Key facts
- Scientists used AI and X-rays to decipher a scroll burnt in the 79 AD Vesuvius eruption without unrolling it.
- The scroll, PHerc. 1667, contains a philosophical treatise on ethics, arts, and human behavior.
- The text is dated to the 2nd century BC and references Aristocreon, a nephew of Chrysippus.
- The Vesuvius Challenge incentivized the use of AI and machine learning for deciphering ancient scrolls.
- This effort also identified a new work by philosopher Philodemus.
Scientists have successfully deciphered the full text of an ancient papyrus scroll, PHerc. 1667, which was carbonized during the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD. The scroll, discovered in the 1750s in Herculaneum, was too fragile to unroll, a challenge that persisted for centuries.
Utilizing a combination of high-resolution X-ray scanning and advanced artificial intelligence, specifically machine learning and computer vision, researchers were able to reconstruct the scroll's internal structure and read the faint traces of ink. This breakthrough, part of the Vesuvius Challenge initiative, allowed scholars to access the intellectual content of the scroll without risking its physical disintegration.
The deciphered text has revealed a philosophical treatise focusing on ethics, arts, and human behavior, likely reflecting Stoic doctrine. Scholars have dated the work to the 2nd century BC and identified references to Aristocreon, a nephew and disciple of the Stoic philosopher Chrysippus. This effort also led to the identification of a new book by the Epicurean philosopher Philodemus from another scroll.
The Vesuvius Challenge, launched in 2023, aimed to unlock the secrets of the approximately 1,800 preserved papyrus fragments found in a villa in Herculaneum, which constitute the only complete surviving library from the Greco-Roman world. The contest offered cash prizes for contestants using AI to find readable text, with a 21-year-old computer science student being the first to discover a word from an unopened scroll.