September 06, 2007 12:16PM
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Registered: 19 years ago
Posts: 1,953
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Hermione,
My edition (Penguin 1996) says that conversion is impossible but that one drachma was the daily wage for a skilled worker or rower in the Athenian navy in the th century BCE. 1 talent = 6000 drachma, so huge indeed, but how would one relate this to "wages" in Khufu's time?
I think your point about misinterpretation or misunderstanding of the inscription is a very good one. Even assuming that the priest/interpretor was able to read glyhs, it does not follow that he understood them as they were originally intended to be understood, or read all of them correctly. Some 2100 years elapse between Khufu and Herodotus. The Egypyian of the OK was very different from the Egyptian the priest/interpretor would have spoken and written on a daily basis, and differed as well from Middle Egyptian, the "classic" form of the language that we learn first today and that was used for most religious writing well almost throughout Egyptian history. Thus even if the priest were well-acquinted with NE and demotic, his ready understanding of OK texts is not a foregone conclusion. I don't plunge recklessly into Chaucer (or even Shakespeare) without a glossary, and that language as common speech lies nowhere near so far in the past. I also agree that neither the interpretor nor Herodotus need be seen as mendacious here: the priest gives his honest (though slightly mangled) translation of the inscription; Herodotus honestly passes it on, and we, somewhat confused, are left with the burden of providing a useful footnote. Such are the joys of scholarship.
Lee
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Jon_B |
August 28, 2007 03:55PM |
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fmetrol |
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MJ Thomas |
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Anthony |
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MJ Thomas |
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Anthony |
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MJ Thomas |
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Anthony |
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MJ Thomas |
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MJ Thomas |
August 29, 2007 02:16PM |
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Anthony |
August 29, 2007 07:27PM |
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MJ Thomas |
August 30, 2007 02:31AM |
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Hermione |
August 30, 2007 03:28AM |
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Ritva Kurittu |
August 30, 2007 04:23AM |
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MJ Thomas |
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Ritva Kurittu |
August 30, 2007 01:57PM |
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Anthony |
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Ritva Kurittu |
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Anthony |
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MJ Thomas |
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Anthony |
September 05, 2007 09:24AM |
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Hermione |
September 05, 2007 10:07AM |
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Anthony |
September 05, 2007 10:14AM |
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Hermione |
September 05, 2007 10:41AM |
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Anthony |
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Hermione |
September 05, 2007 11:06AM |
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Warwick L Nixon |
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Hermione |
September 05, 2007 12:38PM |
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Anthony |
September 05, 2007 01:16PM |
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Lee |
September 05, 2007 01:58PM |
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Hermione |
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Anthony |
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MJ Thomas |
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Anthony |
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Tommi Huhtamaki |
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Anthony |
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Hermione |
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Hermione |
September 06, 2007 03:42AM |
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Anthony |
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Hermione |
September 06, 2007 10:55AM |
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Anthony |
September 06, 2007 01:49PM |
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MJ Thomas |
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Anthony |
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MJ Thomas |
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Hermione |
September 07, 2007 09:59AM |
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MJ Thomas |
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Hermione |
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MJ Thomas |
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Anthony |
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Hermione |
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MJ Thomas |
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Anthony |
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Anthony |
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Lee |
September 13, 2007 12:17PM |
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Anthony |
September 13, 2007 07:53PM |
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fmetrol |
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Hermione |
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MJ Thomas |
September 14, 2007 04:54PM |
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Hermione |
September 07, 2007 08:23AM |
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Anthony |
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Hermione |
September 07, 2007 09:54AM |
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Anthony |
September 05, 2007 12:16PM |
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Hermione |
September 05, 2007 01:59PM |
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fmetrol |
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Hermione |
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Anthony |
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Hermione |
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Ritva Kurittu |
August 29, 2007 02:41PM |
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Lee |
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Anthony |
September 05, 2007 07:53PM |
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Hermione |
September 06, 2007 03:11AM |
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Hermione |
September 06, 2007 07:39AM |
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Anthony |
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Lee |
September 06, 2007 08:51AM |
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Anthony |
September 06, 2007 09:09AM |
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Hermione |
September 06, 2007 11:00AM |
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Lee |
September 06, 2007 12:16PM |
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Anthony |
September 06, 2007 12:34PM |
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Hermione |
September 06, 2007 12:42PM |
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Hermione |
September 06, 2007 03:01AM |
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Kanga |
September 05, 2007 10:57PM |
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Lee |
September 06, 2007 10:28AM |