Thoughts on Antiquity, Patristics, putting things online, freedom of speech, information access, and more
Over the last few years I have commissioned various kind people to make translations for us of ancient texts. But in that time prices have not remained static; yet I have tended to offer the same money. I only realised this last night. Inflation is a curse, because it creeps up on you. “Quantitative easing” [...]
1. Introduction. 2. The translations from Greek. 3. Conclusion. 4. Bibliography. 1. Introduction 1.1 Georgia and the Georgian language. Georgia is located at the southern foot of the Caucasus and represents the country which the Greeks called Colchis in the west and Iberia in the east. The Georgian language belongs to a group of southern [...]
The Etymologies of the last writer of antiquity (in the west), the 7th century Isidore of Seville, seem really rather interesting. I’ve been browsing through book 6 at Lacus Curtius, and it has brief but useful notes on all sorts of things. So I began wondering if I could get hold of a translation. It’s much [...]
What untranslated ancient texts deserve to be translated? Here is a list of texts that I have thought about translating, which I feel ought to exist in English. Of course there are many others that probably deserve attention too — these are merely ones where I have given some serious thought to it. It’s a [...]
The recession is biting, and I need to reduce my outgoings. Luckily the Eusebius is all but done, the al-Majdalus is done, and I have a promise of the Cyril text for a week hence. I’ve cancelled the translation of letters by Isidore, and decided not to commission a translation of the medieval biographies of [...]
Here are the draft translations that I commissioned of four letters. I don’t know whether any have been translated into English before. Now that I have paid for them, I can share them with you! After reading the Turner article, it is clear that the letters are numbered 1-2000 in the manuscripts, and the Migne [...]
Long term readers of this blog will know that I commissioned a translation into English of Eusebius of Caesarea’s book about differences between the gospels and their solutions (Quaestiones ad Stephanum/Marinum). The Greek remains of this text are now almost entirely translated. The last few fragments from catenas remain; but almost all of the mass [...]
Some may remember that I commissioned a translation of the Commentary on the Nicene Creed by al-Majdalus, an Arabic Christian writer of uncertain date and affiliation, but probably a 10th century Melkite. The text has never been published, but I obtained a microfilm of a manuscript from Sainte-Joseph University in Beirut. I wanted to make [...]