Tag Archives: Vesuvius

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Herculaneum Papyri in the National Library in Naples

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A look back (this was first published on 30 March 2015): I’m new to papyrology but I’ve never seen anything as brain-crackingly slow or detailed as the work being done by these academics.

thephraser's avatarThe Phraser

Herculaneum papyrus Naples A papyrus scroll – not quite destroyed by Vesuvius

The photograph above is of a papyrus scroll from a private library buried by Vesuvius in AD 79.

There are hundreds of scrolls like it, all scarred keepers of ancient thought.  So far it has taken almost two thousand years to unpick a fraction of their secrets.

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Burned, buried and brought back to life

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A look back (first published 17 February 2015): discovering the secrets of the papyrus scrolls of Herculaneum, now in the National Library in Naples, Italy.

thephraser's avatarThe Phraser

Library of Naples Library of Naples
Biblioteca Nazionale di Napoli

It’s never a good idea to judge anything by appearances.  Here’s an example.

Mid-autumn of last year I was new in Naples.  The language was a challenge and I still didn’t know my way around.  The city seemed hectic and disheveled.

Then, on a wet Wednesday in November, I was invited on a trip to the Biblioteca Nazionale di Napoli.

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Carols in a church that has seen it all

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A look back (first published on 12 December 2014)

thephraser's avatarThe Phraser

Christ Church in Naples all prepared for its Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols Christ Church in Naples all prepared for its Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols

We could have been in England – the pure voice from the shadows behind us lifted the words into the church, floated them high above the candlelit pews and on towards the altar.

“Once in Royal David’s City …”

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