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2000-Year-Old Burned Papyrus Mentioning Alexander the Great Analyzed by AI

Started by davidb, December 22, 2023, 03:43:54 AM

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Jim Webster

I suspect we're going to see more and more over the next few years. Looking good  8)

BjörnF

I am a little late here, but this scroll could change a lot of our understanding of the years directly after the death of Alexander, especially with things connected with Seleukos and the east.

I am pretty interested in this period, so far I have written two articles about it for Slingshot, but I am unsure if I should continue writing, because this scroll will most likely just prove me wrong on some of my wilder speculations.  ;D
My Macedonian Miniature project: https://www.facebook.com/Kestrophedrone

Jon Freitag

Quote from: BjörnF on January 03, 2024, 12:26:14 PMI am pretty interested in this period, so far I have written two articles about it for Slingshot, but I am unsure if I should continue writing, because this scroll will most likely just prove me wrong on some of my wilder speculations.  ;D
Science and knowledge would not advance without the occasional "wilder speculation."  You could be correct!

Imperial Dave

Slingshot Editor

Keraunos

Quote from: BjörnF on January 03, 2024, 12:26:14 PMI am a little late here, but this scroll could change a lot of our understanding of the years directly after the death of Alexander, especially with things connected with Seleukos and the east.

I am pretty interested in this period, so far I have written two articles about it for Slingshot, but I am unsure if I should continue writing, because this scroll will most likely just prove me wrong on some of my wilder speculations.  ;D


I share your interest in this period and sense of excitement at the prospect of modern technology deciphering the carbonised scrolls from Herculaneum.  Whether they will upend our understanding of the past is another matter.  In the 19th Century, at the height of British classicists interest in all things Spartan, one eminent scholar said that if only some of Tyrtaeus' poetry could be found it would prove the superiority of Spartans over Athenians in this field of human endeavour.  Well, fragments of Tyrtaeus were found and proved nothing of the sort. 

We simply have to make the best use of the knowledge that we have at this time, rather than sit around wondering whether anything else may turn up.  Something may well turn up, but we have no idea what.