The world has given us quite a few mysteries, some of which are never solved, but we can finally add another “solved” tick to our list. The title and author of a burned, still-rolled scroll from the ancient Roman town of Herculaneum have finally been revealed after two millennia. The scroll, known as PHerc. 172 was buried during the catastrophic eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD and preserved in the Villa of the Papyri, a grand residence believed to have belonged to Julius Caesar’s father-in-law. So, how did they finally do it?
A Scroll Lost and Found
When the eruption of Mount Vesuvius buried the Roman town of Herculaneum in 79 AD, it took buildings and people along with it, including a priceless library of papyrus scrolls in the Villa of the Papyri. For centuries, these scrolls were thought to be lost forever, reduced to fragile, carbonized lumps by the intense heat and pressure of the volcanic disaster. The scrolls, buried under more than 100 feet of volcanic debris, survived in a remarkable state of preservation. Yet, their contents remained locked away, as any attempt to physically open them risked total destruction.
“We’re confident we will be able to read pretty much the whole scroll in its entirety, and it’s the first time we’ve been able to say that with high confidence,” said Stephen Parsons, project lead for the Vesuvius Challenge, an international competition attempting to unlock the Herculaneum scrolls.
The Vesuvius Challenge
In 2023, the Vesuvius Challenge was launched to harness global expertise and cutting-edge technology. This competition invited researchers worldwide to virtually unroll and decode the Herculaneum scrolls. It incentivizes researchers to develop noninvasive methods to read the fragile, carbonized scrolls without physically unrolling them, which would cause irreparable damage.
“We’ve never been convinced before that any of the techniques would be safe enough or effective enough to get any information from the scrolls,” explained Nicole Gilroy, head of book conservation.
Virtual Unwrapping
The key to unlocking PHerc. 172 lay in a process called “virtual unwrapping.” Using high-energy scans at the Diamond Light Source near Oxford, researchers created detailed 3D images of the scroll’s interior, layer by layer, without physically opening it. By combining this imaging with artificial intelligence, virtual unwrapping has revealed Greek text hidden deep within the scrolls, enabling scholars to decipher works inaccessible for nearly 2,000 years.
The Winning Team and Their Approach
The winning team comprised Youssef Nader, an Egyptian PhD student in Berlin; Luke Farritor, a student at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln; and Julian Schilliger, a Swiss robotics student in Zurich. Though they had never met in person, the trio combined their individual successes from earlier stages of the competition to deliver the most readable and accurate submission.
Together, their method virtually unrolled the scroll and deciphered over 2,000 characters, surpassing the challenge’s requirement of four passages with 85% legibility.
How They Did It
The winning team made a remarkable breakthrough and even exceeded the expectations of the challenge. The scroll was scanned using X-ray phase-contrast tomography, producing hundreds to thousands of images from different angles that were computationally combined into a detailed 3D reconstruction of the rolled papyrus. Next, the team applied an improved segmentation algorithm to detect and isolate the intricate layers of the papyrus within the scroll. These layers were then virtually flattened to create readable 3D images.
To identify the ink and decipher the text, the team employed an ensemble of AI models, including TimeSformer, Resnet3D-101, and I3D, that analyzed the 3D data to detect letters accurately. This helped them recover over 2,000 characters, opening up a world of possibilities for research in the field.
The Title Revealed
The scroll was identified as “On Vices,” a philosophical treatise. This marks the first time the title of a sealed Herculaneum scroll has been successfully read. The full original title is believed to be “On Vices and Their Opposite Virtues and In Whom They Are and About What,” shedding light on moral philosophy discussions from antiquity.
“The pace is ramping up very quickly,” said papyrologist Michael McOsker. “All of the technological progress made on this has been in the last three to five years, and on the timescales of classicists, that’s unbelievable. Everything we’re getting from the Herculaneum library is new to us.”
About The Author
The author of “On Vices” is Philodemus, a Greek philosopher and poet who lived from 110 to 40 BCE and was born in Gadara in Coele-Syria (modern-day Jordan). Before moving to Italy, he studied philosophy in Athens under Zeno of Sidon, the head of the Epicurean school. Philodemus was a prolific writer whose works covered a wide range of topics, including ethics, rhetoric, music, poetry, and the history of philosophy.
His writings, largely preserved in the carbonized papyri from the Villa of the Papyri at Herculaneum, were influential in spreading Epicurean thought in Rome.
Implications for Future Research
The successful decoding of PHerc. 172 demonstrates the potential for AI and digital imaging to revolutionize the study of ancient texts. Many more scrolls from Herculaneum remain unread, and this is just the start of having a glimpse into the past.
Scholars anticipate that these newly accessible texts will vastly expand our understanding of ancient philosophy, literature, and history, filling gaps left by lost manuscripts. “I just love that connection with whoever collected them, whoever wrote them, whoever rolled those scrolls up and put them on the shelves. There’s a real human aspect to it that I just think is really precious,” said Gilroy.
A New Era for Ancient Literature
The revelation of the title and author of a 2,000-year-old burned scroll is a triumph of technology and a testament to human curiosity and perseverance. As more scrolls are decoded, our understanding of ancient thought, literature, and daily life will continue to deepen. With this technology, the options are endless in understanding what the past was all about, even if it was once seen as lost forever.
“It can see things on the scale of a few thousandths of a millimetre,” explained Adrian Mancuso, director of physical sciences at Diamond. “We have to work out which layer differs from the next layer so we can unroll that digitally. Now we can work on making it show up more clearly. We’re going to go from a handful of words to really substantial passages.”
Uncover more fascinating moments from history — and hit Follow to keep the stories flowing to your feed!
Don’t miss more incredible stories from the past! Tap Follow at the top of this article to stay updated with the latest historical discoveries. Share your thoughts in the comments — we’d love to hear your perspective!
