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Re: orion-list Re: Orion-list Another Proof...

T. Simms writes:

>     Whose epitome are you using, George?
>     Suidas has been known for half a millennium to the Post 
>     Rennaisance World. 

I find Simms' tone overly dismissive.  This is not a particularly
constructive approach to something as interesting and as compelling
as the Suda entry on the Essenes.  Does Simms have anything
to say about the content of the entry, rather than focusing on
the age of the paper the entry was found on?

If there are questions about the Greek transliteration, here
is my source.

 http://www.stoa.org/sol/source/findentry.shtml 
     Search under:  Epsilon, 3123 
 
   Contact for Suda Project: Ross Scaife,
     scaife@pop.uky.edu


If you have questions about Michael Deakin's brief synopsis,
it was to point out that there was NO author named Suidas.
It did not seem that Simms' 1933 issue of Britannica understood
that.

Simms writes:
"What is your point?  That there were a number of extracts about
the Essenes ... [is] Very likely."

I look forward to reading whatever extracts on the Essenes Simms is
boasting
about.  How many surviving extracts on the Essenes are known to exist? 
How
many of them mention the Rechabites?  How many of them imply a pun on
"contemplaters" (with possible ancient sarcasm regarding Sitters?)?  How
many of them do all of the above, while at the same time putting the
Essenes in contrast (and context) with the Pharisees and the Scribes?  

The age of the paper of the Suda doesn't seem nearly as important as
questions like these.

Perhaps Simms is less than impressed because the Suda is generally
underappreciated in the English speaking world:

I direct him to the following site:

http://www.stoa.org/sol/about.shtml

[snip]

The Suda is a 10th century Byzantine Greek historical encyclopedia
of the ancient Mediterranean world, derived from the scholia to
critical editions of canonical works and from compilations by yet
earlier authors. As the Oxford Classical Dictionary notes, "in
spite of its contradictions and other ineptitudes, [the Suda]
is of the highest importance, since it preserves (however
imperfectly) much that is ultimately derived from the earliest or
best authorities in ancient scholarship, and includes material
from many departments of Greek learning and civilization." 

The Suda has never been translated into English, and that is a
central goal of this project, but a new electronic version will
provide better accessibility in several other ways too. Ultimately,
the collaborators aim to produce a keyword-searchable
SGML-tagged database with annotations, bibliography, and
dynamically-generated links to the Perseus Project at Tufts
University, the Thesaurus Linguae Graecae at UC Irvine,
Website Attica at the University of Toronto, Gnomon
Online at the Katholische Universität Eichstätt, and
other important electronic resources. 

[END OF SNIP]

George Brooks
Tampa, FL
For private reply, e-mail to George Brooks <george.x.brooks@juno.com>
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