Claudius' History of the Etruscans
Zhang Heng's scientific notes
Contents of the first Alexandria library
Zheng He's charts
Zhang Heng's scientific notes
Contents of the first Alexandria library
Zheng He's charts
The loss of which ancient texts you regret the most?
- Thread starter Green Painting
- Start date
The rest of the Epic Cycle stories of the Trojan War: Cypria, the Aethiopis, the Little Iliad, thr Iliupersis, the Nostoi, and the Telegony. The Trojan War could have been the first franchise in history! Seriously though, I'm curious because the Odyssey is a favorite and the impact on Western literature would be huge.
On Sphere-Making by Archimedes. Though I doubt it would have provided useful inventions, it would have been a fascinating look at Archimedes's ideas and creations. Also literally everything in the House of Wisdom in Baghdad (same goes for the Library of Alexandria). Also all the books burned by Qin Shi Huangdi, given that those would give us a brilliant look at the Hundred Schools of Philosophy.
No one is sure how many there were/are but I would really enjoy surviving Pre-Columbian Aztec Codices; all the ones we have are post conquest and made different than the originals. Heck even more post conquest would be nice; the amount of information one could garner off more pre-Columbian texts would be unfathmable.
Archimedes' complete works (especially including stuff he didn't think polished enough for publishing).
Q (the source used by Luke and Matthew that wasn't Mark)
Yeah, the Library contents would be wonderful, but might be a bit much to ask for.
Q (the source used by Luke and Matthew that wasn't Mark)
Yeah, the Library contents would be wonderful, but might be a bit much to ask for.
The rest of Ammianus Marcellinus's history of rome, which would have included stuff on the third century.
Works of Hieronymus of Cardia
Ptolemy's history
Claudia's Etruscan history
The rest of Polybius's histories
Works of Hieronymus of Cardia
Ptolemy's history
Claudia's Etruscan history
The rest of Polybius's histories
The Roman Emperor Claudius wrote alot of work that sadly have not survived to modern times. A few interesting one's would be his eight volume history of Carthage, his dictionary on the Etruscan language, and his multivolume history of the Etruscan's
The holy texts of the Manicheans. Besides being a really fascinating "syncretic" religion in general, Mani reportedly deliberately wrote down his writings as a selling point. His idea was that the writings of other prophets like Jesus, Buddha, and Zoroaster had been corrupted because their followers had written down their teachings. Therefore, he would write down everything directly. Mani and the followers of his religion were also renowned for their gorgeous artworks they used to proselytize.
I'd also love to see the complete works of the Late Antique Platonists. People like Porphyry and Iamblichus produced enormous amounts of works that didn't survive (Christianity played a large part). For example, Porphyry's "Against the Christians" was 15 books long and only survives now is scattered fragments "refuting" his arguments. I've been researching them in order to make my case for "paganism" being able to beat Christianity and thrive in the Roman Empire. It's fascinating to see how strange and different their works are compared to what we traditionally think of as "roman paganism" even with how little we have of their thought.
EDIT: I'm researching the Late Antique Platonists in general to make my case, not just Against the Christians. That sentence was worded somewhat poorly.
I'd also love to see the complete works of the Late Antique Platonists. People like Porphyry and Iamblichus produced enormous amounts of works that didn't survive (Christianity played a large part). For example, Porphyry's "Against the Christians" was 15 books long and only survives now is scattered fragments "refuting" his arguments. I've been researching them in order to make my case for "paganism" being able to beat Christianity and thrive in the Roman Empire. It's fascinating to see how strange and different their works are compared to what we traditionally think of as "roman paganism" even with how little we have of their thought.
EDIT: I'm researching the Late Antique Platonists in general to make my case, not just Against the Christians. That sentence was worded somewhat poorly.
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I think the greatest loss were medical texts. There were many treatments and procedures described as highly successful but are now entirely lost knowledge. For example in the 2nd century the Chinese physician Hua Tuo invented successful anesthetic, the formula for which he burned. No one replicated it until Hanaoka Seishu in 18th century Japan. Anesthetic by ether and chloroform were not attempted until mid 19th century.
Some treatments we use today are adopted absurdly late and it's easy to imagine they had earlier precedents. A 19th century Scottish surgeon observed a c-section performed in modern day Uganda using antispetics, anesthetics, and advanced wound treatment techiques that would have been more advanced than methods used in Europe only a generation earlier.
Did we really have to wait until WWI for traction bone splints to be adopted? CPR and mouth-to-mouth resuscitation didn't come about until the 1960s and the Heimlich Maneuver the 1970s. It was only a few years ago we realized skin burns can be treated with fish skin and now a fish skin bandage is already in trials.
Some treatments we use today are adopted absurdly late and it's easy to imagine they had earlier precedents. A 19th century Scottish surgeon observed a c-section performed in modern day Uganda using antispetics, anesthetics, and advanced wound treatment techiques that would have been more advanced than methods used in Europe only a generation earlier.
Did we really have to wait until WWI for traction bone splints to be adopted? CPR and mouth-to-mouth resuscitation didn't come about until the 1960s and the Heimlich Maneuver the 1970s. It was only a few years ago we realized skin burns can be treated with fish skin and now a fish skin bandage is already in trials.
Just reading this thread has been humbling. It makes you wonder what could have been, but in a more somber way than what we usually do here.
I'm not usually much for poetry, but I wish more than fragments of Sappho's writings survived.