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Unlocking the scrolls of Herculaneum
BBC News ^ | 12-19-2013 | Robin Banerji

Posted on 12/20/2013 9:11:01 AM PST by Renfield

For centuries scholars have been hunting for the lost works of ancient Greek and Latin literature. In the Renaissance, books were found in monastic libraries. In the late 19th Century papyrus scrolls were found in the sands of Egypt. But only in Herculaneum in southern Italy has an entire library from the ancient Mediterranean been discovered in situ.

On the eve of the catastrophe in 79 AD, Herculaneum was a chic resort town on the Bay of Naples, where many of Rome's top families went to rest and recuperate during the hot Italian summers.

It was also a place where Rome's richest engaged in a bit of cultural one-upmanship - none more so than Lucius Calpurnius Piso Caesoninus, a politician and father-in-law of Julius Caesar.

In Herculaneum, Piso built a seaside villa on a palatial scale - the width of its beach frontage alone exceeds 220m (721ft). When it was excavated in the middle of the 18th Century, it was found to hold more than 80 bronze and marble statues of the highest quality, including one of Pan having sex with a goat....

(Excerpt) Read more at bbc.co.uk ...


TOPICS: History; Science
KEYWORDS: archaeology; archeology; classics; epigraphyandlanguage; godsgravesglyphs; herculaneum; mountvesuvius; pompeii; romanempire; romans; villaofthepapyri

1 posted on 12/20/2013 9:11:01 AM PST by Renfield
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To: SunkenCiv

Ping


2 posted on 12/20/2013 9:11:18 AM PST by Renfield (Turning apples into venison since 1999!)
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To: Renfield

And you conclude your excerpt with “Pan having sex with a goat...”
Hmmmmm,,,,,...


3 posted on 12/20/2013 9:26:26 AM PST by Dr. Bogus Pachysandra ( Ya can't pick up a turd by the clean end!)
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To: Renfield
We spent a few hours in Pompeii a few years back (in July,I got the worst sunburn of my life on that day).Very impressive...I wish we could have stayed longer.Someday I'll go back (in the spring or fall) and make it to Herculaneum as well.
4 posted on 12/20/2013 9:26:45 AM PST by Gay State Conservative (Osama Obama Care: A Religion That Will Have You On Your Knees!)
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To: Renfield

I hope they find a comedy by Aristotle...


5 posted on 12/20/2013 9:29:19 AM PST by null and void (I'm betting on an Obama Trifecta: A Nobel Peace Prize, an Impeachment, AND a War Crimes Trial...)
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To: All

Isn’t that the place where the lead smelter was that the EPA shut down 2000 years ago?


6 posted on 12/20/2013 9:42:25 AM PST by BipolarBob
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To: Dr. Bogus Pachysandra

“And you conclude your excerpt with “Pan having sex with a goat...”
Hmmmmm,,,,,...”

Coming soon to a public school, museum, or Senate Bldg near you.


7 posted on 12/20/2013 9:53:20 AM PST by Da Coyote
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To: Dr. Bogus Pachysandra

Talk to the BBC. BBC must be excerpted and I had to cut it off somewhere.


8 posted on 12/20/2013 9:57:50 AM PST by Renfield (Turning apples into venison since 1999!)
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To: Renfield

“BBC must be excerpted and I had to cut it off somewhere.”

Butt you cut it off there! 8^)


9 posted on 12/20/2013 10:06:16 AM PST by Dr. Bogus Pachysandra ( Ya can't pick up a turd by the clean end!)
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To: Da Coyote

Sounds incestuous to me.


10 posted on 12/20/2013 10:09:38 AM PST by william clark (Ecclesiastes 10:2)
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To: Renfield
...including one of Pan having sex with a goat...

Pan was a Muslim? Who knew?

11 posted on 12/20/2013 10:27:05 AM PST by JimRed (Excise the cancer before it kills us; feed & water the Tree of Liberty! TERM LIMITS NOW & FOREVER!)
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To: Renfield
I've been to that site and it really is outstanding.

British Science is in error yet again. The Italian archaeologists actually know how to do this and have done this quite well long before the English got out of their huts...and therefore need NO help from "British science."

12 posted on 12/20/2013 11:24:46 AM PST by cloudmountain
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To: Renfield

Pan having sex with a goat...
Was that the 1st muslim?


13 posted on 12/20/2013 12:07:06 PM PST by minnesota_bound
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To: Dr. Bogus Pachysandra

Sounds like a Clinton-era Christmas tree ornament.


14 posted on 12/20/2013 2:13:46 PM PST by Oratam
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To: Renfield; 240B; 75thOVI; Adder; albertp; asgardshill; At the Window; bitt; blu; BradyLS; ...
Thanks Renfield, good Digest topic, and additional:

15 posted on 12/21/2013 2:40:33 AM PST by SunkenCiv (http://www.freerepublic.com/~mestamachine/)
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20-20 hindsight, but the appalling way this unique archive has been vandalized, and partly destroyed, has always sickened me.


16 posted on 12/21/2013 2:48:22 AM PST by SunkenCiv (http://www.freerepublic.com/~mestamachine/)
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Whoops, here’s the additional topic:

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/3103978/posts


17 posted on 12/21/2013 2:51:28 AM PST by SunkenCiv (http://www.freerepublic.com/~mestamachine/)
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To: Renfield

What a wonderful thing to live in a time when it is possible for science to help us read these scrolls.


18 posted on 12/21/2013 3:48:50 AM PST by PghBaldy (12/14 - 930am -rampage begins... 12/15 - 1030am - Obama's advance team scouts photo-op locations.)
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To: Renfield

I have been fascinated with these since I was a little kid.


19 posted on 12/21/2013 6:30:46 AM PST by Straight Vermonter (Posting from deep behind the Maple Curtain)
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