Researchers who work for decipher the contents of a burnt scroll and still wrapped managed to reveal both the author and the title of the text almost 2,000 years after he was buried by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius.
The parchment – called pherc. 172-It is one of the hundreds found in the ancient Roman city of Herculaneum, which was buried by volcanic debris when Mount Vesuvius erupted in the year 79 AD, according to Vesuvius Challenge, an initiative focused on decoding the texts of Herculanean scrolls without having to unfold them.
Preserved under mud and ashes in a village believed to have belonged to Julius Caesar’s father -in -law, the scrolls were discovered by an Italian farmer in the eighteenth century.
Burned to such a point that they were charred, they are extremely fragile. Over the years, scholars have tried several methods to unfold them, including the use of weights, chemicals, gases and spraying, which has often resulted in damage or destruction of the scrolls.
Vesuvius Challenge was launched in 2023 to encourage researchers around the world to try to decipher scrolls through virtual unfolding and digital decoding technologies.
Now Marcel Roth and Micha Nowak, postgraduate students at the University of Würzburg, Germany, revealed the title and the author of the Pherc. 172. Researcher Sean Johnson, also from Vesuvius Challenge, made the same discovery almost at the same time, and both conclusions were independently evaluated by the competition’s team of papyrology, according to a statement released on Tuesday by the University of Oxford Bodleian libraries, where the scroll is stored.
The deciphered text identifies the scroll as “about the vices” by the Greek philosopher filodemo, according to Vesuvius Challenge. It is part of an ethical philodemus, known for the full title “About the addictions and opposite virtues, and who they are, and what they are”, and may even be the first book in the series-although this is not yet fully confirmed.
Oxford University Bodleian libraries suggest that the book number could “plausibly” be read as an alpha, which would indicate that the scroll is the first book in the series. However, it could also correspond to other numbers, such as a delta, which would indicate book four.
Scholars often believed that the first book of “About addictions” was a text called “About Adulation,” but the content of the PHERC. 172 does not correspond to this work.
According to the Bodleian libraries, Philodemo was an epicurean philosopher whose teachings “emphasized the pursuit of pleasure as a central to a good life.” Most of the scrolls preserved in the village of Herculano are composed of his works.
Michael McSker, a paper researcher at the University College London and also a member of the Vesuvius Challenge Papyrology team, classified the new discovery as “a very exciting development.”
“Other books in the series ‘about addictions and their opposite virtues’ are known from papyrus that have been physically unfolded – the best known are ‘on the administration of properties’ (Book 9, presumably the virtue opposite greed) and ‘about arrogance’ (book 10, presumably the opposite addiction to proper assessment of oneself), but there are others too,” said McSker.
“This will be a great opportunity to learn more about the ethical views of philodem and have a more complete view of the ‘about addiction’ series as a whole, especially if it reveals the first book,” he added.
This discovery – the first time the title of a scroll was read – is the latest in Vesuvius Challenge.
In October 2023, the first complete word of one of the old papyrus still closed was decoded with the help of computational technology and advanced artificial intelligence. The word was “πορφυρας” or “porphyras”, which in Greek means “purple.”
And in February, researchers investigating Pherc text columns. 172 identified the word “Διατροπή”, which means “disgust”, and which appears twice in some columns of the text, according to Bodleian libraries.
Remember: Archaeologists find two more victims in Pompeia, Italy
This content was originally published in a scroll buried in the eruption of Vesuvius is decoded after 2,000 years on CNN Brazil.
Source: CNN Brasil
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