Previously unknown verses by Empedocles found on papyrus
thehistoryblog.com39 points by danielam 3 days ago
39 points by danielam 3 days ago
I think the image shown at the top right is the entire text that was discovered: because if you count all the lines (including even the ones where no mortal can see actual letters), you get 30. I admire the experts who can make sense out of it. Words are not separated by blanks. The first line in the second column may start with «ΚΑΙΤΟΙ ΠΩ…» ‹and yet wh…›. Below that perhaps «Η ΜΕΙΖΟΝ …» ‹or greater›. Further below even I can read clearly a «ΦΑΙΝΕΤΑΙ» ‹he / she / it appears›. Even further down I read «ΚΑΙ ΔΙΑ ΤΟΥΤΟΥ» ‹and through / per / via this›.
So is there any way to actually read it? Or do i have to buy an obscure french book? can you even buy the book? Academic publishing/gatekeeping is such a joke.
It's in the picture, I presume. Just gotta brush up on that Koine Greek. Or if you read Egyptian hieroglyphs already, you can use the Rosetta Stone to reconstruct the Koine Greek from first principles.
This feels like a knee-jerk reaction. While it may be a relevant critique of some news releases about academic research… this one literally contains a thumbnail with a link to a sufficiently-high-resolution image of the document. You can read it by clicking on the only image in the article.
It will probably be processed into an edited edition and then published as a book.
I'm hoping in these verses Empedocles complains about crappy copper from a Babylonian merchant.
Fun fact about Empedocles, in Argentinian Spanish slang it means the one who is always drunk