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| Furman students Matthew Goodson (left) and Andrew Cannon work to decipher the texts of Archimedes. |
GREENVILLE, S.C.—A group of Furman University classics students, in conjunction with students from the College of the Holy Cross, are helping bring a 10th century manuscript by the great Greek mathematician Archimedes to the eyes of the public.
The 15 Furman students are helping to digitize the works of Archimedes, a noted mathematician, physicist, astronomer, engineer and inventor who lived in the 2nd century B.C. The students are working under the direction of Dr. Christopher Blackwell, chair of Furman’s classics department and associate professor of classical languages.
These works were copied onto parchment in the 10th century CE, but the pages were subsequently erased and overwritten as a book of Greek prayers. Imaging scientists and scholars have spent 10 years working to recover the lost text. The students’ work requires that they deal with two different dialects of ancient Greek and the complexities of Byzantine paleography, as well as conventions for critical editions of ancient texts and best practices in electronic publication.
These electronic texts will be published along with the images of the palimpsest and will form the basis for ongoing analysis of this document. Some of these ancient works do not appear anywhere else, allowing Furman students to help bring new knowledge to the widest possible audience of readers.
The Furman students working on the project are Alana Bates of Florence, Ala.; Mary Katherine Benson of Murfreesboro, Tenn.; Troop Brenegar of Hendersonville, N.C.; Harry Briggs of Rochester, N.Y.; Christina Bryant of Lilburn, Ga.; Andrew Cannon of North Charleston; Katie Crumpton of Travelers Rest; Katie Ellis of Summerville; Matthew Goodson of Lincolnton, N.C.; Bryan Keller of Charlotte, N.C.; Bethanie Kemper of Florence; Chamberlyn Kitchens of Atlanta, Ga.; Adam Race of Atlanta, Ga.; Peter Soder of Roseburg, Ore.; Chad Stolper of Concord, Mass.; and Echo Wu of China. These students are a mix from Furman’s Ancient Greek Engaged Living program and a class taking upper level Greek.
Furman and Holy Cross came to the attention of the Walters Art Museum, Baltimore, which is managing the project of publishing the document. Similar teams of undergraduates from Furman and Holy Cross worked on Homeric manuscripts for the Center for Hellenic Studies of Harvard University.
For more information, contact the Furman Classics Department at 864-294-2302.
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4-16-08
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