Long lost papyrus scraps from Oxyrhynchus

[hatcheckgirl]

Back in 1897 Victorian archaeologists Bernard Grenfell and Arthur Hunt discovered the ancient city Oxyrhynchus, about 120 miles south of modern Cairo.  They excavated what turned out to be the rubbish dump and over half a million scraps of papyrus have been found over time.  However, only about 5000 have been able to be translated in 100 plus years.

 

Now archeologists and scholars at Oxford university are teeming up with volunteers to translate these papyrus, finding more and more fascinating stories and ancient information.  One includes a play about Moses and the Exodus written in the second century BCE.  Interesting, hey? Even that late, the Egyptians still knew about Moses.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3472392/The-original-Ten-Commandments-Ancient-papyrus-reveals-play-Moses-performed-2-000-years-Charlton-Heston-s-classic-movie.html#ixzz45tY51u6e

 

More on the project here: https://www.ancientlives.org/

[carlos]

Fascinating! 

[ChocoBro]

 

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Comment by Fritz, Sydney, Australia, 1 month ago

I'm surprised the Catholic Church hasn't confiscated them all. They didn't want the dead Sea Scrolls translated and released once they realised there was no mention of Jesus.

 

http://vignette3.wikia.nocookie.net/callofduty/images/e/ee/Jesus_Facepalm-dos.jpg