Inspired by this article.
Personally, that history of the Etruscans sounds the best of what's listed here. However, I would probably chose a lost biblical text myself, or the plays of Aeschylus or Sophocles.
http://www.slate.com/blogs/quora/2016/03/06/what_lost_ancient_work_would_historians_most_like_to_recover.html
Quote
What Lost Ancient Work Would Historians Most Like to Recover?
By Quora Contributor
Asking for just one is not very fair. Some possible contenders:
The emperor Claudius was a prolific scholar who wrote a book of dice games, a history of the reign of Augustus, and a number of other works, none of which survive. But the lost works of his I would most like to read are his eight-volume history of Carthage, his dictionary of the Etruscan language, and his multivolume history of the Etruscans. Virtually everything we know about the Etruscans and Carthaginians comes from the perspective of their wars with Rome, and the Etrsucan language is known only through inscriptions, few of which are of any length. A full dictionary of Etruscan words with their Latin equivalents would go a long way toward solving the mystery of where this language (and its people) came from and if it was an Indo-European language like Latin, a Middle Eastern language like Carthaginian, or something much older.
If Suetonius' gossipy The Twelve Caesars is anything to go on, his lost work On the Lives of Famous Whores would be a good read. So would his book Greek Terms of Abuse.
Pliny the Elder wrote a twelve-volume book on the Germanic wars of Augustus and his successors that is now known only in some scattered quotes in Tacitus' Histories and Germania.
Charlemagne had a whole book of ancient Germanic epic poetry that unfortunately his son destroyed because the stories in it were "pagan." It's likely that the earliest forms of stories we only know via mentions in later poetry like Beowulf and the Nibelungslied about heroes like Sigurd, Theodoric, Weland, Widia, and Hama, as well as early forms of sagas about Attila and other heroes of the Migration Era were in this lost book.
I'm shocked that Tim is uninterested in the Lives of Famous Whores. Shocked.
Quote from: Peter Wiggin on March 06, 2016, 06:57:43 PM
I'm shocked that Tim is uninterested in the Lives of Famous Whores. Shocked.
Seeing that I have already read a book about Prostitution in Ancient Greece, I would be interested in reading that book. However, I'd be in interested in almost all of the books listed above. The point of this is to just choose one book.
The complete Poetics from Aristotle. We only have half of it and it's the single most influential work ever written, in my line of work.
All of Sophocles would be great. Or maybe the Sibylline Books or the crappy forgotten parts of the Epic Cycle.
I'd like to know more about pre-Indo European Europe, so the Etruscans would be great. Some kind of good text from Slavic mythology would be wonderful, same as the Scytho-Sarmatians. I'd like a lot more texts from early Germanic, as I think there's a real chance that, contra Hitler, the Germanic languages are basically a mongrelized version of the Slavo-Baltic languages as Proto-Germanic is kind of freaky.
Toss up between Ptolemy's work on Alexander or Hieronymus of Cardia's work on the Diadochoi.
Although Claudius' work on the Etruscans would probably be a top 5 choice.
Quote from: celedhring on March 06, 2016, 07:06:17 PM
The complete Poetics from Aristotle. We only have half of it and it's the single most influential work ever written, in my line of work.
Either this or the dialogues of Aristotle.
Jesus's diary.
I'd be really neat if all those pre-Columbian documents weren't destroyed. And while not technically lost, It would cool if someone could translate Linear A Minoan documents. While they probably are just about storage, we could at least disocover the affinity of the language.
Livy's remaining books of the History of Rome.
Any lost manuscript from Tom Clancy would be my choice.
Quote from: alfred russel on March 07, 2016, 08:30:50 PM
Any lost manuscript from Tom Clancy would be my choice.
Or those ones Richard Bachman misplaced.
The lost Gor novels. With the real naughty stuff.
La Morte de Tim Ortiz
Ones we didn't know existed.
Quote from: 11B4V on March 07, 2016, 09:18:32 PM
Ones we didn't know existed.
Hitler's Third Book, in other words. ;)
Anne Frank vs Mecha Hitler.
