Buried in ash after Mount Vesuvius’ cataclysmic eruption in A.D. 79, hundreds of papyrus scrolls have kept their secrets hidden for centuries. But archeologists have now been able to decipher some of the ancient text with the help of artificial intelligence.
Discovered in the ruins of a villa thought to have been owned by Julius Caesar’s father-in-law, Lucius Calpurnius Piso Caesoninus, the Herculaneum papyri are a collection of around 1,000 scrolls that were carbonized during the eruption, along with thousands of other relics.
Found by a farmworker in the 18th century, they are named after the place where they were buried, Herculaneum — an ancient Roman town to the south of Pompeii that was also destroyed by the blast.
Previous attempts to unlock their secrets have failed because most of the scrolls were turned into carbonized ash and broke into pieces. However, a number of them were painstakingly unrolled by a monk over several decades and found to contain philosophical texts written in Greek.
The Vesuvius Challenge offered $1 million in prizes to anyone who could solve the problem and find a way to read the remaining 270 closed scrolls, most of which are preserved in a library in Naples.
A team at the University of Kentucky led by professor Brent Seales, who released software and thousands of 3D X-ray images of three papyrus fragments and two rolled-up scrolls, in the hope that global research groups would take up the challenge.
Seales’ team had already pioneered a way to “virtually unwrap” an ancient scroll from Israel using X-ray tomography and computer vision. But even that was not enough to read the barely visible ink on the ancient documents from Herculaneum.
“The chemistry of the ink from the ancient world is different than the chemistry from medieval times. It’s largely invisible to the naked eye even when caught by the X-ray,” he said. “However, we know the tomography captures information about the ink.”
“In 2019, we did come up with a solution based on artificial intelligence that allowed us to ‘see’ the ink, but it needed a lot of data, and we had a small team. So we launched the challenge to scale up our processes and accelerate the work,” he added.
Deciphering the lost scrolls from Herculaneum is thrilling, but, the work they uncovered is from a minor Epicurean Philodemus. But what of the other lost works of Greco-Roman philosophy? Will we ever find these:
1. Aristotle’s Dialogues (c. 330BC)–Aristotle allegedly wrote dialogues, just like Plato. Cicero called Aristotle’s dialogues a “river of gold” compared to Plato’s “river of silver.” Given how significant Plato’s dialogues are, one can only imagine what’s in Aristotle’s.
2. Pythagoras’s Works (6th c. BC) — Pythagoras was a giant, not only in math and music but also in founding a now-lost religion. Pythagoras preached the transmigration of the immortal soul, and his sect followed a communal, ascetic lifestyle. None of his writings survive.
3. Heraclitus’s On Nature (~500 BC)–Heraclitus is probably the most influential ancient Greek philosopher pre-Socrates. He spoke in epigrams that were often paradoxical and are still challenging today. We have several intriguing quotes, but his work is otherwise lost.
4. Posidonius’s Lost Works (1st c. BC)–Posidonius was said to be the most learned man of his day, a polymath similar to Aristotle. He was also *the* preeminent Stoic philosopher, greatly influencing late Republic Rome. Except for a few fragments, his works are entirely lost.
5. Aristotle’s Poetics Book II (c.335BC)–The Poetics is a monumental work of literary theory that has greatly influenced the development of literature. Only the first book, on tragedy, survives. The second book, on comedy, is lost.
6. Diogenes’s Works (c. 350BC)–Diogenes was a very influential early Cynic – a philosophical school that rejected worldly matters, in favor of pursuing virtue. Diogenes was a character, famously living on the street to demonstrate his philosophy. All his works are lost.
7. Zeno of Citium’s Works (c. 300BC)–Zeno founded the Stoic school, which emphasized the importance of maintaining peace of mind through living virtuously in accordance with nature.Except for a smattering of quotations and fragments, his writings are lost.
8. Democritus’s Works (5th c BC)–Another pre-Socratic, Democritus is credited with originating the theory that all matter is composed of atoms. He also wrote voluminous works on ethics, mathematics, aesthetics, and literature. Except for a few fragments, all are lost.
9. Thales’s Works (6th c. BC)–Reputed to be the first Greek philosopher and mathematician, he is credited with the maxim, “Know thyself.” As the “first” philosopher, all who came after were heavily indebted to him. His witings have not survived.
10. Cicero’s Hortensius (c.45BC)–A philosophical dialogue on how the pursuit of philosophy is life’s most important endeavor. This was one of the most widely read tracts through Late Antiquity, greatly influencing Seneca, Boethius, St. Augustine
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