Part II: Gradual Abandonment - The Quiet Extinctions
Not all sacred texts die in flames. Many fade quietly—abandoned as languages change, forgotten as populations scatter, or simply deemed unworthy of the expense of copying. These quiet extinctions tell a different story about loss: how economic choices determine which wisdom survives, how translation both preserves and transforms meaning, and how the most vulnerable voices—women, minorities, the unconventional—often disappear from the historical record without anyone noticing. Here we explore the texts that slipped away gradually, the traditions that died with their last speakers, and the archaeological miracles that sometimes bring them back from silence.