A trove of blackened, illegible manuscripts from an ancient garbage dump have defied scholars for over a hundred years. Now, thanks to infrared technology, these ancient texts are finally speaking. Over the past few days, a team from Oxford University has successfully deciphered pieces of works by Sophocles, Euripides, and Hesiod – and the treasure hunt has only begun.
Rendered unreadable by the decay of the centuries, thousands of papyri fragments were rescued from a trash heap in the Graeco-Egyptian town of Oxyrhynchus in the late 1800s. Classics scholars have drooled over these manuscripts since their discovery, but have been able to translate only a relatively small number – until recently. Now, the papyri are being hauled out of storage at Oxford's Sackler Library and their faded words revealed for the first time.
While the words on the fragments are invisible under normal white light, infrared light reveals their ancient ink. Using a new technique developed from satellite imaging, each fragment is exposed to infrared light and photographed. There are 400,000 fragments in the Oxyrhynchus collection, and the project promises to take several years.
The majority of the fragments contain the paperwork of day-to-day life; letters, court records, tax information, shopping lists. However, even in just the last few days, portions of lost works by several famous Greek writers have been discovered. Researchers have recovered snatches of writings by Sophocles (famous for the play Oedipus Rex), Euripides, Hesiod, and Lucian. One find, a paragraph from an epic poem by Archilochos, dates to the 7th century B.C. - the century of Judah's kings Manasseh and Josiah.
Scholars speculate on finding lost Christian manuscripts among the thousands of fragments. If they do find previously unknown Christian "gospels" or letters, scholars will still have to investigate and debate the authority of such writings. On the whole, the collection will offer greater insight into the Greek and Roman culture of the pre-Christian and Christian era. The new information gleaned from the texts may help Biblical scholars more fully comprehend the world in which the Bible was written.
Dr Dirk Obbink, the Oxford academic directing the research, commented: "The Oxyrhynchus collection is of unparalleled importance - especially now that it can be read fully and relatively quickly. The material will shed light on virtually every aspect of life in Hellenistic and Roman Egypt, and, by extension, in the classical world as a whole."
Related Links:
• Extraordinary Discovery Unlocks Secrets of the Ancients - The Independent