Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

The Rush to Save Timbuktu's Crumbling Manuscripts
Der Spiegel ^ | 08/01/2008 | Matthias Schulz and Anwen Roberts

Posted on 08/03/2008 11:38:38 PM PDT by FreedomCalls

Fabled Timbuktu, once the site of the world's southernmost Islamic university, harbors thousands upon thousands of long-forgotten manuscripts. A dozen academic instutions from around the world are now working frantically to save and evaluate the crumbling documents.

Bundles of paper covered with ancient Arabic letters lie on tables and dusty leather stools. In the sweltering heat, a man wearing blue Muslim robes flips through a worn folio, while others are busy repairing yellowed pages.

An astonishing project is underway in Timbuktu, Mali, one of the world's poorest countries. On the southern edge of the Sahara Desert, experts are opening an enchanted Aladdin's Cave, filled with hundreds of thousands of ancient documents.

The Ahmed Baba Library alone contains more than 20,000 manuscripts, including works on herbal medicine and mathematics, yellowed volumes of poetry, music and Islamic law. Some are adorned with gilded letters, while others are written in the language of the Tuareg tribes. The contents remain a mystery.

Manuscript hunters are now scouring the environs of Timbuktu, descending into dark, clay basements and climbing up into attics. Twenty-four family-owned collections have already been discovered in the area. Most of the works stem from the late Middle Ages, when Timbuktu was an important crossroads for caravans. It was home to gold merchants and scholars, and it even boasted a university with 20,000 students. The old saying "the treasures of wisdom are only to be found in Timbuktu" summed up the ancient city's appeal.

(Excerpt) Read more at spiegel.de ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Foreign Affairs
KEYWORDS: africa; epigraphyandlanguage; ggg; godsgravesglyphs; islam; mali; mohammedanism; religionofpieces; timbuktu
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-30 next last
Interesting. I wonder if there are any lost ancient Greek or Roman workds hidden among them.
1 posted on 08/03/2008 11:38:38 PM PDT by FreedomCalls
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies]

To: FreedomCalls

Timbuktu. Isn’t that on the way to Bum**** Egypt?


2 posted on 08/03/2008 11:40:16 PM PDT by Jeff Chandler (I am voting for McCain because he is white.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: SunkenCiv; blam

ping


3 posted on 08/03/2008 11:54:18 PM PDT by Smokin' Joe (How often God must weep at humans' folly.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Jeff Chandler

Perhaps you are referring to that most undesirable location to find yourself in, West Butt-Cheek, Nairobi.

Back in the day when I did a bit of sailboat racing, and we made a bad tactical decision that worked to our great disadvantage, we alwyas wound up in West Butt-Cheek, Nairobi. It wasn’t where we wanted to be.


4 posted on 08/03/2008 11:54:41 PM PDT by John Valentine
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: John Valentine

Timbuktu, Bum**** Egypt, West Butt-Cheek, Nairob, Outer Mongolia, ain’t none of those places fit for man or beast.


5 posted on 08/03/2008 11:59:22 PM PDT by Jeff Chandler (I am voting for McCain because he is white.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 4 | View Replies]

To: FreedomCalls

I doubt it. Tombouctou is strickly islamic, anything sacrilegious was/is/will be destroyed.
Out good friend Qadaffi is spending $ 800M to built a mosque there, allegedly his mother was from Timbuktu. His goal is to have that region break away from the rest of Mali.


6 posted on 08/04/2008 12:02:53 AM PDT by RexFamilia
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Jeff Chandler

I disagree, Outer Mongolia is a great place; pro-american, gorgeous women, friendly (hard-drinking) men, good hunting.
If you don’t mind the cold weather (50-60 below zero in winter) it is a place highly recommend to visit.


7 posted on 08/04/2008 12:08:00 AM PDT by RexFamilia
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 5 | View Replies]

To: RexFamilia
anything sacrilegious was/is/will be destroyed.

For a lonng time hardly anyone in Timbuktu has been able to read these documents. If you can't read it you can't find sacrilege.

8 posted on 08/04/2008 12:46:20 AM PDT by Lucius Cornelius Sulla (Obama "King of Kings and Lord of Lords")
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 6 | View Replies]

To: Jeff Chandler

Geeze! What’s next? Kalamazoo?


9 posted on 08/04/2008 12:57:13 AM PDT by compound w
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: Lucius Cornelius Sulla

Thats not quite true; any person going to Timboktu, can see and read (if has knowledge of arabic or the squiggly writing) the manuscripts.
Unfortunately, any islamist that can’t understand the writing (and most of them can’t read) will consider it sacrilegious and will destroy it.


10 posted on 08/04/2008 1:10:13 AM PDT by RexFamilia
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 8 | View Replies]

To: RexFamilia
Mongolia is cool. A horse riding nation wich is our ally... and they are the descendants of Jengis Khan. Plus for countless years they scared the heck out of the Chinese.
11 posted on 08/04/2008 1:13:30 AM PDT by SolidWood (Obamarxislamism, the threat to our Republic!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 7 | View Replies]

To: FreedomCalls
The Rush to Save Timbuktu's Crumbling Manuscripts

That's a mighty nice thing to do for Limbaugh. I didn't know that The Rush was into that old crumbling manuscripts stuff.

12 posted on 08/04/2008 1:15:05 AM PDT by SolidWood (Obamarxislamism, the threat to our Republic!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: SolidWood

Plus for countless years they scared the heck out of the Chinese.

... and they still do; ChiCom do not allow Mongols to attend the olympic games.


13 posted on 08/04/2008 1:21:57 AM PDT by RexFamilia
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 11 | View Replies]

To: compound w

Tim and I met the girls along the way
Since they were three and we were two
I bucked one and TIM-BUCKED-TWO

I just couldn’t resist.


14 posted on 08/04/2008 1:28:05 AM PDT by RexFamilia
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 9 | View Replies]

To: RexFamilia

Awesome, man!! :)


15 posted on 08/04/2008 1:29:36 AM PDT by compound w
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 14 | View Replies]

To: John Valentine
Back in the day when I did a bit of sailboat racing, and we made a bad tactical decision that worked to our great disadvantage, we always wound up in West Butt-Cheek, Nairobi. It wasn’t where we wanted to be.

All sailors know of that marine-radar marketed as "Fugawi".

16 posted on 08/04/2008 2:55:17 AM PDT by Does so (...against all enemies, DOMESTIC and foreign...)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 4 | View Replies]

To: SunkenCiv

Timbuktu and back -— ping


17 posted on 08/04/2008 3:00:51 AM PDT by Red_Devil 232 (VietVet - USMC All Ready On The Right? All Ready On The Left? All Ready On The Firing Line!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Jeff Chandler
" The old saying "the treasures of wisdom are only to be found in Timbuktu" ... "

Oh yeah, I remember that one .. every school child learned that right after George Washington and the cherry tree.

18 posted on 08/04/2008 3:25:34 AM PDT by knarf (I say things that are true ... I have no proof ... but they're true.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: RexFamilia

Moslems copied lot of Greco-Roman material but they probably destroyed even more. Hard to say what is down there.


19 posted on 08/04/2008 3:38:12 AM PDT by Eternal_Bear (`)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 6 | View Replies]

To: FreedomCalls

Interesting. Of the groups that are “rushing” to preserve these manuscripts, how many are Islamic and how many are from the infidels?


20 posted on 08/04/2008 4:25:24 AM PDT by theBuckwheat
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-30 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson