What is the source of our contemporary knowledge about the ancient world? In many instances, it is the direct transmission of texts dating back two or three millennia: the works of Homer and the Bible, among others.
These and other ancient texts in Hebrew and in Greek were devotedly copied and recopied by generations of trained scribes across the centuries. Hundreds of ancient and medieval manuscripts are preserved in museums and libraries, offering a window into this painstaking work and the civilizations it documented. In other cases, knowledge of the ancient world derives from the great archaeological discoveries of the 19th century in Egypt and in Mesopotamia, along with the attendant decryption of the hieroglyphic and cuneiform writing systems.
Biblical scholar Gary Rendsburg, a specialist in ancient Israel and Egypt and medieval Hebrew manuscripts, explores the stories behind these sources, which retain their narrative power into the 21st century. He serves as the Blanche and Irving Laurie professor of Jewish history at Rutgers University.
10–11:15 a.m. The Bible in Our Hands
Examine how the Hebrew Bible was transmitted throughout the millennia, from the time of its composition on papyrus scrolls in ancient Israel through the lavish medieval codices on vellum. Rendsburg also discusses the Dead Sea Scrolls and the Torah scroll sheet dated to ca. 1000 that was acquired by the Library of Congress.
11:30 a.m.–12:45 p.m. Homer, the New Testament, Other Greek Documents
Explore the influence of the Greeks, with special attention to the scraps of Greek papyri discovered in Egypt. Inspect the Codex Sinaiticus, the oldest complete Bible in any language, written ca. 350, preserved at St. Catherine’s Monastery in the Sinai Desert for nearly 1,500 years, and now housed in the British Library.
12:45–1:15 p.m. Break
1:15 –2:30 p.m. Ancient Egypt
Trace the story of the decipherment of Egyptian hieroglyphics, an accomplishment facilitated by the Rosetta Stone, a Greek–Egyptian bilingual inscription found near Alexandria in 1799. Tombs and temples, sphinxes and pyramids are also explored, demonstrating how much archaeology has revealed about the culture and religion of ancient Egypt.
2:45–4 p.m. Ancient Mesopotamia
Follow the footsteps of such intrepid Victorians as A.H. Layard, father of archaeology and excavator of Nineveh, and Henry Rawlinson, decipherer of Babylonian cuneiform. Learn how the Babylonian flood story was discovered—first read by George Smith, a banknote engraver turned cuneiform specialist—on a tablet in the British Museum in 1872.
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