AI just helped researchers read a 2,000-year-old Mount Vesuvius scroll that’s too charred to ever be opened — as X-ray images reveal ancient stoic philosophy
- The Vesuvius Challenge is decoding scrolls hit by the 79 AD eruption
- Another scroll has just been partially read by AI
- This is despite the scroll being rolled up and severely burned
Look at the ancient PHerc 1667 scroll, recovered from the ancient Roman town of Herculaneum that was smothered by the Mount Vesuvius eruption of 79 AD, and you'd think there wasn't much chance of finding out what was written on it. It's rolled up, burned and blackened, and impossible to open up without destroying most of it.
However, using the latest AI techniques, researchers from the Vesuvius Challenge project (via The Guardian) have now been able to read 20 columns of sealed-off text, describing the stoic philosophy that was much discussed at the time — and how it relates to ethics, art, and human behavior.
Here's how it works: without needing to open up this scroll and...
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