pixi666

If you could restore one lost or fragmented body of classical text, what would you restore? What will you pick? Perhaps you'll restore the works of a Pre-Socratic philosopher, of which we have almost none. Or perhaps you'll restore 'The Satyricon' by Petronius. Or maybe the 86 lost plays of Aesychlus? Or the lost works of Aristotle (we have maybe 1/3 of his original writings). Or the lost plays of Plautus, or Sophocles?

My vote would be either be for the lost plays of Aristophanes or the rest of Livy's Ab Urbe Condita (The History Of Rome).

Thessalonian

Strabo's geographica. All that remains shows that Greeks made it to Africa, Asia, Europe and the Arctic ONLY. Had we known the whole text, we could be surprised about how far Greeks had made it to.

Kirialax

While Tacitus and Livy would be nice, Ammianus Marcellinus or Theophylact Simocatta would get my vote. The loss of part of both of these works have left us in the dark in certain periods.

Linschoten

The lost works of Aristotle, many of which were supposed to have been of higher literary quality than those that have survived, would indeed be an appealing idea; or on a rather different note, speaking as an Englishman, I would like Pytheas' description of his voyage around the British Isles in the 4th Century BC.
But my instinctive first choice would be the complete lyric poetry of Sappho.

DreamWeaver

The rest of Cornelius Nepos

Enkidu

The lost poems of the Greek Epic Cycle. Also all the lost winning plays of City Dionysia.

plutoboyz

Sasaka Domas, Sundanese religious scripture. burned by Banten after raze Pakwan.

The Imperial

I would LOVE to have Indus Valley Civilization's script deciphered....... I want to know what secrets they hide in those scripts... We could learn much about history.......

Also, Muslim invaders destroyed many many Universities in Northern India, each containing 500 teachers, and DAMN lot of literature about Ancient India and the world..... If I get a time machine, first thing is am gonna save those Universities.... LOL!! And video record the Battle of Hydaspes.....!!

Linschoten

Good suggestion; similarly, for anyone who is interested in early Greek myth and legend, one of the early mythographical compendiums, that of Pherecydes perhaps.

Rasta

I'm gonna cheat and say the Library of Alexandria.