Freethought & Rationalism Archive

vid · 05-02-2008, 01:32 AM

Hi, I know that for some time, scientists are able to read original Epicurean texts from Villa of Papyri. Since we have very little texts from Epicureans, these would be very valuable.

Are these texts somewhere published and/or translated to english?

Note: I realize this is not exactly "biblical criticism", I was pointed to ask here from here.

Toto · 05-02-2008, 12:49 PM

It looks like there is an ongoing project involving those texts:

Philodemus Project at UCLA

Quote:

In 1752 workers tunneling into a large, wealthy villa which would have overlooked the Bay in antiquity discovered a large number of what appeared to be sticks of charcoal, some of them bundled together. Upon closer inspection, these sticks proved to be rolls of the ancient writing material papyrus. Numerous attempts to open these rolls and read their contents failed, due to their extreme fragility and the fact that they were burnt by the ca. 300 degree Celsius volcanic flow, compressed by the weight of rubble and mud, and congealed by water. Eventually, several hundred of the rolls were partly cut apart and partly unrolled. Most turned out to be works of Epicurean philosophy, with books by the first century B.C. Epicurean philosopher Philodemus of Gadara, who came to Italy around 80 B.C., especially well represented. Apparently, the Villa of the Papyri contained an extensive library, a significant part of which was formed by a library of Epicurean texts, some of which were present in more than one copy.

The difficulties involved in unrolling, reading, and interpreting these texts were formidable. Naples was not a particularly hospitable destination for classical scholars. Finally, the philosophies of the Hellenistic schools were neither well-known nor highly regarded until quite recently. These factors combined to cripple scholarly interest in and use of the Herculaneum papyri. Recently, however, in part due to the efforts of the International Center for the Study of the Herculaneum Papyri, these rolls have been the object of renewed scholarly work and have yielded many findings indispensable for the study of Hellenistic philosophy.

The Philodemus Project is an international effort which aims, supported by a major grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities and by the generous contributions of individuals and participating universities, to reconstruct new texts of Philodemus' works on Poetics, Rhetoric, and Music. These texts will be published, along with translations and notes, in a series of volumes by Oxford University Press.

There have been some books published:

Marcello Gigante, Philodemus in Italy: The Books from Herculaneum (or via: amazon.co.uk). Translated by Dirk Obbink. Can be previewed on Google Books. There is a Review by a professor of theology, to bring this within the area of this forum.

also

The Library of the Villa dei Papiri at Herculaneum (or via: amazon.co.uk) reviewed here.

Fascinating topic.

vid · 05-02-2008, 03:02 PM

Thank you, I'll definitively try to get these books!

Link said that even fragments of On Nature by Epicurus are preserved - That's wonderful, I wonder why no epicurean website doesn't provide it.

For those who are fortunate enough to understand greek, wikipedia article in Philodemus has links to fragments of Philodemus "On Rhetoric":
http://collections.stanford.edu/publ...eID=544280267X
http://collections.stanford.edu/publ...eID=541529676X
http://books.google.com/books?id=yu4YAAAAMAAJ
Since I didn't understand a word from them, I am not sure what they really contain.

Kharakov · 05-02-2008, 10:37 PM

You might want to check with Roger Pearse and/or Charles Gadda who both seem to be interested in ancient manuscripts and lurk in these parts (which is why I sent you here in the first place).

05-02-2008, 01:32 AM	#1
vid Regular Member Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: Myjava, Slovakia Posts: 384	Epicurean Texts from Villa of Papyri Hi, I know that for some time, scientists are able to read original Epicurean texts from Villa of Papyri. Since we have very little texts from Epicureans, these would be very valuable. Are these texts somewhere published and/or translated to english? Note: I realize this is not exactly "biblical criticism", I was pointed to ask here from here.

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05-02-2008, 03:02 PM	#3
vid Regular Member Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: Myjava, Slovakia Posts: 384	Thank you, I'll definitively try to get these books! Link said that even fragments of On Nature by Epicurus are preserved - That's wonderful, I wonder why no epicurean website doesn't provide it. For those who are fortunate enough to understand greek, wikipedia article in Philodemus has links to fragments of Philodemus "On Rhetoric": http://collections.stanford.edu/publ...eID=544280267X http://collections.stanford.edu/publ...eID=541529676X http://books.google.com/books?id=yu4YAAAAMAAJ Since I didn't understand a word from them, I am not sure what they really contain.

05-02-2008, 10:37 PM	#4
Kharakov Veteran Member Join Date: Aug 2000 Location: Fidel Posts: 3,383	You might want to check with Roger Pearse and/or Charles Gadda who both seem to be interested in ancient manuscripts and lurk in these parts (which is why I sent you here in the first place).

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