Freethought & Rationalism Archive

Toto · 07-27-2011, 12:44 PM

Oxford Seeks Volunteers to Decipher Mysterious Lost Gospel Texts

Quote:

The fragments of parchment all date from between 500 BC to 1,000 AD and are written in Greek, a testament to the fact that Egypt spent that period under Greek or Roman rule. Researchers on the project have already discovered some gems, including an account of Jesus Christ exorcising demons and lost works by the ancient Greek poet Sappho and dramatists Menander and Sophocles. But much remains to be discovered.

...

BBC on same topic

Quote:

But although they are written in Greek, visitors to the website do not have to have any knowledge of the language in order to use an online tool to help analyse the fragments.

One letter, written in 127 AD, which has already been translated is from a grandmother called Sarapias asking that her daughter is brought home so that she can be present at the birth of her grandchild.

Project director Dr Dirk Obbink said: "We aim to transcribe as much as possible of the original papyri, and then identify and reconstruct the text.

"No single pair of eyes can see and read everything. From scientists and professors to school students and ancient enthusiasts, everyone has something to contribute - and gain."

You can see the texts here, with a handy software tool that displays variations in letters:

http://ancientlives.org/tutorial/transcribe

aeebee50 · 07-27-2011, 01:03 PM

Neat. Now when I study Greek I will have something to compare to.

Toto · 07-28-2011, 09:24 AM

Crowdsourcing Papyrus Transcription

vid · 07-29-2011, 10:15 AM

This one looks interesting... http://papyri.s3.amazonaws.com/data/...s/1/1.00_0.jpg

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07-27-2011, 01:03 PM	#2
aeebee50 Veteran Member Join Date: Sep 2010 Location: Texas Posts: 5,810	Neat. Now when I study Greek I will have something to compare to.

07-28-2011, 09:24 AM	#3
Toto Contributor Join Date: Jun 2000 Location: Los Angeles area Posts: 40,549	Crowdsourcing Papyrus Transcription

07-29-2011, 10:15 AM	#4
vid Regular Member Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: Myjava, Slovakia Posts: 384	This one looks interesting... http://papyri.s3.amazonaws.com/data/...s/1/1.00_0.jpg

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