AI Deciphers Herculaneum Papyri Carbonized by Vesuvius

What Happened?

Researchers from the Vesuvius Challenge have partially read the PHerc 1667 papyrus, a scroll carbonized by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD that remained rolled and sealed. Using a combination of X-rays and artificial intelligence algorithms, they identified subtle differences in the papyrus fibers where ink was applied, reconstructing 20 columns of text without physically opening the fragile document. This is the second major success of the challenge, following the partial reading of another scroll in 2023, and demonstrates the maturity of the technique. The papyrus, only 8 cm tall, is split in half due to previous opening attempts, further complicating its analysis.

Why Is It Important?

This breakthrough shows that AI can unlock information from ancient manuscripts once considered unreadable. The PHerc 1667 scroll, dating from two or three centuries before the eruption, contains passages of Stoic philosophy on ethics, art, and human behavior. Experts believe it may have been written by Chrysippus, a prominent Greek Stoic philosopher, though definitive confirmation is pending. The success of the Vesuvius Challenge—launched in 2023—opens the door to reading hundreds of other scrolls from the same Roman library, potentially doubling the known corpus of classical literature. Estimates suggest the Villa of the Papyri housed up to 1,800 scrolls, of which only about 200 have been unrolled and read using traditional methods, often damaging them. AI now allows access to those that remain intact but carbonized.

Consequences and Context

The method combines X-ray computed tomography with deep learning models trained to detect carbonized ink. Professor Brent Seales of the University of Kentucky, a pioneer of this technique, described the achievement as "winning the World Cup". Unlike previous destructive techniques, this approach does not damage the scrolls. The academic community hopes that complete works of Stoic, Epicurean, and other ancient philosophers—most of whose texts have been lost—will soon be readable. The process involves scanning the scroll with high-resolution X-rays, generating a virtual 3D model, and then applying neural networks that identify ink based on density differences. The AI then completes missing letters and words, which are verified by human paleographers. This workflow has been key to overcoming the challenge, which offers prizes of up to $1 million to teams that read significant fragments.

What Readers Should Know

• The Vesuvius Challenge is an international competition rewarding teams that decipher the Herculaneum papyri, with a total fund of $1.5 million, funded by philanthropists such as cryptocurrency entrepreneur Nat Friedman.
• The PHerc 1667 scroll is only 8 cm tall and split in half due to previous opening attempts, forcing researchers to work with misaligned fragments.
• The AI not only detects ink but also completes missing letter fragments and suggests words, which are then verified by humans. This iterative process has allowed reading 20 columns of text, each about 10-15 lines.
• The text revealed so far discusses the nature of pleasures and ethics, central themes of Stoicism. In particular, it debates whether sensory pleasures are desirable in themselves or only in relation to virtue, a classic debate between Stoics and Epicureans.
• The Villa of the Papyri library is estimated to have housed up to 1,800 scrolls, of which only a few have been read. Most remain rolled and carbonized, inaccessible until now. If the technique is perfected, we could recover lost works of philosophers like Epicurus, Chrysippus, or even poets like Sappho.
• The method is also being tested on other materials, such as carbonized Egyptian papyri and medieval parchments, which could revolutionize the study of ancient texts worldwide.

"For me, this is the World Cup. I just won the World Cup: that's my victory." — Brent Seales, professor of computer science, University of Kentucky.

The impact of this achievement extends beyond academia. Tech companies like DeepMind and OpenAI have shown interest in collaborating, as the algorithms developed can be applied to other computer vision and image processing problems. Moreover, the success of the Vesuvius Challenge demonstrates how open collaboration among data scientists, archaeologists, and historians can accelerate discoveries that once took decades. For the market, this opens opportunities in the field of cultural heritage digitization, with startups specializing in non-destructive analysis of historical documents. End users, such as students and history enthusiasts, will be able to access texts hidden for nearly 2,000 years, transforming our understanding of the ancient world. In Seales' words, "this is just the beginning."