Summary
- Researchers announced Thursday that artificial intelligence and advanced imaging have enabled the first full reading of a closed Herculaneum scroll, carbonised nearly 2,000 years ago by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius.
- The Vesuvius Challenge, which promotes new technologies for studying the fragile texts, said it will release all data, code and models online and offer a $1 million prize to the first team to fully read another scroll.
- Federica Nicolardi, lead papyrologist for the Vesuvius Challenge, said the technology is transformative.
Researchers announced Thursday that artificial intelligence and advanced imaging have enabled the first full reading of a closed Herculaneum scroll, carbonised nearly 2,000 years ago by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius.
The achievement marks a breakthrough in efforts to decipher hundreds of ancient manuscripts unearthed at Herculaneum, the Roman town destroyed alongside Pompeii in 79 AD. The Vesuvius Challenge, which promotes new technologies for studying the fragile texts, said it will release all data, code and models online and offer a $1 million prize to the first team to fully read another scroll.
“Just a year ago it would have been crazy to believe a complete scroll could be read non-invasively,” said Brent Seales, professor of computer science at the University of Kentucky and a founder of the project. “Today we have shown you that is possible.”
The scrolls, blackened and brittle, cannot be opened without damage. Researchers instead use high-resolution scans and computational techniques to virtually unwrap them and detect ink. Around 45 scrolls and fragments have been scanned, with more than 600 unopened and parts of the villa still unexcavated.
Among the new material revealed were 70 columns from “On Vices, Book 1,” attributed to Epicurean philosopher Philodemus. Nearly 1.5 metres of text across 20 columns was also recovered from a document dated to 200–300 BC, the oldest scroll yet unwrapped, exploring ethics, arts and human behaviour.
Federica Nicolardi, lead papyrologist for the Vesuvius Challenge, said the technology is transformative. “With virtual unwrapping, we are no longer forced to choose between preserving and reading these extraordinary artefacts. We can do both,” she said.
Progress has accelerated rapidly. Nicolardi noted that in the past 24 hours researchers unwrapped the full length of one scroll, producing about 140 columns of text. Until recently, only about 10 percent of columns could be uncovered.
Nat Friedman, a U.S. technology executive and sponsor of the project, said advances in algorithms and ink detection could lead to further breakthroughs. The Vesuvius Challenge has already awarded $1.8 million in prizes for related work.
The latest success suggests that hundreds of scrolls may eventually be read in full, offering unprecedented insight into ancient philosophy, ethics and daily life in the Roman world.
