Sunday, October 29, 2023
Alike?
Lucian, Menippus 15 (tr. A.M. Harmon):
Charnel house, Holy Trinity Church, Rothwell, Northamptonshire
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It was not at all easy, though, to tell them apart, for all, without exception, become precisely alike when their bones are bare.Lucian, Dialogues of the Dead 18.1 (tr. M.D. MacLeod):
τὸ μέντοι διαγιγνώσκειν ἕκαστον οὐ πάνυ τι ἦν ῥᾴδιον· ἅπαντες γὰρ ἀτεχνῶς ἀλλήλοις γίγνονται ὅμοιοι τῶν ὀστῶν γεγυμνωμένων.
I can only see bones and bare skulls, most of them looking the same.Forensic anthropologists can see lots of differences. Or they could until recently.
ὀστᾶ μόνα ὁρῶ καὶ κρανία τῶν σαρκῶν γυμνά, ὅμοια τὰ πολλά.
