Prof. Brent Seales at the University of Kentucky pioneered virtual scroll unwrapping, launching the Vesuvius Challenge in 2023. X-ray scanning and machine learning now fully read scroll PHerc 1667 from the Villa of the Papyri—a 2nd-century BCE Stoic treatise referencing Aristocreon, nephew of philosopher Chrysippus. It's the first complete Herculaneum scroll read continuously end-to-end.
AI digitally unwraps first complete Herculaneum scroll, reveals Stoic text
Key facts
- The Villa of the Papyri in Herculaneum contains carbonized scrolls preserved since the eruption of Mount Vesuvius nearly 2,000 years ago
- Virtual unwrapping was pioneered by Prof. Brent Seales at the University of Kentucky in 2015, and opened to the world as the Vesuvius Challenge in 2023
- High-resolution X-ray scanning and machine learning were used to read the scroll known as PHerc 1667 end-to-end, the first time a complete Herculaneum scroll has been read continuously
- The recovered text is a Stoic philosophical treatise on ethics from the 2nd century BCE, referencing Aristocreon, nephew and disciple of Chrysippus
- Earlier milestones included identifying the first word 'porphyras' (purple), the title 'Philodemus on Vices Book 1', the location of Plato's grave in Athens, and the revelation that 'On Gods' was a multi-book work
Sources
nature.com
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