Lost Languages Discovered in One of the World’s Oldest Continuously Run Libraries
The centuries-old texts were erased, and then written over, by monks at Saint Catherine’s Monastery in Egypt
By Brigit Katz
September 5, 2017
Saint Catherine’s Monastery, a sacred Christian site nestled in the shadow of Mount Sinai, is home to one of the world’s oldest continuously used libraries. Thousands of manuscripts and books are kept there—some of which contain hidden treasures.
Now, as Jeff Farrell reports for the Independent, a team of researchers is using new technology to uncover texts that were erased and written over by the monks who lived and worked at the monastery. Many of these original texts were written in languages well known to researchers—Latin, Greek, Arabic—but others were inscribed in long-lost languages that are rarely seen in the historical record.
Read more:
http://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/long-lost-languages-found-manuscripts-egyptian-monastery-180964698/#L3xDMKMRqP01d9Ai.99
