The preservation of ancient history is mind-blowing. We know more about Akkadian, Sumerian, Babylonian, and Assyrian history than Greek and Roman because they used "indestructible" clay tablets instead of libraries ( βιβλιοθήκη) . Millions of these tablets still exist today. We have incredible detail on daily life, politics, and even urgent letters because their records, inscribed in durable cuneiform, survived for thousands of years, giving us a clearer picture of their world than many later civilizations.
Any of Claudius's many works even on subjects as thrilling as Etruscan paleography would be wonderful. Apart from Marcus Aurelius it would be the only actual literary work by an Emperor. You get the impression that so far the works discovered at Herculaneum are in their limitation to Philodemus a bit like finding the private library of an elite Scientologist.
The Papyri are the most exited I got over ongoing archeological discoveries in my lifetime. The possibilities are endless (and so may be the disappointments) but still hopeful.
It would be great to get anything of it. I've managed to convince my local library to buy a couple more of your books as I really enjoyed your biography of Caesar.
Finding the private thoughts of Marcus Antonius Gnipho would be amazing. Gnipho was a romanized Celt renouned in his time as a gifted grammarian who tutored a young Julius Caesar and Cicero for a time. And, seeing Caesar's choice as his theatre of war during his campaigns of conquest, Gnipho influence on his young pupil should not be underestimated.
I said the same thing, but what are the chances that Claudius’ books ended up there? Also Claudius’ book on dice playing could be the first book on stochastics,
One place I could see current large language models being useful is in large scale searches for concepts. You might now use a computer to search a huge database of ancient literature for a particular word or phrase, checking far more than you could reasonably read. Because an LLM in some sense understands the context of what it's reading, you could have it search for a more abstract idea--discussions of unrequited love, battlefield medicine, anything as specific or general as you want.
I read a lot of books without noticing mistakes but once someone pointed it out to me i started noticing them . Weird how the brain works. Enjoyed the video , thanks.
What I'd like to see is something that confirms or denies accounts of events. I see a lot of historical accounts as little more than propaganda. It's written by people paid to record history but that always brings with it the risk of writing from a particular viewpoint.. If the scrolls contain a different perspective on any of the texts that have already been scrutinised, then there is an opportunity to revisit the accepted version of events. Similarly, if there are texts that corroborate historical records, then that potentially strengthens the evidence for their accuracy.
I also don't completely trust the histories of Josephus. He was considered by some to be a traitor and was in the employ of the Romans. How can you trust someone like that writing "history"? I find it hard to believe it's an accurate account of events, not because he changed sides, so to speak, or even because he contradicts himself in different texts, but because of the ramifications of not writing it the way certain influential people wanted it written. If the choice is that or crucifixion, what is the likelihood of a self-serving character like Josephus recording the truth?
You will find something like chatgpt much more helpful when you get a grip on it. As far as what I would love to see, it would be some Christian and Jewish works. Just imagine if we could find the Q source or The Sayings of the Elders referenced in the Talmud. Having said that, if we have a text of a book we have now, it would be great to compare it to what we have now to see any changes
It's also worth noting that there are things that we won't find, like another historian equivalent to thucydides or tacitus. We know this because when the ancients themselves list the very best historians they don't mention authors whose works we don't have. My top picks for discovery, which are not likely to be found at Herculaneum, would be Ephorus or Asinius Pollio in terms of historians, or simply more of the lost Greek drama.
As a Brit, it would obviously be "On the Ocean" by Pythias of Massalia. (Always interesting to know what your ancestors were doing even if it was disgusting.)
This would be wonderful, but alas . . . It's contents simply withered and rotted away over the centuries. By the time the library itself physically collapsed - probably somewhere in the three hundred years between 500 CE to 800 CE - there wasn't much left. On top of that (no pun intended) the actual location of the Library itself has not come down to us. But who knows, maybe someday . . . Cheers!
Yea but that library is gone isn't it? Also, this library would be in the same tradition as the one of Alexandria. Same Greco/Roman culture, same works. In many ways, this IS the real library of Alexandria, with tons of secrets waiting to be unlocked with this new scanning technology
I hope they're not still manually trying to unscroll them, we're not there yet but we will be, eventually computer technology will be such that we'll be able to put each scroll through a scanner that'll move through each layer detecting the ink molecules and exactly where they are, then make a perfect reconstruction. Kind of like they're doing now but way more advanced.
They never did that. They were explicitly kept and not touched, because the science was waiting for a method to read them. Now we have that method. That's why we are talking about the scrolls
Two videos in two days. Nice! You're spoiling us. 🙂
The preservation of ancient history is mind-blowing. We know more about Akkadian, Sumerian, Babylonian, and Assyrian history than Greek and Roman because they used "indestructible" clay tablets instead of libraries ( βιβλιοθήκη) . Millions of these tablets still exist today. We have incredible detail on daily life, politics, and even urgent letters because their records, inscribed in durable cuneiform, survived for thousands of years, giving us a clearer picture of their world than many later civilizations.
Any of Claudius's many works even on subjects as thrilling as Etruscan paleography would be wonderful. Apart from Marcus Aurelius it would be the only actual literary work by an Emperor. You get the impression that so far the works discovered at Herculaneum are in their limitation to Philodemus a bit like finding the private library of an elite Scientologist.
My mind went straight to Cladius' Etruscan history, I'll never live down the loss of that work
I want to see histories. Those are always the best stories.
Would love to read Claudius's history of Carthage.
I laughed out loud at Gussy's interfering meowing
I would be delighted if the missing books of Polybius to turned up!
Likewise, Livy.
Exactly the kind of video that makes this the best channel on this website. Thanks, Doc!
The Papyri are the most exited I got over ongoing archeological discoveries in my lifetime. The possibilities are endless (and so may be the disappointments) but still hopeful.
It would be great to get anything of it. I've managed to convince my local library to buy a couple more of your books as I really enjoyed your biography of Caesar.
We will take anything
Finding the private thoughts of Marcus Antonius Gnipho would be amazing.
Gnipho was a romanized Celt renouned in his time as a gifted grammarian who tutored a young Julius Caesar and Cicero for a time.
And, seeing Caesar's choice as his theatre of war during his campaigns of conquest, Gnipho influence on his young pupil should not be underestimated.
The capability of modern technologies are breath taking.
The most exciting find to me would be Claudius' histories of Etruria and Carthage and his Etruscan dictionary.
I said the same thing, but what are the chances that Claudius’ books ended up there? Also Claudius’ book on dice playing could be the first book on stochastics,
One place I could see current large language models being useful is in large scale searches for concepts. You might now use a computer to search a huge database of ancient literature for a particular word or phrase, checking far more than you could reasonably read. Because an LLM in some sense understands the context of what it's reading, you could have it search for a more abstract idea--discussions of unrequited love, battlefield medicine, anything as specific or general as you want.
I would love to have Augustus's autobiography as well as Claudius's history of the julio-claudians!!
I read a lot of books without noticing mistakes but once someone pointed it out to me i started noticing them . Weird how the brain works. Enjoyed the video , thanks.
The emperor Julians commentaries and the remainder of against the Christians, and then Dexippus, Eunapius and so many more
Username checks out! Also the complete Celsus would be great to have, or anything else from that early Christian debate.
`Julian was a couple of centuries later than the eruption
I want to see the Satyricon, I love the bit that survives would have been a fun and funny novel to read in it's entirety
What I'd like to see is something that confirms or denies accounts of events. I see a lot of historical accounts as little more than propaganda. It's written by people paid to record history but that always brings with it the risk of writing from a particular viewpoint.. If the scrolls contain a different perspective on any of the texts that have already been scrutinised, then there is an opportunity to revisit the accepted version of events. Similarly, if there are texts that corroborate historical records, then that potentially strengthens the evidence for their accuracy.
I also don't completely trust the histories of Josephus. He was considered by some to be a traitor and was in the employ of the Romans. How can you trust someone like that writing "history"? I find it hard to believe it's an accurate account of events, not because he changed sides, so to speak, or even because he contradicts himself in different texts, but because of the ramifications of not writing it the way certain influential people wanted it written. If the choice is that or crucifixion, what is the likelihood of a self-serving character like Josephus recording the truth?
You will find something like chatgpt much more helpful when you get a grip on it.
As far as what I would love to see, it would be some Christian and Jewish works. Just imagine if we could find the Q source or The Sayings of the Elders referenced in the Talmud.
Having said that, if we have a text of a book we have now, it would be great to compare it to what we have now to see any changes
It's also worth noting that there are things that we won't find, like another historian equivalent to thucydides or tacitus. We know this because when the ancients themselves list the very best historians they don't mention authors whose works we don't have. My top picks for discovery, which are not likely to be found at Herculaneum, would be Ephorus or Asinius Pollio in terms of historians, or simply more of the lost Greek drama.
I hope they uncover some of Ciceros lost works
Ovid’s tragedy ‘Medea’ would be interesting.
Would love for a copy of Augustus' autobiography to be found in tact
Where is Agrippa the cat? Great video...
I think dear Agrippa awaits us at Philippi old chap..
As a Brit, it would obviously be "On the Ocean" by Pythias of Massalia. (Always interesting to know what your ancestors were doing even if it was disgusting.)
I wonder how they will verify everything considering how frequently AI can hallucinate
I'm rooting for Sulla's memoirs or Claudius's history of the Etruscans...
Any of the list works of Aristotle
This would be huge, but I gather is unlikely.
Would be horrible if after all work it would be some cake recipe.
Roman? I want the Alexandria Library contents, rumored to be hidden before its destruction, to be rediscovered.
This would be wonderful, but alas . . . It's contents simply withered and rotted away over the centuries. By the time the library itself physically collapsed - probably somewhere in the three hundred years between 500 CE to 800 CE - there wasn't much left. On top of that (no pun intended) the actual location of the Library itself has not come down to us. But who knows, maybe someday . . . Cheers!
Yea but that library is gone isn't it? Also, this library would be in the same tradition as the one of Alexandria. Same Greco/Roman culture, same works. In many ways, this IS the real library of Alexandria, with tons of secrets waiting to be unlocked with this new scanning technology
10/10
I hope they're not still manually trying to unscroll them, we're not there yet but we will be, eventually computer technology will be such that we'll be able to put each scroll through a scanner that'll move through each layer detecting the ink molecules and exactly where they are, then make a perfect reconstruction. Kind of like they're doing now but way more advanced.
They never did that. They were explicitly kept and not touched, because the science was waiting for a method to read them. Now we have that method. That's why we are talking about the scrolls
I wonder if we’ll ever find a new historian or author.
But I would like to find a copy of anti-Cato
You would be a good guest for lex fridman.
101
Meow!
the people only wanted their names read out and/or shown on screen and they get a masterclass lecture instead.
Sir, your collar is wrinkled. Thank you.
How dare you. A duel!