Papyrus scroll burnt to a crisp during Vesuvius eruption deciphered with help of AI

A new exhibit at the Bata Shoe Museum lets visitors explore footwear and culture from the Roman Empire over 2,000 years ago.

A papyrus scroll that was burned and carbonized when Mount Vesuvius erupted almost 2,000 years ago has been virtually unrolled and partially deciphered with the help of artificial intelligence.

The scroll — named PHerc. 1667 — is one of hundreds from the ancient Roman town of Herculaneum, which was buried under volcanic debris when Mount Vesuvius erupted in AD 79, according to the Vesuvius Challenge, an initiative focused on decoding the texts of the Herculaneum scrolls without needing to physically unroll them.

Preserved under mud and ash in a villa believed to have once been owned by the father-in-law of Julius Caesar, the scrolls were discovered by an Italian farmer in the 18th century. The collection is the only large-scale library known to have survived from classical antiquity.

Burned so badly they were carbonized, the scrolls are extremely fragile. Over the years, scholars have tried to unroll them using a range of methods, including weights, chemicals, gases and pulverization, though this often led to the scrolls being damaged or destroyed.

The Vesuvius Challenge was launched by Brent Seales, a computer science professor at the University of Kentucky, and entrepreneurs Nat Friedman and Daniel Gross in 2023 to encourage researchers from around the world to try to decipher the scrolls by virtually unwrapping and decoding them.

Virtual unwrapping begins with a CT scan of each coiled-up, warped papyrus.

After following along the curved layers in the scan, researchers then virtually flatten the scrolls and explore them using advanced AI that has been trained to identify ink on the page.

There have been numerous developments in recent years but this latest one — announced at a conference in Naples, Italy on Thursday — is a “historic breakthrough,” according to those involved.

For the first time, scientists have succeeded in fully unwrapping one scroll, revealing an area measuring almost 1.5 metres of text across 20 columns.

“For nearly two millennia, many of these texts have been physically preserved but intellectually inaccessible,” Seales said in a statement published on Thursday. “Today — after years of interdisciplinary work combining advanced imaging, artificial intelligence (AI), academic research and an innovation contest — we are finally able to read them.”

Federica Nicolardi, assistant professor in papyrology at the University of Naples Federico II, has led a team of papyrologists in creating machine learning models and interpreting the text from the scrolls.

“This scroll was deemed completely unreadable when part of it was opened in the 1980s,” Nicolardi said in the press release.

“While a few isolated letters were visible, overlapping layers obscured the writing, and the scroll was assigned a readability score of zero. But now, with virtual unwrapping, we can follow sustained arguments across multiple columns. That’s a transformational shift.”

She added: “The scroll’s handwriting and internal references suggest the artifact dates from the second century BC or possibly from the late third century BC — making it one of the oldest scrolls in the collection.”

According to Nicolardi, PHerc. 1667 is the only surviving part of a formerly complete scroll. It is about eight centimetres in height — less than half the size of a typical scroll — and about two centimetres in diameter. Records show that it was largely intact when discovered, but attempts to unfurl it over the years damaged it and reduced it in size.

The text appears to be a philosophical discussion of ethics, arts and human behaviour, probably reflecting Stoic thought, the researchers say.

It includes discussion of the Stoic concept of “horme,” or impulse, with the unknown author appearing to warn that failure to regulate behaviour can lead to a harmful passion or a diversion from one’s goals.

Practical wisdom, known as “phronesis,” is another key concept considered the highest virtue in Stoic philosophy.

The newly translated text includes the line: “We will inquire into something, but we will not grasp it, if in some way we depart from ourselves and from our own nature.”

The team also announced a discovery inside the scorched layers of another scroll, PHerc. 139.

Researchers were able to read the words: “Philodemus, On Gods, Book 8.” This establishes for the first time that “On Gods” was a series of at least eight books by the Greek philosopher. Previously, only the first book was known about.

These discoveries are the latest in a series of revelations resulting from the Vesuvius Challenge.

In May last year, the title and author of the PHerc. 172 scroll were deciphered as “On Vices” by Philodemus.

In October 2023, the first full word from one of the unopened ancient papyri was decoded with the help of computer technology and advanced AI.

The project is now at a turning point, according to Seales.

“This is no longer just about imaging or machine learning,” he said. “Now we need experts who can read, edit and understand what they are saying.”

By Lianne Kolirin, CNN