Posted on 04/29/2024 11:34:47 PM PDT by mairdie
The papyrus had been buried under metres of ash at the house, believed to have belonged to Julius Caesar’s father-in-law, after Vesuvius erupted in AD79 and scholars have spent the last 250 years painstakingly trying to find a way to read its contents, The Times reports.
Now Professor Graziano Ranocchia of the University of Pisa and his colleagues have used techniques, including shortwave infrared hyperspectral imaging, which picks up variations in the way light bounces off the black ink on the papyrus, to decipher the document.
Professor Ranocchia described the scroll as 'the oldest history of Greek philosophy in our possession'.
The professor said that Plato welcoming his visitor, referred to in the writings as the 'Chaldean guest', showed that the great philosopher 'exercised his duties', adding that 'hospitality was sacred for the Greeks'.
The scroll also helped to confirm that Plato was buried at the Academy of Athens, which he founded, but adds the detail that the ancient thinker's resting place was in a designated garden within the university grounds.
(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...
Always thinking of you when I think of ancient history.
Egyptian Fayum Portraits of the Ptolemaic Period
https://youtu.be/ghLdvoR81f4
Criticizing his slave’s lack of rhythm while playing the flute could mean something else.
in a designated garden within the university grounds
So get the lydar and get to looking...
Little known fact: The pre-Socratic Greek philosopher Georgias’ last name was George.
Hey now!
hemlock was it?
It’s poison.
yeah it is!
I always suspected he’d come to no good.
Thanks mairdie! Finally a real blockbuster find in the papyri.
Only if you drink it....................
Plato they say, could stick it away, half a crate of whiskey, every day.
His original name was Aristocles, although there’s a YouTuber who makes the unfounded claim that it wasn’t, attributing this to a paper published in 1939.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plato#Names
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sae5h5V4EnY
Really? That seems to promote homosexual behavior
Plato was supposedly a nickname from his days as a Olympic competitor in wrestling.
Perhaps the library contained a copy of Aristotle’s missing book of Poetics
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.