#mysterious-manuscripts

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History
fromMedievalists.net
14 hours ago

New Medieval Books: The Art of Making Verses - Medievalists.net

Gervase of Melkley's guide offers a unique method for composing poetry, emphasizing clear expression, metaphor, and irony for beginners.
#medieval-history
Arts
fromHyperallergic
1 week ago

Dice Are 6,000 Years Older Than Previously Believed, Study Says

More than 600 two-sided dice crafted by Native Americans have been identified, dating back over 12,000 years, predating known dice from the Bronze Age.
fromMedievalists.net
2 days ago

10 New Medieval Studies Articles You Can Read Right Now (Free & Open Access) - Medievalists.net

Extreme weather in the 1430s triggered a major economic crisis in England, leading to food shortages, livestock deaths, and widespread disruption, reshaping landholding practices.
History
fromMedievalists.net
2 days ago

New Medieval Books: Vikings Behaving Reasonably - Medievalists.net

The concept of hóf in Norse culture represents a cultural expectation of moderation and restraint, which was pivotal in resolving disputes and maintaining order within communities.
History
Philosophy
fromMail Online
2 weeks ago

Bible analysis uncovers clues showing scripture was written by God

A network of over 63,000 connections in the Bible suggests intricate links that some believe indicate divine authorship.
History
fromMedievalists.net
6 days ago

New Medieval Books: Flattening the Medieval Earth - Medievalists.net

The myth of medieval flat earth originated around 1600, contrary to the belief that medieval people thought the Earth was flat.
UX design
fromYannglt
3 weeks ago

AI and the Rosetta Stone

AI enhances the translation between design and engineering, increasing speed while challenging the preservation of meaning.
Arts
fromArtnet News
3 weeks ago

Who Created the Book of Kells? A Master Craftsman Takes on the Mystery

New evidence suggests the Book of Kells may originate from Portmahomack, challenging the long-held theory of its creation at Iona.
History
fromMedievalists.net
1 week ago

12 Strange Magical Beliefs from the Middle Ages - Medievalists.net

Medieval beliefs included magic practices like love potions, storm conjuring, and superstitions surrounding death and health.
History
fromNature
1 week ago

How DNA forensics is transforming studies of ancient manuscripts

Tim Stinson's curiosity about DNA in ancient manuscripts led to the emergence of a new field in manuscript studies.
fromwww.thehistoryblog.com
1 week ago

30 previously unknown verses by Empedocles found on papyrus

The discovery of a few pages from an original edition of Hugo's work would then be a momentous event. This is precisely what specialists in Empedocles are experiencing today.
History
Science
fromMail Online
1 month ago

World's oldest map of the night sky is REVEALED after 2,000 years

Scientists use X-rays to reveal a 2,000-year-old star map by Hipparchus hidden beneath a medieval manuscript, recovering ancient astronomical coordinates with remarkable accuracy.
History
fromMedievalists.net
2 weeks ago

New Medieval Books: Light on Darkness - Medievalists.net

Liturgy is central to Western cultural history, rich in artistic expression and emotional depth, influencing society for over a thousand years.
fromThe Art Newspaper - International art news and events
1 month ago

Ancient Egyptian 'Tipp-Ex' discovered on papyrus at UK's Fitzwilliam Museum

The corrective fluid analysed using light infrared photography revealed a mixture of huntite and calcite, while images made using a 3D digital microscope show that there also are flecks of yellow orpiment, probably to make it blend in better with the fresh papyrus, which would have originally been pale cream in colour.
Typography
#archimedes-palimpsest
Board games
fromOpen Culture
1 month ago

AI Figures Out the Rules of a Mysterious 2,000-Year-Old Board Game from Ancient Rome

Machine learning and AI simulation helped researchers determine how an ancient Roman stone board game was played by testing different rule sets against observed wear patterns.
History
fromMedievalists.net
3 weeks ago

Scientists Confirm Remains of Medieval Emperor Otto the Great - Medievalists.net

Emperor Otto the Great's identity has been confirmed through scientific research, including DNA analysis, after centuries of uncertainty.
OMG science
fromNature
1 month ago