I have this fantasy that during some Italian work project they are going to break into a vault containing all the lost works of antiquity :P
My fantasies are so nerdy :blush:
It is hard to say which one I would most want to have without knowing what they are. Though I was bummed JP Morgan bought that collection of George Washington's dirty jokes and burned them to protect GW's reputation. Man that would be awesome to have.
Quote from: Valmy on March 07, 2016, 09:33:29 PM
I have this fantasy that during some Italian work project they are going to break into a vault containing all the lost works of antiquity :P
Didn't you see the movie? The Camorra discovered it south of Naples, dumped toxic waste on top of it, and covered it over.
Pride and Prejudice and Samnites
The lost first page of the Bible.
Quote from: Tonitrus on March 07, 2016, 10:25:49 PM
The lost first page of the Bible.
You don't think "In the beginning..." is the beginning? :hmm:
Quote from: Peter Wiggin on March 07, 2016, 10:28:40 PM
Quote from: Tonitrus on March 07, 2016, 10:25:49 PM
The lost first page of the Bible.
You don't think "In the beginning..." is the beginning? :hmm:
The first page is just acknowledgements.
To Shlomo and Hodel Goldberg, for their patience and for letting me crash on their couch.
Quote from: Tonitrus on March 07, 2016, 10:25:49 PM
The lost first page of the Bible.
If you're interested in another testament of Jesus Christ, I have the perfect book for you:
https://www.lds.org/scriptures/bofm?lang=eng
Quote from: Jaron on March 07, 2016, 10:38:45 PM
Quote from: Tonitrus on March 07, 2016, 10:25:49 PM
The lost first page of the Bible.
If you're interested in another testament of Jesus Christ, I have the perfect book for you:
https://www.lds.org/scriptures/bofm?lang=eng
(https://languish.org/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.johnlund.com%2FImages%2FThrowing-Tomatoes-At-Speaker.jpg&hash=1e2f8c5921572368a41d237c5577c338cfd66cc3)
I guess my reference was too obscure for this crowd. :(
Quote from: Tonitrus on March 07, 2016, 10:41:48 PM
I guess my reference was too obscure for this crowd. :(
Red Dwarf
Quote from: Jaron on March 07, 2016, 10:38:45 PM
Quote from: Tonitrus on March 07, 2016, 10:25:49 PM
The lost first page of the Bible.
If you're interested in another testament of Jesus Christ, I have the perfect book for you:
https://www.lds.org/scriptures/bofm?lang=eng
Includes your very own set of magic underwear too.
Quote from: PDH on March 07, 2016, 05:36:31 PM
Jesus's diary.
His Twitter feed would've been better.
"Check out my selfie on Golgotha" #JustHangingOut
Quote from: Scipio on March 07, 2016, 07:40:20 PM
Livy's remaining books of the History of Rome.
Good one.
Quote from: CountDeMoney on March 08, 2016, 01:06:59 AM
Quote from: PDH on March 07, 2016, 05:36:31 PM
Jesus's diary.
His Twitter feed would've been better.
"Check out my selfie on Golgotha" #JustHangingOut
The calvary always shows up at the last minute.
Quote from: Valmy on March 07, 2016, 09:33:29 PM
I have this fantasy that during some Italian work project they are going to break into a vault containing all the lost works of antiquity :P
My fantasies are so nerdy :blush:
It is hard to say which one I would most want to have without knowing what they are. Though I was bummed JP Morgan bought that collection of George Washington's dirty jokes and burned them to protect GW's reputation. Man that would be awesome to have.
Aren't they slowly reading the library of herculaneum via xray microscopes or catscans or something?
Quote from: Razgovory on March 07, 2016, 10:37:10 PM
Quote from: Peter Wiggin on March 07, 2016, 10:28:40 PM
Quote from: Tonitrus on March 07, 2016, 10:25:49 PM
The lost first page of the Bible.
You don't think "In the beginning..." is the beginning? :hmm:
The first page is just acknowledgements.
To Shlomo and Hodel Goldberg, for their patience and for letting me crash on their couch.
:lol:
Quote from: jimmy olsen on March 08, 2016, 02:12:42 AM
Quote from: Valmy on March 07, 2016, 09:33:29 PM
I have this fantasy that during some Italian work project they are going to break into a vault containing all the lost works of antiquity :P
My fantasies are so nerdy :blush:
It is hard to say which one I would most want to have without knowing what they are. Though I was bummed JP Morgan bought that collection of George Washington's dirty jokes and burned them to protect GW's reputation. Man that would be awesome to have.
