Link tags: greek

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Vesuvius Challenge 2023 Grand Prize awarded: we can read the scrolls! | Vesuvius Challenge

The thoughts of our ancestors, locked in mud and ash for 2000 years, hidden in darkness — now, with the light of a worldwide effort shining upon them, finally seen again.

An impressive piece of work from three coders to try to read the contents of a Herculanean scroll without unfurling (and thereby destroying) it.

Scholars might call it a philosophical treatise. But it seems familiar to us, and we can’t escape the feeling that the first text we’ve uncovered is a 2000-year-old blog post about how to enjoy life.

How can we break the Brexit deadlock? Ask ancient Athens | James Bridle | Opinion | The Guardian

James describes an ancient Greek machine called the kleroterian:

The method of governance embodied in the kleroterion, which dates back to the very establishment of democracy, is called sortition, meaning selection by lot, as opposed to election by vote.