DISCOVERY: 2,000-year-old scrolls deciphered with help from AI

Today's blog is a cool find, and an interesting look at how Artificial Intelligence was used for a good purpose. Experts have unraveled substantial new text from two carbonized Herculaneum scrolls, including what may be a previously unknown work by a Stoic philosopher.

(Image: Scientists have revealed an ancient Greek text from the Roman city of Herculaneum by using a high-resolution scanning technique. (Image credit: Vesuvius Challenge)

2,000-year-old scrolls buried by Mount Vesuvius eruption finally deciphered with help from AI

By Olivia Maule, Live Science, July 1, 2026

Nearly 2,000 years ago, Mount Vesuvius buried a vast collection of scrolls in ash and scorched them into solid black lumps. Now, without unrolling them, researchers have virtually read two of them —‬ and uncovered what may be a work by a well-known Stoic philosopher.

The breakthrough comes from the Vesuvius Challenge, an international research effort to digitally read the scrolls that were preserved when Pompeii and Herculaneum were buried by ash and pumice in A.D. 79. Papyrologists, who study and preserve the ancient manuscripts, announced June 25 that they had digitally unwrapped the surviving portion of one scroll, known as PHerc. 1667, revealing roughly 5 feet (1.5 meters) of continuous Greek text across 20 columns. Researchers also recovered more than 70 columns of text from a second scroll, PHerc. 172.

"For nearly two millennia, many of these texts have been physically preserved but intellectually inaccessible," Brent Seales, Vesuvius Challenge co-founder and a computer scientist at the University of Kentucky, said in a statement. "Today ‪—‬ after years of interdisciplinary work combining advanced imaging, artificial intelligence, academic research and an innovation contest ‪—‬ we are finally able to read them."

Over the past few years, Seales and his team have used a synchrotron to essentially X-ray inside the scrolls and detect the ink ancient Romans used to write. The letters are then studied by papyrologists, who translate the text.

Part of PHerc. 1667 was physically opened in the 1980s, but overlapping layers obscured the writing so badly that the scroll was given a readability score of zero, Federica Nicolardi, a papyrologist at the University of Naples Federico II, said in the statement.

The handwriting and text of PHerc. 1667 suggest the scroll dates to the second or third century B.C., making it one of the oldest scrolls in the Herculaneum collection. This early date means it could not have been authored by Philodemus of Gadara, the first-century-B.C. Epicurean philosopher whose writings dominated the Herculaneum library.

Experts think the text reads more like a Stoic treatise on ethics and human behavior, and it specifically mentions Aristocreon, the nephew and pupil of the influential Stoic philosopher Chrysippus. Very little of Chrysippus' own writing has survived, so if the attribution holds up, it would be a significant addition to the historical record of early Stoic thought.

In a separate discovery, researchers identified a new book title within scroll PHerc. 139. The end of the scroll references Philodemus' eighth book of "On Gods." While this treatise had previously been known to exist, the new discovery reveals the work extended across at least eight volumes. Experts plan to reexamine other texts in the Herculaneum collection for additional volumes that may belong to the same series.

More than 600 Herculaneum scrolls remain unopened. It's thought that the villa was once owned by the father-in-law of Julius Caesar.

Discovery: Doctor's kit found on Mount Vesuvius victim in Pompei

The city of Pompeii in southern Italy has always fascinated me, and a good friend of mine has had a past life experience there, knowing things she wouldn't know, but were recently discovered. Today's blog is about a new discovery from Pompeii - a man carrying a medical kit in 79 A.D. when Mount Vesuvius erupted covering the city in hot ash and deadly gas and killing many of the residents who didn't flee in time. Here's the story.

 (Photo: The plaster cast of a man killed by the Vesuvius eruption in A.D. 79 also contains the remains of a small case and a small bag he was carrying when he died. Image credit: Pompeii Archaeological Park)

Doctor's kit found on Mount Vesuvius victim in Pompeii

A man who died in Pompeii during the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in A.D. 79 was carrying a medical kit with him, new scans reveal.