Aren't they slowly reading the library of herculaneum via xray microscopes or catscans or something?
Jesus Christ. Bring in the third graders!
Quote from: The Brain on March 08, 2016, 12:58:45 PM
Quote from: jimmy olsen on March 08, 2016, 02:12:42 AM
Quote from: Valmy on March 07, 2016, 09:33:29 PM
I have this fantasy that during some Italian work project they are going to break into a vault containing all the lost works of antiquity :P
My fantasies are so nerdy :blush:
It is hard to say which one I would most want to have without knowing what they are. Though I was bummed JP Morgan bought that collection of George Washington's dirty jokes and burned them to protect GW's reputation. Man that would be awesome to have.
Aren't they slowly reading the library of herculaneum via xray microscopes or catscans or something?
Jesus Christ. Bring in the third graders!
Keep kids away from them please.
Quote from: The Brain on March 08, 2016, 12:58:45 PM
Quote from: jimmy olsen on March 08, 2016, 02:12:42 AM
Quote from: Valmy on March 07, 2016, 09:33:29 PM
I have this fantasy that during some Italian work project they are going to break into a vault containing all the lost works of antiquity :P
My fantasies are so nerdy :blush:
It is hard to say which one I would most want to have without knowing what they are. Though I was bummed JP Morgan bought that collection of George Washington's dirty jokes and burned them to protect GW's reputation. Man that would be awesome to have.
Aren't they slowly reading the library of herculaneum via xray microscopes or catscans or something?
Jesus Christ. Bring in the third graders!
What? :unsure:
Quote from: CountDeMoney on March 08, 2016, 01:06:59 AM
Quote from: PDH on March 07, 2016, 05:36:31 PM
Jesus's diary.
His Twitter feed would've been better.
"Check out my selfie on Golgotha" #JustHangingOut
"Two Thumbs Up!"
Quote from: jimmy olsen on March 08, 2016, 08:45:56 PM
Quote from: The Brain on March 08, 2016, 12:58:45 PM
Quote from: jimmy olsen on March 08, 2016, 02:12:42 AM
Quote from: Valmy on March 07, 2016, 09:33:29 PM
I have this fantasy that during some Italian work project they are going to break into a vault containing all the lost works of antiquity :P
My fantasies are so nerdy :blush:
It is hard to say which one I would most want to have without knowing what they are. Though I was bummed JP Morgan bought that collection of George Washington's dirty jokes and burned them to protect GW's reputation. Man that would be awesome to have.
Aren't they slowly reading the library of herculaneum via xray microscopes or catscans or something?
Jesus Christ. Bring in the third graders!
What? :unsure:
They need people who don't need to read slowly.
Quote from: CountDeMoney on March 08, 2016, 01:06:59 AM
Quote from: PDH on March 07, 2016, 05:36:31 PM
Jesus's diary.
His Twitter feed would've been better.
"Check out my selfie on Golgotha" #JustHangingOut
:lol:
The possibilities are endless.
Hitler's Twitter feed would've been something too.
"Waiting for Steiner's attack" #hurry
Wouldn't most lost works be, you know, lost, so we don't know that they existed? :hmm:
I wouldn't mind reading something from Atlantis or Mu. :cthulu:
Quote from: Martinus on March 09, 2016, 03:32:57 AM
Wouldn't most lost works be, you know, lost, so we don't know that they existed? :hmm:
I wouldn't mind reading something from Atlantis or Mu. :cthulu:
Some, like certain old Norse sagas, are referred to in later sagas, for example.
But on the whole, a rather good point.
"Why I'm A Dick" by Plato would be my choice.
I'd rather read "Why I like dick" by Plato.
"Rimming Aristotle" was supposedly better. :unsure:
"Why I Like To Do It With Girls." by Oscar Wilde
Quote from: Martinus on March 09, 2016, 04:05:22 AM
I'd rather read "Why I like dick" by Plato.
I think he's pretty clear on it as is... :unsure: