Oxford University wants help decoding Egyptian papyri [ Oxyrhynchus ]

BBC ^ | Tuesday, July 26, 2011 | unattributed

[SunkenCiv]

Oxford University is asking for help deciphering ancient Greek texts written on fragments of papyrus found in Egypt. Hundreds of thousands of images have gone on display on a website which encourages armchair archaeologists to help catalogue and translate them. Researchers hope the collective effort will give them a unique insight into life in Egypt nearly 2,000 years ago... The collection is made up of papyri recovered in the early 20th Century from the Egyptian city of Oxyrhynchus, the so-called "City of the Sharp-Nosed Fish". At the time the city was under Greek rule. Later the Romans settled the area. The papyri contain literature, letters and even a story about how Jesus Christ cast out demons. Scholars have been studying the Oxyrhynchus collection for more than 100 years and have already rediscovered many lost works that went missing during medieval times. They have found masterpieces by the ancient Greek poet Sappho and dramatists Menander and Sophocles.

[SunkenCiv]

Ancient Lives -- Help us to Transcribe Papyri [Photographs courtesy of Credit Body -- University of Oxford]

[SunkenCiv]

GGG managers are SunkenCiv, StayAt HomeMother & Ernest_at_the_Beach	join list or digest view topics view or post blog bookmark post a topic subscribe
To all -- please ping me to other topics which are appropriate for the GGG list.

[reaganaut]

I did a few translations of Oxy Papyrus in grad school, spells mostly. It is a fascinating collection.

[knarf]

DRINK YOUR OVALTINE

[reaganaut]

LOL. Actuall I was doing a semester long research project on Witchcraft in Greco-Roman Egypt (necromancy specifically) and my advisor insisted I do my own translations of everything. It was HELL.

[reaganaut]

*actually

[ApplegateRanch]

Not sure why they picked that particular fragment to illustrate the story.

Was it because it looks like a bear thumbing its nose; or because it looks like a parody map of the west coast of Britain?

[grey_whiskers]

I was doing a semester long research project on Witchcraft in Greco-Roman Egypt (necromancy specifically) and my advisor insisted I do my own translations of everything. It was HELL.

What do you *expect* from witchcraft? /ducking for cover>

PS -- If you don't mind, can you tell me what University you went to?

Cheers!

[Lmo56]

Hmmm ....

B ... U ... L ... L ... W ... I ... N ... K ... L ... E ...... I ... S ...... A ...... D ... O ... P ... E ......

[reaganaut]

That was while I was at UCLA.

My BA is in Biblical Studies (from a Bible College), my MA in Ancient History and my Ph.D in Medieval History.

And we used to make jokes all the time about things like that, a running comment for whatever problem it was was “I have a spell for that!”

[grey_whiskers]

UCLA?

D@mn, I thought it was Hogwarts! /cheap shot>

And tying it in with current events:

Cheers!

[reaganaut]

Don’t get me started on Harry Potter. I HATE Harry Potter so much I can’t begin to express it.

I’m more the CS LEWIS/Tolkien type, and of course Dante.

[grey_whiskers]

I only read one Harry Potter book, and that was to vet it before my kids could get to it.

The answer was "NO."

C.S. Lewis, J.R.R. Tolkien, Charles Williams, Dorothy L. Sayers, G.K. Chesterton, Hilaire Belloc, P.G. Wodehouse, Madeleine L'Engle, P.J. O'Rourke, Mark Steyn, Alexandre Dumas, Shakespeare...

Wish list: too many to count, but let's start with Elizabeth Anscombe and Plutarch (in translation, of course)...

Awww, who am I kidding? FREE REPUBLIC

Cheers!

[bunkerhill7]

I think it`s a bunch of lost emails from Arab Springtime:

one fragment:
line 1 mia pinet = `someone drinks` ??

line 2 orontte p [orontes river?]

line 3 ein osa kai ro = `which` [`and`] —or `Cairo`
line 4 xios tela an = or `600` or `Chios` [island] `would end`
line 5 i_g ep
line 6 e egei = `raise [d]`[up?], `awaken`?
line 7 g
line 8 kith = `harp`

other fragment:
einen `which`[?]
xoros dancing

translation: 600 guys from Cairo were having a bash on the Ortontes River, comlete with a pole dancer with her harp player loud enough to raise the dead. The locals thought it would never end.

[dfwgator]

“A crummy commercial....Son of a B——!”

[ApplegateRanch]

Between my eyes and my monitor, I only got two fragments (mostly) transcribed in the last half hour. Makes me feel like I’m in no better shape than the papyri.

[Pollster1]

*actually

Anyone who couldn't translate that is on the wrong thread.

[reaganaut]

LOL. Goop Doint ;)

[SunkenCiv]

:’)

[SunkenCiv]

Now that you’ve started it, it looks to me like an Easter Island statue with the face looking skyward, thumb on the chin, one foot out the back for balance.