Ancient Texts

[Guest robt0536]

I've been trying to find out what quantity of written works we have from the ancient world. Is it thousands of documents? Tens of thousands? Hundreds of thousands? What if you include even mundane works, like legal records?

 

Also, at what rate are we discovering new ones? When was the last time a work of major importance was recovered?

 

Thanks for any help.

 

RobT

[Primus Pilus]

Including partial inscriptions, fragments, etc. there are indeed countless ancient texts that are known and catalogued. Unfortunately, most of these pieces don't reveal a great deal so they have little value to archaeology.

 

This is off the top of my head, but one major find was the actual documentation of Pontius Pilate as the Praefect of Judaea in the time of Tiberius. Prior to that discovery, in the 1970's if I remember right, there was no proof of his placement in Judaea at the time of christ, other than references from sources written long after the fact.

 

There are new discoveries all the time, of course, but rarely anything that would be classified as shocking anymore. Though recently, the discovery of a coin confirmed the existance of a previously disputed emperor. That story can be read here.

[Guest robt0536]

Thanks!

 

Speaking now just of the texts having cultural value -- is there any comprehensive, centralized catalogue? Available onlline?

 

Thanks for the help!

 

RobT

[Moonlapse]

http://www.ukans.edu/history/index/europe/...Roman/home.html

 

http://gainsford.tripod.com/lato/index.htm

 

http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/ancient/asbookfull.html

 

http://www.ucc.ie/celt/publishd.html

 

http://www.ancienttexts.org/

 

http://wolf.mind.net/library/libindex.htm