“The Good Day”: a nightclub for the ancient and the curious
Real statues are dancing and real inscriptions are carved into the walls. Carvings read best by low, raking light, so each one has its own lamp. Look at a line and press E to translate it.
WASD + mousewalk & look (Shift to hurry)E / clicktranslate a line · talk · orderQdance with a statueSpace · Nhop to the beat · next trackJyour papyrus (everything you’ve read)Lswitch script: English · Greek · hieroglyphs (for laughs)C · Mcredits & sources · mute
E translate/talk · Q dance · N next track · J papyrus · C credits · M mute
The GPU took a nap. Your spot on the dance floor is saved.
click to return to the dance floor
1–9 to choose · Esc to walk away
Your Papyrus
Credits & Sources
3D scans
Texts
Every inscription is a real ancient text: the Rosetta Stone (British Museum EA 24), the harpers’ songs, the offering formula, epithets of Hathor, Alcaeus fr. 332, 346, 366 and 333, the Seikilos epitaph, Sappho fr. 2 and 31, Greek tourist graffiti from the Valley of the Kings, and Papyrus Chester Beatty I. Greek is quoted from the standard editions. Hieroglyphs marked ◇ are my own sign-by-sign typesetting of attested words. They can differ from a specific original monument, so check them against a sign list before you cite them. The English translations are mine and follow the standard scholarly ones.
Type & code
Hieroglyphs: Noto Sans Egyptian Hieroglyphs (SIL OFL). Greek & Latin: EB Garamond (SIL OFL). Rendering: three.js (MIT). The music is synthesised live in your browser.