Daily briefing: Galileo's notes discovered in the margins of an ancient book

Tectonic plates moved 3.3 billion years ago with higher oxygen levels; Galileo's annotations discovered in 400-year-old Ptolemy text; rotator cuff degeneration common in older adults regardless of symptoms.
fromOpen Culture
2 months ago

The Rohonc Codex: Hungary's Mysterious Manuscript That No One Can Read

Image by Klaus Schmeh, via Wiki­me­dia Com­mons Mag­yar, which is spo­ken and writ­ten in Hun­gary, ranks among the hard­est Euro­pean lan­guages to learn. (The U.S. For­eign Ser­vice Insti­tute puts it in the sec­ond-to-high­est lev­el, accom­pa­nied by the dread­ed aster­isk label­ing it as "usu­al­ly more dif­fi­cult than oth­er lan­guages in the same cat­e­go­ry.") But once you mas­ter its vow­el har­mo­ny sys­tem, its def­i­nite and indef­i­nite con­ju­ga­tion, and its eigh­teen gram­mat­i­cal cas­es, among oth­er noto­ri­ous fea­tures, you can final­ly enjoy the work of writ­ers like Nobel Lau­re­ates Imre Kertész and Lás­zló Krasz­na­horkai in the orig­i­nal. Alas, no degree of mas­tery will be much help if you want to under­stand a much old­er - and, in its way, much more noto­ri­ous - Hun­gar­i­an text, the Rohonc Codex.
Books
#archaeology
fromNature
3 months ago
Science

Daily briefing: Symbols on ancient pottery could be earliest evidence of mathematics

History
fromMail Online
3 weeks ago

Dark message found inscribed on sling bullet from ancient Holy Land

A 2,000-year-old sling bullet inscribed with 'Learn your lesson' was found in ancient Hippos, showcasing local sarcasm from Greek defenders.
fromNature
3 months ago
Science

Daily briefing: Symbols on ancient pottery could be earliest evidence of mathematics

fromMail Online
2 months ago

Long-lost Egyptian scroll fuels debate over real-life biblical giants

An ancient Egyptian papyrus held by the British Museum has been cited as possible evidence supporting some of the Bible's most controversial claims about giants. The 3,300-year-old document, known as Anastasi I, has been in the museum's collection since 1839 and has recently resurfaced on the Associates for Biblical Research, renewing interest in its possible links to biblical accounts. The papyrus describes encounters with the Shosu people, said to stand 'four cubits or five cubits' tall, up to eight feet in height.
Books
Philosophy
fromThe Conversation
1 month ago

The apocrypha, Christianity's 'hidden' texts, may not be in the Bible - but they have shaped tradition for centuries

Apocryphal texts, though excluded from official biblical canons, significantly shaped early Christian tradition and provide valuable insights into early religious practices and beliefs.
Gadgets
fromOpen Culture
2 months ago

An Animated Introduction to the Antikythera Mechanism: The World's First Analog Computer from Ancient Greece

The Antikythera Mechanism is a 2nd-century BCE geared analog device functioning as an ancient computer for modeling astronomical cycles and predicting celestial events.
Science
fromwww.scientificamerican.com
2 months ago

Lost ancient Greek star catalog decoded by particle accelerator

Researchers decoded portions of Hipparchus's lost star catalog from a palimpsest using synchrotron imaging, revealing constellation names and measurements.
History
fromMedievalists.net
1 month ago

Two Medieval Men Found Buried in Prehistoric Site - Medievalists.net

Medieval men were buried in the Menga dolmen, a Neolithic monument in Spain, over 4,000 years after its construction, demonstrating the site's enduring symbolic importance across millennia.
Books
fromNature
1 month ago

Brain mysteries and Bronze Age diplomacy: Books in brief

Lionel Penrose's mid-twentieth century research connected genetic abnormalities to hand creases, establishing the hand as a significant diagnostic tool across multiple medical disciplines.
Philosophy
fromPsychology Today
2 months ago

