Bede

Godfry,

A while back you asked about a reference to one Balbillus being put in charge of the great library and gave a reference to a book by one H Pflaum. I have finally got myself into the Institute of Classical Studies to look this up and find something for Reasonable Doubt.

Anyway, the upshot is you score your point. Plaum quotes an inscription from Ephesus dating from the reign of Claudius which reads (the square brackets being the reconstructed bit of the damaged inscription):

Thsi translates roughly as Balbillus being set over: "the temples of divine Augustus and ..... all the sacred places which are in Alexandria and the whole of Egypt and over the museum and concerning the Alexandrian library and chief priests and to Alexandrine Hermes for x years and to the embassies and Greek oracles (of divine Claudius Caesar Augustus) and military tribune to the 20th legion"

Whether this means the Great, Royal or Ptolemaic library is not stated. You probably think it does whereas I'll stick to Plutarch writing around this time and saying it was destroyed by Julius Caesar. This is the only time that the museum is specifically mentioned with a library and is interesting just for that.

Yours

Bede

<a href="http://www.bede.org.uk" target="_blank">Bede's Library - faith and reason</a>

Bede

Bumped in case he hasn't noticed...

Jayhawker Soule

Speaking of which, you never did get back to me on those tests you mentioned.

[ December 11, 2002: Message edited by: ReasonableDoubt ]</p>

Bede

Yes I did. I explained how experts in palaeography date document into fifty year margins using dated documents. I also gave three books that you could look at that use this technique and explain. What else do you want?

B

Jayhawker Soule

Sorry, Bede, I'm honestly not trying to be obtuse. Back on August 15th you wrote:

• Tests (using palaeography to date documents we know the date of) suggest we can get an accuracy of about +-25 years or so.

I'm requesting citations referencing those tests. Thanks.

Jayhawker Soule

I just came across the following: <a href="http://www.radiocarbon.org/Journal/v37n1/Abstracts/3.html" target="_blank">14C Dating of Scrolls and Linen Fragments from the Judean Desert</a>. While I've yet to study it, it serves as an example of the types of tests I've been looking for.

[ December 12, 2002: Message edited by: ReasonableDoubt ]</p>