2023-10-14 18:50:32
Los charred papyri from Herculaneum They can be deciphered with artificial intelligence. The first result of a scientific exploration, with the help of artificial intelligence, is already known, which could constitute a treasure trove of information from the past for researchers. With the eruption of Vesuvius in 79 AD, the Roman cities of Pompeii and Herculaneum were buried.
In the archaeological excavations of the 18th century, a true historical and cultural treasure of inestimable value was discovered in one of the luxurious villas of Herculaneum, which belonged to Julius Caesar’s father-in-law. It was called Villa of the Papyri because a total of 1,800 papyri appeared, with ancient texts on literature, science or religion, still the object of study due to the particular conservation conditions.
Among the texts identified over the years, there are 44 scrolls with works by Greek philosophers and writings by Philodemus of Gadara (Epicurean philosopher and poet, born in Gadara, approximately 110 BC, and probably died in Herculaneum around 40 – 35 BC, author of ‘History of the Academy’, transmitted on two papyrus rolls). A great contribution to the study of papyri was given by Marcello Gigante (philologist and papyrologist) who spent his life deciphering and preserving the extremely fragile finds. Most of the papyri are preserved in Naples, in the National Archaeological Museum.
It was once thought that the charred papyri had been destroyed forever. But almost 2,000 years later, researchers decipher the first word of one of the texts, using artificial intelligence. The discovery was announced Thursday by Professor Brent Seales, a computer scientist at the University of Kentucky. «For me, reading words contained in the Herculaneum scrolls is like stepping on the moon. Now is the time to explore,” Seales added.
Trying to date and decipher the documents turned out to be an almost impossible undertaking, because when you open them the papyri break. The superposition of the charred layers of the Herculaneum papyrus rolls made them practically impossible to read. Of the 1,800 found, operations were performed on 500 of them; only 200 were completely unrolled, allowing the reading of only 150 fragments.
Some successes have been achieved with X-ray tomography, which, by detecting the difference in thickness where there is ink, has made it possible to identify some letters of the ancient Greek alphabet, but there is still a lot of work to be done. Most of the texts analyzed so far are written in ancient Greek, but some may be Latin texts. According to scholars, many volumes could also contain chronicles of the time and information about daily life, which would constitute an important window open to the past. It would be a treasure for researchers.
To decipher the charred papyri, a group of academics led by Professor Brent Seales, a computer scientist at the University of Kentucky, developed an innovative method that prevents the Herculaneum papyrus from being destroyed. It is an artificial intelligence program, trained to read the 3D X-ray images of the charred rolls. Brent Seales launched the ‘Vesuvius Challenge’ in March to accelerate text reading. Backed by Silicon Valley investors, he offered cash prizes to researchers who extracted legible words from the charred scrolls. «We have demonstrated how to read the ink of Herculaneum. This gives us the opportunity to reveal 50, 70, maybe 80% of the entire collection –Professor Seales explained in March–. We build the boat. “Now we want everyone to come sailing with us.”
The ‘Vesuvius Challenge’ is starting to give results. It was announced by the scientist Seales himself, when he announced the first two winners: two computer science students, Luke Farritor, from Nebraska; and Youssef Nader of Germany independently located the same ancient Greek word on one of the scrolls: ‘πορφύραc’, i.e. ‘purple’. Thus, Farritor, who arrived a little earlier, has won 40,000 dollars, while Nader 10,000.
“This word (purple) is our first dive into an unopened ancient book, evoking royalty, wealth and even mockery,” said scientist Seales. «What will the context show? -the University of Kentucky researcher asked himself-. Pliny the Elder explored ‘purple’ (expensive dye that the ancients prepared from the ink of various species) in his ‘Natural History’, as a process of producing Tyrian purple from shellfish. The Gospel of Mark describes how Jesus was mocked while he was dressed in purple clothes before the crucifixion. It is still unknown what this particular scroll is about, but I believe it will be revealed soon. A new and old story that for us begins with ‘purple’ is an incredible place to be,” noted Brent Seales.
For its part, the University of Kentucky published this statement on social networks: «For the first time in more than 2,000 years, a text has been read from part of the still closed Herculaneum scrolls. The technical approach that helped recover writing was developed by Professor Brent Seales and his team. “The Herculaneum scrolls are among the most iconic and inaccessible of the world’s vast collection of manuscripts,” the statement states. Now the race is on to read the context of the deciphered word, purple. Dr. Federica Nicolardi, a papyrologist at the Federico II University of Naples, said that three lines of the parchment, containing up to 10 letters, were now legible.
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