Yesterday the Independent ran an article about the recent deciphering of the oxyrhynchus papyri, a trove of ancient documents discovered in the 19th century that were long considered too damaged to read. Scientists at Oxford and BYU have now used infrared and what sounds like image sharpening software to render them legible. Here's the description from The Independent:
The previously unknown texts, read for the first time last week, include parts of a long-lost tragedy - the Epigonoi ("Progeny") by the 5th-century BC Greek playwright Sophocles; part of a lost novel by the 2nd-century Greek writer Lucian; unknown material by Euripides; mythological poetry by the 1st-century BC Greek poet Parthenios; work by the 7th-century BC poet Hesiod; and an epic poem by Archilochos, a 7th-century successor of Homer, describing events leading up to the Trojan War. Additional material from Hesiod, Euripides and Sophocles almost certainly await discovery.
Today Salon's Andrew Leonard rhapsodises about it and provides links to a wired story about the promises for future discoveries.
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