A newly deciphered passage from a papyrus scroll buried under a layer of volcanic ash after the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD may shed light on the final hours of Plato, a key figure in the history of Western philosophy. .
In a breakthrough discovery, ancient scrolls detail how a Greek philosopher spent his last night and how he listened to music played on a flute by a Thracian slave girl. It turns out that it contains a previously unknown story.
Plato, a student of Socrates and known as a mentor to Aristotle who died in Athens around 348 BC, criticized the musician’s lack of rhythm, even though he was battling a fever and was on the brink of death. He had enough clarity to The account suggests.
The deciphered words also suggest that Plato’s burial site was within the designated gardens of the Academy of Athens, the world’s first university, which he founded, adjacent to the Museion. Previously, it was only generally known that he was buried within the Academy.
Presenting the findings at the National Library of Naples, Professor Graziano Ranocchia of the University of Pisa, who led the team responsible for excavating the scroll, described the discovery as “an extraordinary achievement that enriches our understanding of ancient history.” ”. .
“Thanks to cutting-edge diagnostic imaging technology, we can finally read and decipher new parts of text that were previously thought inaccessible,” he said.
The document also reveals that Plato was sold into slavery on Aegina, perhaps in 404 BC, when the Spartans conquered the island, or in 399 BC, shortly after Socrates’ death. I’m doing it.
“It was previously believed that Plato was sold into slavery at the court of Dionysius I of Syracuse during his stay in Sicily in 387 BC,” Ranocchia said. “Through an unfolding process using mechanical techniques that destroys entire fragments of text, we have been able to read for the first time hidden sequences of letters from papyri that have been wrapped in multiple layers stuck together for centuries. I did.”
Ranocchia said the ability to identify these layers and virtually realign them to their original positions to restore textual continuity is a major advance in terms of gathering vast amounts of information. Ta.
He said the initiative is still in its early stages and its full impact will not be known for several years.
The scroll was discovered in 1750 and is preserved in a luxurious villa in Herculaneumand, thought to have belonged to Julius Caesar’s father-in-law.
For years, scholars have been trying to decipher the scrolls found in this villa, known as the Villa of Papyris.
Archaeologist Domenico Camardo of the Herculaneum Preservation Project likened the impact of the 79 AD eruption on Herculaneum, an ancient Roman seaside town near Pompeii, to the atomic bombing of the Japanese city of Hiroshima during World War II. Ta.
The heat of the pyroclastic surge at Mount Vesuvius is thought to have been between 400 and 500 degrees Celsius, enough to instantly boil the brains and blood of the victims.
