Wednesday, December 20, 2017

UCLA and the Sinai Palimpsests Project

TECHNOLOGY WATCH: Lost ancient texts recovered and published online through international partnership. Arcadia funds project of St. Catherine’s Monastery, the UCLA Library, and Early Manuscripts Electronic Library(Kathy Brown, UCLA Library).
Previously unknown classical Greek mythological and medical works, newly discovered classical scientific texts preserved only in Syriac translation, religious writings in extinct languages, an ancient Christian poem describing Old Testament figures in Homeric style and detailed illustrations of plants, buildings and people have re-emerged for the first time in centuries through the Sinai Palimpsests Project.

[...]
It's good to see that my alma mater UCLA is involved with this important project.

For new readers: a palimpsest is a manuscript that has two layers of writing on it, an older one that has been erased, and a more recent text that was written over the erased one. Modern technology is increasingly allowing us to recover the erased lower layer of writing on these manuscripts.

For more on the palimpsests from St. Catherine's Monastery, see here and links. For other posts on palimpsest manuscripts, start here and follow the links.

Visit PaleoJudaica daily for the latest news on ancient Judaism and the biblical world.