How Ancient Philosophy Lost Its Mind-Twice

The shift from Classical Attic to Koine Greek correlated with a philosophical simplification from Plato's multipart psyche to the Stoics' unitary rational mind.
fromMedievalists.net
1 month ago

New Medieval Books: Approaching Records of the Household and Wardrobe - Medievalists.net

The Household and Wardrobe Accounts are English records that document the daily needs of the king and his family. This book serves as a guide to these sources, showing how they can be used and what valuable insights they offer into medieval government.
History
#roman-archaeology
fromOpen Culture
2 months ago

Cats in Medieval Manuscripts & Paintings

Renais­sance artist Albrecht Dür­er (1471-1528) nev­er saw a rhi­no him­self, but by rely­ing on eye­wit­ness descrip­tions of the one King Manuel I of Por­tu­gal intend­ed as a gift to the Pope, he man­aged to ren­der a fair­ly real­is­tic one, all things con­sid­ered.
Arts
Science
fromNature
2 months ago

Daily briefing: Scientists delve into the smells of history

Researchers recreate historical smells and use imaging, AI, and biomedical advances to probe heritage, ancient human timelines, medical rescue devices, and rare-disease genetics.
History
fromMedievalists.net
1 month ago

Newly Discovered Document Confirms a 'Legendary' African King - Medievalists.net

An Arabic document from Old Dongola confirms King Qashqash's historical existence and reveals how Nubian rulers exercised power through coordinated gift exchanges with subordinates and merchants.
History
fromMedievalists.net
1 month ago

New Medieval Books: Silence of the Gods - Medievalists.net

Europe's last pagan peoples underwent Christian conversion from the 14th to 20th centuries while maintaining their indigenous religious traditions despite political pressure to adopt Christianity.
#medieval-manuscripts
History
fromOpen Culture
2 months ago

The Dead Sea Scrolls: Discover the Secrets of the Bible's Oldest and Strangest Texts

Dead Sea Scrolls include the oldest known biblical manuscripts, diverse texts (biblical, apocryphal, sectarian, unknown) that complicated but did not completely upend understanding of Christianity.
fromMail Online
2 months ago

Mysterious symbols spanning the globe hint at a lost civilization

His investigation began after identifying recurring giant T-shapes, three-level indents, and step pyramids carved into ancient stones worldwide. 'These specific symbols that are built in different size proportions, and the symbols are found in ancient stones around the world, are not supposed to exist; no cultures are supposed to have any cross-platform,' LaCroix explained. The symbols appear in locations ranging from Turkey's Van region to South America and Cambodia.
History
History
fromMedievalists.net
2 months ago

Reading in Byzantium: Literacy, Books, and a World of Texts - Medievalists.net

Byzantine reading was communal and performative, woven into religious, educational, and administrative life while preserving classical learning within a Christian intellectual framework.
History
fromMedievalists.net
2 months ago

New Medieval Books: Celtic Magic - Medievalists.net

Ancient and medieval Celtic-speaking peoples maintained distinctive magical beliefs and practices whose evidence appears in inscriptions, classical accounts, medieval manuscripts, charms, and medical recipes.
fromMedievalists.net
2 months ago

Rules of a Medieval Library - Medievalists.net

When universities began to emerge in Europe during the eleventh and twelfth centuries, they soon became important centres of knowledge. Their libraries could hold hundreds of books, and many of the most valuable volumes were kept under close control - sometimes even chained to desks. We have few details about how medieval university libraries operated, but a revealing set of rubric headings survives from the University of Angers in western France.
History
fromMedievalists.net
1 month ago

New Project Explores the Craft of Writing in the Medieval Nordic World - Medievalists.net

CHARM is built around a large-scale survey of material connected to three major writing centres-Turku, Naantali, and Viipuri-in the 15th century. By comparing charters and book fragments together, the researchers aim to map how writing practices were adopted, modified, and localised, and what that meant for society and administration in a region that was then part of the Swedish realm.
History
fromMedievalists.net
2 months ago

