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Lost Languages Discovered in One of the World's Oldest Continuously Run Libraries (smithsonianmag.com)
Saint Catherine's Monastery, a sacred Christian site nestled in the shadow of Mount Sinai, is home to one of the world's oldest continuously used libraries. Thousands of manuscripts and books are kept there -- some of which contain hidden treasures. An anonymous reader shares a report: Now, a team of researchers is using new technology to uncover texts that were erased and written over by the monks who lived and worked at the monastery. Many of these original texts were written in languages well known to researchers -- Latin, Greek, Arabic -- but others were inscribed in long-lost languages that are rarely seen in the historical record. Manuscripts with multiple layers of writing are known as palimpsests, and there are about 130 of them at St. Catherine's Monastery, according to the website of the Early Manuscript Electronic Library, which has been leading the initiative to uncover the original texts. With the rise of Islam in the 7th century, Christian sites in the Sinai Desert began to disappear, and Saint Catherine's found itself in relative isolation. Monks turned to reusing older parchments when supplies at the monastery ran scarce. To uncover the palimpsests' secret texts, researchers photographed thousands of pages multiple times, illuminating each page with different-colored lights. They also photographed the pages with light shining onto them from behind, or from an oblique angle, which helped "highlight tiny bumps and depressions in the surface," Gray writes. They then fed the information into a computer algorithm, which is able to distinguish the more recent texts from the originals.
You can lift multiple layers of writing from a piece of paper.
The cesspool just got a check and balance.
I'm surprised they didn't burn it.
Once again AI is robbing researchers of jobs. Once upon a time this would have been done by university researchers, now AI is cheaper, better, and faster.
But perhaps the most intriguing finds are the manuscripts written in obscure languages that fell out of use many centuries ago. Two of the erased texts, for instance, were inked in Caucasian Albanian, a language spoken by Christians in what is now Azerbaijan. According to Sarah Laskow of Atlas Obscura, Caucasian Albanian only exists today in a few stone inscriptions. Michael Phelps, director of the Early Manuscripts Electronic Library, tells Gray of the Atlantic that the discovery of Caucasian Albanian writings at Saint Catherine’s library has helped scholars increase their knowledge of the language’s vocabulary, giving them words for things like “net” and “fish.”
Other hidden texts were written in a defunct dialect known as Christian Palestinian Aramaic, a mix of Syriac and Greek, which was discontinued in the 13th century only to be rediscovered by scholars in the 18th century.
Of course, with sea related words discovered, the obvious line of jokes is to connect this with the Deep Ones, Dagon and Cthulhu. No doubt, the true horror in the more obscure texts is being kept quiet, possibly known only to the Laundry and the Black Chamber.
...that Islam is a relatively new religion in the Middle East, and that both Judaism and Christianity predated it by centuries? How can that be?
A co-worker has complained to our manager, when I pointed a similar fact out during a conversation.
The manager then reprimanded me pointing out the company's policy against "harassment" — even though no one on our team is a Muslim.
In Soviet Washington the swamp drains you.
I wonder if they'll find some Klingon texts.
"Today, I am to do battle with this book. I will mercilessly stab the book with my pen, until it dies the final death. On the way to Kahless, it will bleed the appropriate text onto its page-like corpse."
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Pascal?
Modula-2?
PL/I?
Java?
researchers have photographed 74 palimpsests, which boast 6,8000 pages between them
That's a lot.
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Really their algorithm is AI and has become sentient writing its own languages. Once they finally decode the language they will find its full of "your floppy disk is so small, even if you could upgrade to a hard disk, you still couldn't get an OS to boot with you." Jokes.
Current Text: Jesus wept... ...and said, "Damn those hot wings are spicy!"
Recovered Text:
Care killed the cat, but satisfaction brought it back.
...I was sure of it.
With the rise of Islam in the 7th century, Christian sites in the Sinai Desert began to disappear,
The same thing is happening now in Europe
...that Islam, a sect that claims their god and worship methodology is perfect, took at least three times to get the house rules right?
The Wayfinders: Why Ancient Wisdom Matters in the Modern World (CBC Massey Lecture) by Wade Davis
The 2009 CBC Massey Lectures, "The Wayfinders: Why Ancient Wisdom Matters in the Modern World"
Was the marketing department on holiday, there are no algorithms anymore, only machine learning and AI?
Because there's a difference between burning books at some points in time (which Christianity certainly did, as did many other religious and ideologies) and burning books being such a complete default that one should be "surprised" by it. In that context, just like some of the other Islam related comments in this thread, it is classic trolling, and if sincere says more about the people making the statements than it does about the groups they are making comments about.
Says more what?
This is a nice example of "innuendo from nothing". It implies that the people in a debate are somehow inferior, while saying exactly nothing about them.
It's a cross between an ad-hominem attack and a stand-alone complex.
Shouldn't we focus on the debate instead of the character of the debater?
Why? Because it is? I know that you're a small minded individual unable to critically think but you might be shocked to learn...
Does this address the points he made, or is it an attempt to derail the issue by getting into a shouting match?
How does something like this get modded up?
If we allow this sort of thing on our debate floor (and yes, this forum is ours) we will never have reasoned debate.
It'll be trivial to take any subject out of view by derailing it.
If we let it. Please don't mod this crap up.
"...Christian sites in the Sinai Desert began to disappear."
That tends to happen when the inhabitants are brutally murdered and the structures burned, as was usually the case.
No, they're not. I live in the middle of one of those purported no-go zones. I'm no unsafer than anywhere in the country.
HA d dd duwinm ika sdi sk askk a ssiisks qwjw ala sknnf alsjk sjdnaklk
Often found in the fields of Britain.
Melted butter?!?!?
Heretic! The butter is to be solid, fresh from the churn, lightly salted, then lovingly applied to the pasta by the worshiper. The only exception to this allowed by the canon is when The Sauce is to be applied, and yea, verily, it is still holy to use the butter with the sauce. Cheese also is holy, very holy. And I'm not talking about the Swiss; for that, we have to go back to the vat again.
Ramen
I've fallen off your lawn, and I can't get up.
Was it English?