Discovery of Herculaneum Scrolls’ Author

Recent advances in X-ray technology have unveiled the identity of the writer behind some burnt scrolls from the first century BC. Discovered in the ancient Roman town of Herculaneum, these scrolls include a multi-volume work titled “on vices,” authored by the Greek philosopher Philodemus.

The scroll was retrieved from a Roman villa, thought to be owned by Julius Caesar’s stepfather, and it, along with the villa, was entombed nearly 2,000 years ago during the eruption of Mount Vesuvius.

Researchers utilized X-rays to peer inside the charred scroll, made from a type of ancient paper known as carbonized papyrus. This innovative method allowed them to extract critical information, including the title and author, as X-ray images revealed remnants of ink.

Dr. Michael Makosker, a researcher at the University of London, noted, “This is the first scroll where you can see ink in a scan. No one had any idea what it was; they weren’t even sure if it was writing.” This scroll is one of three from Herculaneum currently at the Bodleian Library in Oxford.

Although many ancient scrolls have been discovered and are now housed in the National Library of Naples, attempts to read them have often failed due to their burnt condition, making ink indistinguishable against the carbonized papyrus.

In 2023, the Vesuvius Challenge was initiated to enhance efforts to read the Herculaneum scrolls using 3D X-ray technology, offering rewards to those who could decipher ancient texts.

Last year, a team of tech-savvy students claimed the grand prize of $700,000 for utilizing artificial intelligence software capable of interpreting 2,000 Greek letters from another scroll.

Dr. Brent Shields, a computer scientist at the University of Kentucky and co-founder of the Vesuvius Challenge, commented, “That’s our current bottleneck: we can properly segment large scan data, effectively flatten it, and convert it into organized sections, allowing us to interpret ink evidence as actual text.”