Researchers have extracted the full surviving text from a carbonised papyrus scroll using high-resolution scans and artificial intelligence. The scroll comes from the library at Herculaneum, buried by the AD 79 eruption of Mount Vesuvius.
The scroll yielded 1.5 metres of text across 22 columns. It discusses ethics, art and human nature while referencing Stoic ideas. Scholars identify the Greek philosopher Chrysippus as the likely author.
A second scroll was identified as On Gods, Book 8 by Philodemus. The work extends a known series and belonged to the library owned by Lucius Calpurnius Piso Caesoninus, father-in-law of Julius Caesar.
The Vesuvius Challenge project began in 2023. It uses particle accelerators for 3D scans down to 2 micrometres and AI trained on multiple scrolls. Federica Nicolardi of the University of Naples Federico II said virtual unwrapping succeeded where earlier physical attempts failed.
Brent Seales of the University of Kentucky noted that hundreds of scrolls remain unopened. The techniques could reveal many more lost works over coming decades.