By Tom Metcalfe, Live Science, May 18, 2026

A man who died in Pompeii during the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in A.D. 79 had a medical kit with him when he perished, a new analysis of his body cast reveals.

The medical kit indicates that he was probably a physician — a "medicus" in Latin.

The man was one of 13 people who died while taking shelter in a Pompeii vineyard later called the "Garden of the Fugitives." But instead of finding refuge, the group was overcome by an explosive burst of deadly gas, likely carbon dioxide and sulfur dioxide, and ash from the volcano, which killed thousands of people in Pompeii and the nearby town of Herculaneum.

Pompeii was discovered in the 16th century, but most of the scientific work at the Roman seaside city was done more recently. In 1961, plaster casts were made of the voids left in the ash by the bodies of the volcano's victims in the Garden of the Fugitives ‪—‬ some of the roughly 104 plaster casts of victims made at Pompeii.

New examinations show that the man had been carrying surgical instruments and other "tools of his trade," according to a translated statement from the Italian government archaeological park that runs the site. But it's not known whether the man planned to treat people affected by the eruption or if he was hoping to escape the disaster.

"This man brought his tools with him to be ready to rebuild his life elsewhere, thanks to his profession, but perhaps also to help others," Gabriel Zuchtriegel, director of Pompeii Archaeological Park, said in the statement.

Destructive eruption

The eruption of Vesuvius killed about 2,000 people in Pompeii and nearby towns, although archaeologists now think many others escaped. The event has been studied extensively, in part because of the remarkable preservation of many features of Roman life under the layers of ash. Witnesses also made written accounts of the eruption.

According to the statement, a small case made from "organic material" (possibly leather) was found within one of the plaster casts made when the Garden of the Fugitives was excavated in 1961. However, the case's contents had remained a mystery until now.

The new investigation, which used X-ray and CT scans, revealed that the case contained several small, metal instruments thought to be surgical tools as well as a tablet made from slate, which was probably used for preparing medicines. (Ingredients like honey, wine, vinegar and plant extracts were common.) The case was locked with a mechanism based on a toothed wheel.

(Caption: Advanced X-ray imaging shows the man's case contained surgical instruments and a tablet of slate for preparing medicines. Credit: Pompeii Archaeological Park)

The practice of medicine was valued by wealthy Romans, but the last resort of surgery entailed serious risks — there were no antibiotics and no modern anesthesia, and patients often died from infections. In addition, the causes of illnesses were not well understood — diseases like malaria were thought to be caused by "bad air" (under the Greek "miasma" theory), and Roman medical treatments often dealt with supposed curses and malign spirits.

Other artifacts found with the victims of Mount Vesuvius include house keys and oil lamps, and some people were killed while carrying precious jewels and coin "treasures" away from the eruption. The victim thought to be a medicus was also carrying a small fabric bag of bronze and silver coins, the statement said.

Archaeologists Find More Vesuvius Victims in Ancient Pompeii

If you've never visited the ancient ruins of the city of Pompeii in Italy, it is an ongoing archaeological site. Mount Vesuvius erupted in 79 A.D. showering Pompeii and Herculaneum with ash and superheated gas, killing all the inhabitants of both places. Today, the site is continually and painstakingly being excavated. That means that there are still many secrets left to reveal and the most recent was of two men in a home when Vesuvius erupted.

 

(Courtesy Soprintendenza Archeologica di Pompei)Plaster casts, Civita Giuliana, Italy

Archaeologists Find More Vesuvius Victims in Ancient Pompeii 

 By JARRETT A. LOBELL, Archeaology.org

In the ruins of a luxurious villa overlooking the Bay of Naples at Civita Giuliana, half a mile northwest of Pompeii, archaeologists recently discovered the remains of two men killed by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in A.D. 79.

The researchers were able to create highly accurate casts of the men’s bodies, including details of the clothing they wore while trying to flee the surge of superheated gas and ash that raced through their home on the eruption’s second morning. One man, who showed signs of having performed repetitive physical labor, was between 18 and 25 years of age and wore a short wool tunic. The other was between 30 and 40 and wore both a wool tunic and a mantle, perhaps indicating that he was of higher status.