Reading the Herculaneum Papyri
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- čas přidán 7. 08. 2024
- On this episode of the Toldinstone Podcast, Dr. Federica Nicolardi and I discuss the challenges of reading scrolls charred and buried by the eruption of Vesuvius in 79 AD.
Check out my other channels, @toldinstone and @scenicroutestothepast
Chapters:
0:00 Discovery of the scrolls
3:23 Opened and unopened
5:17 How to handle charred papyrus
9:11 New texts
13:17 Philodemus of Gadara
16:04 Epicurean philosophy
20:20 The library in the Villa of the Papyri
24:05 The Vesuvius Challenge
25:56 Progress so far...
28:44 The newest text
30:06 What comes next
34:20 What's still buried?
Imagine an American scientist appearing on an Italian podcast, and discussing complicated research concepts and philosophical history and ideas in fluent Italian.
This woman is extraordinary.
E che bella!
Well said! As an American of Italian heritage, I’m simply astounded by her ability to flawlessly convey such concepts in a second language. She is indeed extraordinary.
She is great! However, being amazed at someone who can speak more than one language is one of the most American things imaginable.
True, thought to give you some context, to us, english is a mandatory subject since elementary school and, though not everyone reaches the same level, a certain knowledge is needed for many works and things of everyday life.
The scientific community speaks english so a researcher needs to be able to understand and write papers in english and partake to conferences where everyone speaks english.
English is also the common language we use toward europe so every time you visit other places in europe you somewhat need it to communicate. It is pretty common for graduates to have lived abroad for a time either during university or scolarships.
Also of course a lot of music we hear is in english, a lot of the internet is in english, a lot of software is in english and so on.
A US or UK citizen might study Italian for passion but an Italian one has to study english if he wants to interact with the world.
This is not to diminish her value but to us speaking 2 or 3 languages is very useful and somewhat common in highly educated people. I would not be surprised to discover she also speaks either french, german or spanish.
I know of two American authors who learned Italian as adults and are currently writing novels in that language -- Jhumpa Lahiri & Heddi Goodrich.
It's not unheard of for Americans to learn Europeans' language, though certainly rarer than the other way around!
Jeez Dr. Garrett, you really struck gold with Dr. Nicolardi...a great discourse!
Thank you for continuing these podcasts. They are interesting and informative.
I love Napoli what a great city! I flew over Capri in a helo at 500 ft AGL it was a great memory I love Italy and Sicily and I’m not Italian btw Napoli has great architecture Bella Bella.
Absolutely wonderful to hear from someone close to these new discoveries.
I’ve been looking for reliable and regular updates on the deciphering efforts regarding the Herculaneum scrolls. Perhaps you could make these podcasts on this subject more regularly?
A poem about the Battle of Actium is featured in I, Claudius.
New information suggests that the former Consul had illegally removed these scrolls after his term ended. A golden toilet in that little room was the first clue...
Been following this in the news for awhile, as you say it's a very exciting time for this field. Thanks for covering this!
That was definitely worth the watch.
Thank you, Professor Ryan. This looks very promising.
Get in touch with Voices of the Past please!
I like this idea!
One thing I learned here is that when someone finished reading a scroll they left it with the last page on the outside. Maybe they had special librarian-slaves to do the rewind? How do you read a scroll? Maybe a video to walk us through it?
"Be kind, please rewind." lol
An old adage from the days of VHS tapes.
This was an extremely interesting discussion- thank you for making this available to all of us laypersons who are watching the progress of the Vesuvius challenge with great excitement. One question I'd like an answer to is when are we going to get translations of the new part of Epicurus' "On Nature" and other texts for the general public? My understanding is that several parts of "On Nature" have been partially recovered, which greatly expands the very limited number of texts of Epicurus we have from Antiquity. It seems odd that these are not published. Do you have any information on this?
Unfortunately, the books of "On Nature" thus far discovered have been quite fragmentary. They have, however, been published. You can read a nice summary of current work on Epicurus (with a bibliography that includes translations and commentaries) at the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy: plato.stanford.edu/ENTRIES/epicurus/
@@toldinstonefootnotes Many thanks for this very useful link and bibliography! Please do many more such videos as the Vesuvius Challenge progresses!
@@toldinstonefootnotes I second @freespirit995's follow on request. The work that these scholars are doing is very important.
Amazing. I can only recall the time an archaeologist friend of mine asked if I would help catalog and sort a tremendous amount of excavated fragments of Roman glass. I turned her down. It was the type of tedious task I was not prepared to attempt. The work on these scrolls is monumental and filled with anticipation.
Very informative conversation, very interesting. This is so exciting. I can't wait to see what else they (hopefully) find in those scrolls over the coming years.
Great interview! I learned so much
Great interview
This was amazing to hear about!
It would be my dream dor missing segments of the epic cycle to be uncovered in some of the scrolls, perhaps in scrolls yet to be unexcavated.
Would also love any works on the Celtics, rhst bordered Rome. We know so little about their culture and faith considering their vastness and long history with rome.
This was interesting. I didn't know that there was work continuing on physically unrolling the scrolls or that so much had been read. The virtual unrolling is promising, but at the moment is more proof of concept than an established method. It's such a hard problem because papyrus has a very uneven multilayed surface and ink sinks into it. The most successful virtual unrolling so far was parchment with an ink containing metal, a much easier problem.
Love Federica, she's a great speaker and lovely to listen to!
I also love the tendency to preserve that they have embraced. I think we should scan, read and preserve all the scrolls we already have before we decide to go to find new ones. We must also consider the buildings and other artifacts that would become exposed, it would be a really bad idea to bring them out if we don't have the capacity to care for them properly. From what I understand they are struggling to keep what we already have excavated safe from elements and tourists.
I enjoy your videos. But I find this one particularly interesting.
I only come here to gaze upon the glory of the Loebs behind you
philodemus lived in Gadara - Roman Jordan. the roman ruins in there still survive
the Real Question: is there a copy of the Necronomicon?
i think we all want to know
i'm guessing it's probably 60% dissertations on the Iliad or the Aeneid
Artificial Intelligence can read the scroll I’m sure you are aware you do good work great insight to the first century amazing.
Difficult and hugely expensive at the moment, but the possibility is there for a future breakthrough.
Prof. Brent Seales (computer scientist University of Kentucky)
was instrumental in the successful program to decider the
scrolls. but didn't even get a passing mention.
I interviewed him last year
are you going to post the actual podcast version of this to listen to rather than watch?
Yes, you can listen to it via Apple Podcasts
@@toldinstonefootnotes thanks. as I write this I don’t see this episode listed there.
what do they actually say they?
Dr. Federica is so beautiful
You should release these on your main channel!
too many "uhm-hmms" -- you've gotta be told
*jaw drops to floor, eyes pop out of sockets accompanied by trumpets, heart beats out of chest, awooga awooga sound effect, pulls chain on train whistle that has appeared next to head as steam blows out, slams fists on table, rattling any plates, bowls or silverware, whistles loudly, fireworks shoot from top of head, pants loudly as tongue hangs out of mouth, wipes comically large bead of sweat from forehead, clears throat, straightens tie, combs hair*
Sorry
Out of pocket but boy she’s looking her best bruh
ago (edited)
Imagine an American scientist appearing on an Italian podcast, and discussing complicated research concepts and philosophical history and ideas in fluent Italian.