A 1,750-year-old translation of Matthew's Gospel has yielded a new Bible chapter thanks to medievalist Grigory Kessel's work. According to IFLScience, the mysterious chapter was discovered using ultraviolet photography on manuscripts housed in the Vatican Library.
The remarkable discovery was made as part of the Sinai Palimpsests Project, a research initiative dedicated to recovering erased and overwritten texts from the 4th to 12th centuries CE.
How Medievalists Are Restoring the Ancient Religious Text
Due to the scarcity of writing materials at the time, manuscripts were frequently repurposed, resulting in palimpsest manuscripts in which previous text was washed or scraped off before new content was added.
Modern researchers, however, can illuminate these ancient manuscripts and decipher the original text buried beneath by using fluorescence and different wavelengths of light.
Additionally, advancements in imaging called spectral imaging have allowed researchers to read erased texts lost for centuries.
Spectral imaging works by taking pictures of an object under different light colors and using complex technology to bring out information otherwise invisible to our eyes.
This has led to the recovery of a significant amount of information from previously erased texts, which can now be read and studied again.
Uncovering the Secrets of the Ancient World
So far, the team has successfully deciphered 74 manuscripts, with the most recent discovery being particularly significant. The hidden translation predates the oldest known Greek translations by a century and has yet to be released.
This exciting development sheds new light on Syriac Christianity's tradition of producing multiple Old and New Testaments translations. Until recently, only two manuscripts were known to contain the Old Syriac translation of the Gospels, according to Kessel.
In related news, Axios reports that former GitHub CEO Nat Friedman is offering a $250,000 prize to anyone who can use machine learning and computer vision to decipher the Herculaneum papyri, which were buried nearly 2,000 years ago by the Mount Vesuvius eruption.
Read also: Ancient Volcanic Eruption in Pompeii Caused Heat Waves Turning People's Brain to Glass: Study
The scrolls were discovered in 1750 as part of a library in a villa owned by Julius Caesar's father-in-law. However, early attempts to open and decode them destroyed many scrolls. X-rays have recently allowed the remaining scrolls to be virtually unrolled but unreadable.
Knowledge of Ancient Texts
Claudia Rapp, Director of the Austrian Academy of Sciences' Institute for Medieval Research, praised Kessel's discovery, emphasizing the importance of combining modern digital technologies with basic research in medieval manuscripts.
Kessel's knowledge of old Syriac texts and script characteristics was critical in uncovering the hidden chapter, demonstrating the importance of interdisciplinary collaboration in advancing research.
Finally, this latest discovery adds to our understanding of early Christian traditions by shedding light on a centuries-old translation.
This discovery was made possible through the collaborative efforts of experts from various fields, demonstrating the importance of interdisciplinary research in uncovering the secrets of our past.
You can read about Kessel's research here.
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