Text 9826, 53 rader
Skriven 2005-04-09 21:19:05 av Raymond Yates (1:3613/48)
   Kommentar till text 9823 av Dan Ceppa (1:123/666.0)
Ärende: 2nd Observation
=======================
 DC> On 08 Apr 05  09:24:52, Roy Witt got back to Dan Ceppa
 DC> -> Re: 2nd Observation

 DC>>> Ever see the show about the long-lost Archimedes document?

 DC>> Some billionaire learned that a copy of the one of his texts
 DC>> was found.  It was hidden under a washed and written-over copy
 DC>> of the original.

 RW>> Hmmmm. Sounds like a book of the bible that was overwritten by a
 RW>> translating monk to finish another work he thought was more
 RW>> important.

 DC> Close.  It was a prayer book.

Back in the old days it was common to re-use parchment if possible, as it was
very expensive. The reused parchment was called "palimpsest"

"A palimpsest is a manuscript on which an earlier text has been effaced and
the vellum or parchment reused for another. It was a common practice,
particularly in medieval ecclesiastical circles, to rub out an earlier piece
of writing by means of washing or scraping the manuscript, in order to prepare
it for a new text. The motive for making palimpsests seems to have been
largely economic--reusing parchment was cheaper than preparing new skin.
Another motive may have been directed by the desire of Church officials to
"convert" pagan Greek script by overlaying it with the word of God. Modern
historians, usually more interested in older writings, have employed infra-red
and digital enhancement techniques to recover the erased text, often with
remarkable results.

Among the many important palimpsests, the most notable is the Codex Ephraemi
Rescriptus of which only 209 leaves have survived. Over the original fifth
century text of the Bible, is written the twelfth century sermons of St.
Ephrem."


Many perviously missing or partial texts have been discovered underneath
later-written documents..


 DC>> Rather than keep the book to himself, he made sure it got into
 DC>> the hands of the proper people to restore and decipher the long
 DC>> lost book.

 RW>> After having the other stuff erased.

 DC> Not in the least.  They didn't want to take the chance of damaging
 DC> any of the book.



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 * Origin: Ray's Rocket Shop - Out to Launch (1:3613/48)