ANCIENT SCROLL MAY YIELD RELIGIOUS SECRETS
By Nicholas Paphitis
With Costas Kantouris in Thessaloniki
Associated Press
June 1, 2006

http://www.breitbart.com/news/2006/06/01/D8HVEHLO0.html

ATHENS, Greece - A collection of charred scraps kept in a Greek museum's
storerooms are all that remains of what archaeologists say is Europe's
oldest surviving book -- which may hold a key to understanding early
monotheistic beliefs.

More than four decades after the Derveni papyrus was found in a 2,400-
year-old nobleman's grave in northern Greece, researchers said Thursday they
are close to uncovering new text -- through high-tech digital analysis --
from the blackened fragments left after the manuscript was burnt on its
owner's funeral pyre.

Large sections of the mid-4th century B.C. book -- a philosophical treatise
on ancient religion -- were read years ago, but never officially published.

Now, archaeologist Polyxeni Veleni believes U.S. imaging and scanning
techniques used to decipher the Judas Gospel -- which portrays Judas not as
a sinister betrayer but as Jesus' confidant -- will considerably expand and
clarify that text.

"I believe some 10-20 percent of new text will be added, which however will
be of crucial importance," said Veleni, director of the Thessaloniki
Archaeological Museum, where the manuscript is kept.

"This will fill in many gaps, we will get a better understanding of the
sequence and the existing text will become more complete," Veleni told The
Associated Press.

The scroll, originally several yards of papyrus rolled around two wooden
runners, was found half burnt in 1962. It dates to around 340 B.C., during
the reign of Philip II of Macedon, father of Alexander the Great.

"It is the oldest surviving book, if you can use that word for a scroll, in
western tradition," Veleni said. "This was a unique find, of exceptional
importance."

Greek philosophy expert Apostolos Pierris said the text may be a century
older.

"It was probably written by somebody from the circle of the philosopher
Anaxagoras, in the second half of the 5th century B.C.," he said.

Anaxagoras, who lived in ancient Athens, is thought to have been the teacher
of Socrates and was accused by his contemporaries of atheism.

Last month, experts from Brigham Young University in Utah used multi-
spectral digital analysis to create enhanced pictures of the text, which
will be studied by Oxford University papyrologist Dirk Obbink and Pierris,
and published by the end of 2007.

"We were now able to read even the most carbonized sections, as there were
pieces that were completely blackened and nobody could make out whether
there were letters on them," Veleni said.

The scroll contains a philosophical treatise on a lost poem describing the
birth of the gods and other beliefs focusing on Orpheus, the mythical
musician who visited the underworld to reclaim his dead love and enjoyed a
strong cult following in the ancient world.

The Orpheus cult raised the notion of a single creator god -- as opposed to
the multitude of deities the ancient Greeks believed in -- and influenced
later monotheistic faiths.

"In a way, it was a precursor of Christianity," Pierris said. "Orphism
believed that man's salvation depended on his knowledge of the truth."

Veleni said the manuscript "will help show the influence of Orphism on later
monotheistic religions."

The Derveni grave, about five miles northwest of Thessaloniki, was part of a
rich cemetery belonging to the ancient city of Lete.

"It belonged to a very rich man, a Macedonian nobleman, warrior and athlete
who had a lot of very important and valuable artifacts in his grave," Veleni
said. Finds included metal vases, a gold wreath and weapons.

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