd century B.C., featured versions of the text that are radically different than today's Hebrew Bible.
Scholars have believed the Hebrew Bible in its standard form first came about some 2,000 years ago, but never had physical proof, until now, according to the study. Previously the oldest known fragments of the modern biblical text dated back to the 8th century.
The text discovered in the charred Ein Gedi scroll is "100 percent identical" to the version of the Book of Leviticus that has been in use for centuries, said Dead Sea Scroll scholar Emmanuel Tov from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, who participated in the study.
"This is quite amazing for us," he said. "In 2,000 years, this text has not changed."
Noam Mizrahi, a Dead Sea Scrolls expert at Tel Aviv University who did not participate in the study, called it a "very, very nice find." He said the imaging technology holds great potential for more readings of unopened Dead Sea Scrolls.
"It's not only what was found, but the promise of what else it can uncover, which is what will turn this into an exciting discovery," Mizrahi said.
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JERUSALEM (AP) — The charred lump of a 2,000-year-old scroll sat in an Israeli archaeologist's storeroom for decades, too brittle to open. Now, new imaging technology has revealed what was written inside: the earliest evidence of a biblical text in its standardized form.
The passages from the Book of Leviticus, scholars say, offer the first physical evidence of what has long been believed: that the version of the Hebrew Bible used today goes back 2,000 years.
The discovery, announced in a Science Advances journal article by researchers in Kentucky and Jerusalem on Wednesday, was made using "virtual unwrapping," a 3D digital analysis of an X-ray scan. Researchers say it is the first time they have been able to read the text of an ancient scroll without having to physically open it.
"You can't imagine the joy in the lab," said Pnina Shor of the Israel Antiquities Authority, who participated in the study.
The digital technology, funded by Google and the U.S. National Science Foundation, is slated to be released to the public as open source software by the end of next year.
Researchers hope to use the technology to peek inside other ancient documents too fragile to unwrap, like some of the Dead Sea Scrolls and papyrus scrolls carbonized in the Mt. Vesuvius volcano eruption in 79 CE. Researchers believe the technology could also be applied to the fields of forensics, intelligence, and antiquities conservation.
The biblical scroll examined in the study was first discovered by archaeologists in 1970 at Ein Gedi, the site of an ancient Jewish community near the Dead Sea. Inside the ancient synagogue's ark, archaeologists found lumps of scroll fragments.
The synagogue was destroyed in an ancient fire, charring the scrolls. The dry climate of the area kept them preserved, but when archaeologists touched them, the scrolls would begin to disintegrate. So the charred logs were shelved for nearly half a century, with no one knowing what was written inside.
Last year, Yosef Porath, the archaeologist who excavated at Ein Gedi in 1970, walked into the Israel Antiquities Authority's Dead Sea Scrolls preservation lab in Jerusalem with boxes of the charcoal chunks. The lab has been creating hi-resolution images of the Dead Sea Scrolls, the earliest copies of biblical texts ever discovered, and he asked researchers to scan the burned scrolls.
"I looked at him and said, 'you must be joking,'" said Shor, who heads the lab.
She agreed, and a number of burned scrolls were scanned using X-ray-based micro-computed tomography, a 3D version of the CT scans hospitals use to create images of internal body parts. The images were then sent to William Brent Seales, a researcher in the computer science department of the University of Kentucky. Only one of the scrolls could be deciphered.
Using the "virtual unwrapping" technology, he and his team painstakingly captured the three-dimensional shape of the scroll's layers, using a digital triangulated surface mesh to make a virtual rendering of the parts they suspected contained text. They then searched for pixels that could signify ink made with a dense material like iron or lead. The researchers then used computer modeling to virtually flatten the scroll, to be able to read a few columns of text inside.
"Not only were you seeing writing, but it was readable," said Seales. "At that point we were absolutely jubilant."
The researchers say it is the first time a biblical scroll has been discovered in an ancient synagogue's holy ark, where it would have been stored for prayers, and not in desert caves like the Dead Sea Scrolls.
The discovery holds great significance for scholars' understanding of the development of the Hebrew Bible, researchers say.
In ancient times, many versions of the Hebrew Bible circulated. The Dead Sea Scrolls, dating to as early as the 3rd century B.C., featured versions of the text that are radically different than today's Hebrew Bible.
Scholars have believed the Hebrew Bible in its standard form first came about some 2,000 years ago, but never had physical proof, until now, according to the study. Previously the oldest known fragments of the modern biblical text dated back to the 8th century.
The text discovered in the charred Ein Gedi scroll is "100 percent identical" to the version of the Book of Leviticus that has been in use for centuries, said Dead Sea Scroll scholar Emmanuel Tov from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, who participated in the study.
"This is quite amazing for us," he said. "In 2,000 years, this text has not changed."
