Latest news with #GreekEpicurean
Yahoo
08-05-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
Researchers Decipher Herculaneum Scrolls Found at Pompeii
Researchers have virtually unfurled a Herculaneum scroll which was rescued from Pompeii after the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 A.D. The Herculaneum scrolls, first discovered within Pompeii's ruins in 1752, have long beguiled scientists. Written on papyrus using carbon-based ink, the scrolls cannot be physically opened without disintegrating. With the advent of digital AI technology, researchers have been given a new opportunity to discover the scrolls' the technology, they were able to decipher the contents and even identify the author of an ancient piece entitled 'On Vices.' The tome, on how to live a virtuous life, was written by Greek Epicurean philosopher Philodemus, who lived in Herculaneum from 110 B.C. until 35 B.C. The discovery of his work within the ruins of Pompeii indicates that Philodemus' work was still highly regarded amongst modern people. 'Finding the full title of a work inside a scroll that has been unread for two millennia is an astonishing achievement,' Richard Ovenden, who works at the library which houses the scrolls, told the Daily Mail. '[It] illustrates the huge potential for AI to transform arts and humanities scholarship, our understanding of the past, and breathes new life into ancient artifacts.' Although the AI technology allows researchers to virtually unroll the scrolls, reading what was inscribed within them is still a difficult task. The document was eventually unfurled and decoded by two separate research teams: Marcel Roth and Micha Nowak from the University of Würzburg, Germany; and Sean Johnson with Vesuvius Challenge, a program which awards cash prizes to those who are able to decipher the scrolls. 'The simultaneous reproduction of the title image from multiple sources, along with independent scholarly review, provides a high degree of confidence in the reading,' the Bodleian Libraries said. As it turns out, their hard work paid off. Roth and Nowak took home the very first Vesuvius Challenge Title Prize, which included a reward of $60,000.
Yahoo
05-02-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
Scientists digitally "unroll" ancient scroll scorched by Mount Vesuvius
London — The Herculaneum scrolls have remained one of the many tantalizing mysteries of the ancient world for almost 2,000 years. Burnt to a crisp by lava from Mount Vesuvius in A.D. 79, the reams of rolled-up papyrus were discovered in a mansion in Herculaneum — an ancient Roman town near Pompeii — in the mid-18th century. Both towns were decimated by the Vesuvius eruption, and most of the scrolls were so badly charred they were impossible to open. Over the next two and a half centuries, attempts were made to unfurl some of the hundreds of scrolls using everything from rose water and mercury to vegetable gas and papyrus juice, according to the New Yorker. The few that could be opened were philosophical texts written in ancient Greek. But most of the scrolls were so badly damaged, they were considered illegible. More recently, researchers managed to decipher some select words using artificial intelligence, X-ray and CT scans to distinguish ink from the papyrus it was printed on. The mystery is still unravelling, and on Wednesday, a major breakthrough was announced. Researchers say they've now managed to digitally unroll and start reading one of the ancient scrolls. The scroll in question, known as PHerc. 172, is one of three stored at the University of Oxford's Bodleian Libraries in England. A team involved in the Vesuvius Challenge, a competition offering prize money to anyone who can help unlock the delicate scrolls, says it has virtually unwrapped the papyrus to reveal columns of text that Oxford scholars have already started working to decipher. "This scroll contains more recoverable text than we have ever seen in a scanned Herculaneum scroll," said Brent Seales, one of the co-founders of the challenge. "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 really been able to say that with high confidence," project lead Stephen Parsons told CBS News' partner network BBC News. "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." The breakthrough came when the team at the Bodleian Libraries brought the blackened scroll to the Diamond Light Source research facility in nearby Oxfordshire, where technicians used a massive machine called a synchrotron to create a powerful X-ray beam that was able to peer into the fragile relic without damaging it. "It can see things on the scale of a few thousandths of a millimeter," Adrian Mancuso, the facility's director of physical sciences, told the BBC. "We have to work out which layer is different from the next layer so we can unroll that digitally." Last year, the Vesuvius Challenge announced that three young students had won its $700,000 grand prize for using AI to help researchers read about 5% of another scroll, the subject of which was Greek Epicurean philosophy. The scroll that the team at the Bodleian Libraries recently unfurled is assumed to be on the same subject. "I just love that connection with whoever collected them, whoever wrote them, whoever rolled those scrolls up and put them on the shelves," Nicole Gilroy, head of book conservation at the Bodleian Libraries, told the BBC. "There's a real human aspect to it that I just think is really precious." Details on Chinese retaliatory tariffs on U.S. products set to take effect next week Concern over DOGE stopping Social Security, Medicare payments Sneak peek: Kristen Trickle: Autopsy of the Mind
The Independent
05-02-2025
- Science
- The Independent
Badly burnt scroll digitally unwrapped to provide first look in 2,000 years
A badly burnt Roman scroll destroyed by the volcanic eruption of Mount Vesuvius has been 'unwrapped' for the first time in 2,000 years by using AI. The document, which looks like a lump of charcoal, was charred by the volcanic eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79AD and was too fragile to ever be physically opened. But artificial intelligence and X-ray imaging have now been used to virtually unfurl it, revealing rows and columns of text believed to be Greek philosophy. "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 really been able to say that with high confidence," Vesuvius Challenge lead Stephen Parsons said. Hundreds of carbonised scrolls have been discovered in Herculaneum, a Roman town just 20km (12 miles) north of its more famous neighbour Pompeii, over the years. The scroll was placed in a specially made case and taken to Diamond Light Source, a gigantic high intensity X-ray facility, in Oxfordshire. Inside this huge machine, which is called a synchrotron, electrons were accelerated to almost the speed of light to produce a powerful X-ray beam that could probe the scroll without damaging it. "It can see things on the scale of a few thousandths of a millimetre," Adrian Mancuso, director of physical sciences at Diamond, told the BBC. The scan was then used to create a 3D reconstruction, with AI used to detect ink, which is then painted on digitally to reveal text. Last year, a Vesuvius Challenge research team managed to read about 5 per cent of another Herculaneum scroll. The subject was Greek Epicurean philosophy, which teaches that fulfilment can be found through the pleasure of everyday things. The University of Oxford's Bodleian Library holds several of the scrolls. Thought to be unreadable, they had been left untouched for decades. Nicole Gilroy, who oversees the scrolls' care at Oxford's Bodleian Library, said: '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.'
