04-28-2009, 04:59 AM
Wow.
What a debate! I lost sight of the topic.
Just a quick note on languages. I built a scorpio maior. I read classical greek and latin. I found the only way to build the machine in a way I was happy, was to constantly refer to the original texts plus the numerous publications on recent finds.
All builders will be faced with the same problems. They will have to fill in missed parts, or interpret others. The catapult texts are not like a modern set of blue prints. Some of the documents are horribly corrupt. Some of the words the ancients used are totally confusing. I doubt that the original authors would have thought thier texts and knowledge would be lost for 2000 years until such people as Schramm and Marsden, and Alan Wilkins and all of us came along. They probably were writing for people who were quite familiar with thier machines, or ones similar so they could brag about thier own improvements.
Good luck to all builders.
Kevin
What a debate! I lost sight of the topic.
Just a quick note on languages. I built a scorpio maior. I read classical greek and latin. I found the only way to build the machine in a way I was happy, was to constantly refer to the original texts plus the numerous publications on recent finds.
All builders will be faced with the same problems. They will have to fill in missed parts, or interpret others. The catapult texts are not like a modern set of blue prints. Some of the documents are horribly corrupt. Some of the words the ancients used are totally confusing. I doubt that the original authors would have thought thier texts and knowledge would be lost for 2000 years until such people as Schramm and Marsden, and Alan Wilkins and all of us came along. They probably were writing for people who were quite familiar with thier machines, or ones similar so they could brag about thier own improvements.
Good luck to all builders.
Kevin
