NASA science uncovers texts of Trojan Wars, early Gospel

Chicago Tribune ^ | May 19, 2005 | Tom Hundley

[mlc9852]

OXFORD, England -- The scholars at Oxford University are not sure how it works or why; all they know is that it does.

A relatively new technology called multispectral imaging is turning a pile of ancient garbage into a gold mine of classical knowledge, bringing to light the lost texts of Sophocles and Euripides as well as some early Christian gospels that do not appear in the New Testament.

[contemplator]

Very nice.

[BenLurkin]

Ping

[RobbyS]

Amazing how a claim becomes a fact. Such as this rubbish about the Gospel of Thomas.

[Plutarch]

...some early Christian gospels that do not appear in the New Testament.

Great. We'll have pseudo-scholars coming that gospel soley to find some inference they can confabulate that Jesus was gay.

[Kenny Bunkport]

the Gospel of Thomas

I doubt it's authentic.

[newgeezer]

Oh, look -- a dividend from all our investment in NASA!</megaSarcasm>

[2banana]

All of it was collected from the rubbish dumps of Oxyrhynchus, a city that flourished after the conquest of Egypt by Alexander the Great in 332 B.C. The city remained prominent in the Roman and Byzantine periods but declined after the Arab conquest in A.D. 641.

Yep - about sums up most of the history of the middle east...

[ClearCase_guy]

People need to be aware that we already have a number of "early gospels that do not appear in the New Testament".

New additions are very interesting, and will be eagerly studied. But it's not like these should turn Christianity upside-down.

[longtermmemmory]

It may be an ancient text BUT it still may be a fraudulent ancient text.

How many french churches claim to have the holy relic foreskin of christ? (jewish boys etc)

There ancient world was probably full of fakes which were sold to eager buyers.

However, it still does not take away from the fact that this is VERY exciting. I know the friends I have in the Greek University system in Greece are very excited about this.

[mlc9852]

"The city remained prominent in the Roman and Byzantine periods but declined after the Arab conquest in A.D. 641."

Hhhmmmmm

[Kenny Bunkport]

the Oxyrhynchus Papyri, an enormous collection of texts unearthed from the rubbish heaps of the vanished city of Oxyrhynchus...The gospel of Thomas, for example, records the "Sayings of Jesus" in a manner that some scholars of early Christianity believe is more authentic than the Gospels in the New Testament.

There's probably a good reason why this stuff was found in an ancient city dump.

[r9etb]

"No one knows exactly why it produces the results it does," Obbink said of the technology. "But with texts that are difficult to read, it's a night-and-day difference."

Well, actually, it's well understood science. Different materials absorb and emit light at different wavelengths. Black ink and black papyrus have different thermal properties. It's how most remote sensing technology works...

[justshutupandtakeit]

Another city destroyed by the Muslims.

[justshutupandtakeit]

What do you mean?

[Adder]

So far, if I have this right, we haven't found any "lost" documents, like some lost play of Euripedes.

Maybe, like today's markets, such documents weren't popular enough to be widespread?

But its a "gaw-aw-lee" technology, for sure.

[mlc9852]

Wonder what researchers will think when they dig through our landfills in the future?

[peacebaby]

Rewriting the Bible/amending the Bible is worrisome to me.

[Adder]

LOL! Can you imagine if what they find is a Playboy or worse?

Actually, things ought to be almost pristine since we cap and seal landfills.

[Chinito]

Saw this on one of those Discovery/History channels. They brought in a language scholar and had him standing by while they were adjusting the camera which was pointed at these insignificant black scraps of nothing. When they hit the correct light frequency, ancient Greek words just jumped out at you. The scholar's mouth literally dropped open and the look on his face was priceless. He was able to read what hadn't been read aloud in, what, 2,000 years? Just amazing.

The scrolls recovered from Herculaneum were not only carbonized, but often compacted into solid masses, making them very difficult to work with.