Our knowledge of Greek and Roman literature is going to expand substantially with the recent discovery of lost classics by such giants as Sophocles and Euripides. It's a virtual treasure trove of new material:
Now, in a breakthrough described as the classical equivalent of finding the holy grail, Oxford University scientists have employed infra-red technology to open up the hoard, known as the Oxyrhynchus Papyri, and with it the prospect that hundreds of lost Greek comedies, tragedies and epic poems will soon be revealed.
Literature is a cultural indicator of any civilization worth its salt, and with these new discoveries we will know substantially more about ancient Greek and Roman societies.
Personally, I'm a big fan of Sophocles, and hope to read his newly discovered works as soon as they're translated.
Article comments
1 - SFC SKI
Great, now I'll be even further behind on my reading.
2 - DrPat
Your second link reminds me of the conversation at a Greek tailor's shop:
Tailor: Euripedes?
Customer: Eumenides.
3 - Justene
I am hoping that there's more than literature recovered. Historical data on the events of the time would fascinate me.
4 - francisco68
Wow! No telling what you'll find in a town dump. Even a historical one. Now the question is who dumped the good stuff.
5 - Victor Plenty
Hopefully these didn't get dumped because of errors in the copying by ancient scribes.
Imagine if far-future historians had to piece together the United States Constitution by reconstructing it from the term papers of today's high school students.