Noam Mizrahi, a Dead Sea Scrolls expert at Tel Aviv University who did not participate in the study, called it a "very, very nice find." He said the imaging technology holds great potential for more readings of unopened Dead Sea Scrolls.
"It's not only what was found, but the promise of what else it can uncover, which is what will turn this into an exciting discovery," Mizrahi said.
__
Tuesday, September 20, 2016
A Tip for Reading/Translating
Earlier, as I was reading a bit of Catullus 76, I over-complicated a line. I saw in line 17/18 both "umquam" and "extremam" next to each other and immediately associated them with each other. I thought "Of course 'umquam' being an adverb of time, 'extremam' must be an accusative of extent of time!" That, however, didn't make sense. I did a quick check in a grammar, and ran across, "DIRECT OBJECT", and it hit me: I still didn't read the verb, or if there was a direct object that extremam could have modified! (This was ten minutes later.) Thus, listen attentively, gentle reader: first look for the simplest reason a word would be in a sentence, even if it is Catullus. He might have "opem" as a direct object, and open to a modifier that's also accusative feminine...he just might.
-Steven C.
-Steven C.
Wednesday, June 22, 2016
Hindsight
I first learned ancient Greek a long time ago. There was a break as I switched schools and majors, but I would work on translation, the New Testament in particular. Now, as far as my grammar, I wouldn't swear by it (I wouldn't so with anything), but one would think I would be fairly good. Sadly, I'm not. It took me a year of ancient Greek to understand English syntax and now it's taken me a year of German to understand Greek. Oddly enough, there are some interesting similarities between Greek and German. One in particular, for example, is the German 'verb final' and the Greek 'tmesis' (an anachronistic term for what some verbs have in Homer). These both have verbal particles separate from the main verb. My eyes were opened when I saw it in Homer, but only after I learned of the verb final in German. Hence, the more one studies about language in general, the better one recognizes how language works in specifics. Now, I believe I am ready to re-begin my Greek learning, and I have just re-begun. This led me to see things anew, and I am seeing the anew, and I am ashamed that I didn't see them before.
Today, as I was reviewing some verbs, I noticed some similarities in some Greek tenses. This, of course, was obvious, but it wasn't for me until today. I noticed that the aorist passive is based off of the aorist active. I know...I know...DUH! But, it never clicked until today. I was sipping some mediocre green tea in a well cooled Starbucks and was reviewing phero, and saw it! I later looked at other flash cards, and saw a similar phenomenon. I was pretty well convinced when I saw it in phero, because it's a strong verb, a very strong verb. It's present, future and aorist look nothing alike! (phero...oiso...egnekon..really?) If this consistency within aorists was found in that verb, I was sure to find it in others. I will continue tomorrow on other verbs and I might do some statistical calculations, but I don't know; it's been a long time since I've done stats. Let's hope I find something more interesting tomorrow whilst drinking some rich Frenchly pressed coffee.
Today, as I was reviewing some verbs, I noticed some similarities in some Greek tenses. This, of course, was obvious, but it wasn't for me until today. I noticed that the aorist passive is based off of the aorist active. I know...I know...DUH! But, it never clicked until today. I was sipping some mediocre green tea in a well cooled Starbucks and was reviewing phero, and saw it! I later looked at other flash cards, and saw a similar phenomenon. I was pretty well convinced when I saw it in phero, because it's a strong verb, a very strong verb. It's present, future and aorist look nothing alike! (phero...oiso...egnekon..really?) If this consistency within aorists was found in that verb, I was sure to find it in others. I will continue tomorrow on other verbs and I might do some statistical calculations, but I don't know; it's been a long time since I've done stats. Let's hope I find something more interesting tomorrow whilst drinking some rich Frenchly pressed coffee.
Tuesday, June 21, 2016
Der Erste Blog-Post
I am happy to say that I've been motivated enough to start a new blog. This will be an extension of my studies, so it might be boring. Nevertheless, it will be an exciting new project for me, as I dive deeper into my language studies. This blog will focus on my findings in Greek, Latin and German. As for my experience in these languages, I have had a few years of classical Greek (actually the main grammar was from the Koine period), a semester (a fairly intensive one, which is spilling into this summer) of Latin, and a year of German (this will continue, officially, next semester). Hence, this will be a mix-up of different tidbits from whichever language I find a tidbit.
Now, as to why I am studying these languages is simple: I want to go to grad school. I plan to study either ancient history, or the New Testament. These languages are pre-required to attend a proper university, so I am learning them as an undergrad. I hope to make this informative and entertaining to everyone that is willing to read it.
Now, as to why I am studying these languages is simple: I want to go to grad school. I plan to study either ancient history, or the New Testament. These languages are pre-required to attend a proper university, so I am learning them as an undergrad. I hope to make this informative and entertaining to everyone that is willing to read it.
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