New Medieval Books: The Forsaken 14th Century - Medievalists.net

In this volume, the authors aim to provide a truly global overview of the 14 century, with each region given approximately the same space. It is obviously impossible to cover every event in every country of the world in a single volume, just as you would not be able to visit every city in every country if you traveled around the world for a year.
History
#ancient-egypt
History
fromMedievalists.net
2 months ago

Previously Unknown Medieval Chronicle Discovered - Medievalists.net

A previously unknown 8th-century Maronite chronicle (dated 712–13 CE) offers early Christian perspective on Arab-Islamic expansion and Late Antique religious-political change.
History
fromMedievalists.net
2 months ago

Medieval manuscript lost in World War II returns to Poland - Medievalists.net

A 12th-century Cistercian manuscript looted during World War II has been returned from Yale University to the Republic of Poland.
History
fromMedievalists.net
2 months ago

New Medieval Books: The Horse in History - Medievalists.net

Eleven studies examine horse equipment, training, folklore, and material culture across time and Europe, emphasizing archaeological evidence and diverse methodological approaches.
fromMedievalists.net
2 months ago

Why were pseudo-Arabic inscriptions placed on churches in Greece?, with Alicia Walker - Medievalists.net

A conversation with Alicia Walker on the pseudo-Arabic inscriptions (or pseudo-kufic) that appear on a number of tenth- and eleventh-century churches in Greece, most notably at the monastery of Hosios Loukas. What did the Arabic script signify in Orthodox culture at the time if not tension with Islam? Alicia Walker is Professor of History of Art at Bryn Mawr College.
History
fromMedievalists.net
2 months ago

10 Medieval Studies' Articles Published Last Month - Medievalists.net

In this paper we investigate whether infant and childhood feeding practices influenced the imbalanced adult sex ratio reported in medieval Europe from historical and osteological evidence. First, we examine hypotheses for the observed imbalanced sex ratios in Europe and the evidence presented to support these hypotheses. We then use stable isotope analysis (δ13C and δ15N) of incremental dentine in 64 first molars from adults at three medieval sites (Aulla, Badia Pozzeveri, and Montescudaio) in north-western Tuscany (11th-15th c. CE).
History
History
fromMedievalists.net
2 months ago

New Medieval Books: Ipomedon - Medievalists.net

A twelfth-century Anglo-French romance about Ipomedon, an incognito prince tested by adventures, tournaments, and ironic narration exploring chivalry, humour, and social values.
fromMail Online
1 month ago

Ancient time capsule found in Iraq corroborates the Bible

King Nebuchadnezzar II himself 'speaks' in the text, proudly describing how he restored an old, crumbling stepped temple tower in the city of Kish that was dedicated to the Mesopotamian god and goddess of war, Zababa and Ishtar. He explained that earlier kings had built and fixed the ziggurat before, but it had fallen into disrepair again from age and rain.
History
#old-high-german
#greco-roman-magic
History
fromwww.thehistoryblog.com
2 months ago

Complete gilded Book of the Dead on display for the first time

A rare, nearly complete gilded Ptolemaic Book of the Dead is publicly displayed at the Brooklyn Museum, showcasing Egyptian funerary art and practices.
History
fromWorld History Encyclopedia
2 months ago

Mesopotamian Education: Creating the First Written Works in History

The Sumerians established formal scribal schools (edubba) after inventing writing, training students in cuneiform, Sumerian and Akkadian, and a broad range of scholarly subjects.
History
fromianVisits
2 months ago

2m heritage funding will make London's papyrus archive easier to visit

A £2 million National Lottery Heritage Fund grant will modernize the Egypt Exploration Society's London headquarters, protecting irreplaceable papyri collections and expanding public access.
History
fromMedievalists.net
2 months ago

New Medieval Books: A Medieval Case for Islam's Superiority - Medievalists.net

An eighth-century Abbasid letter to the Byzantine emperor defends Islam, critiques Christian misunderstandings, and reflects Abbasid-Byzantine diplomacy and Baghdad's intellectual life.
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