Entire Herculaneum Scroll Deciphered by AI for First Time

For the first time, an entire scroll from the Villa of the Papyri in Herculaneum has been translated using artificial intelligence. The scroll, known as PHerc. 1667, was carbonized by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius nearly 2,000 years ago and was discovered in the 1750s. A team associated with the University of Kentucky's Vesuvius Challenge read the scroll without physically opening it, using advanced phase-contrast X-ray microtomography conducted in France and the U.K. The scroll contains a philosophical treatise on ethics, discussing human nature, impulse, and moral progress. Its 22 columns mention Aristocreon, a follower and relative of the Stoic philosopher Chrysippus. The handwriting and references date the scroll to between the second and third century B.C.E., making it one of the oldest in the villa and suggesting authorship by someone other than Philodemus of Gadara. The Vesuvius Challenge, launched in 2023, has offered prizes to decode the scrolls; in October 2023 a 21-year-old student won $40,000 for decoding the first word, and later three students won the $700,000 grand prize for reading several passages. The complete translation of PHerc. 1667 marks a milestone in scalable translation methods. Additionally, researchers have made progress on PHerc. Paris 4 and identified PHerc. 139 as On Gods, Book 8 by Philodemus.