AI Cracks Ancient Herculaneum Scroll, Unveiling Lost Texts from Antiquity

A team of researchers using artificial intelligence has successfully deciphered text from a 2,000-year-old scroll buried by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius, marking a breakthrough in the study of ancient literature. The discovery is part of the “Vesuvius Challenge,” a competition launched to decode texts from the carbonized scrolls found in the ruins of Herculaneum, an ancient Roman town destroyed in 79 AD.

The scrolls, housed at Oxford University, are part of a rare collection of charred manuscripts believed to be from a library belonging to an elite Roman household. Until now, scholars have struggled to read them, as attempts to physically unroll the fragile documents risked their complete destruction. However, AI-driven imaging techniques have allowed researchers to “virtually unwrap” the scrolls and detect ink patterns hidden beneath the layers of carbonized papyrus.

Early findings suggest the text may contain philosophical writings, possibly linked to the Epicurean school of thought. If confirmed, this would provide new insight into Roman intellectual life and the literary culture of the time. The implications of the breakthrough extend beyond this single scroll, as similar AI techniques could potentially unlock hundreds of other unreadable manuscripts from antiquity.

The Vesuvius Challenge, backed by institutions including Google DeepMind and the University of Kentucky, has drawn significant attention from both historians and technologists. With continued advancements, scholars hope to recover more lost texts, shedding light on one of history’s most enigmatic literary collections.