Virtual unwrapping scroll of ancient papyrus
AI Deciphers 2,000-Year-Old Charred Papyrus Scripts, Revealing Musings on Music and Capers
Using machine learning, student researchers have unlocked the text hidden inside charred, unopenable scrolls from the ancient Roman city of Herculaneum, buried 2,000 years ago by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius.
The passages revealed through virtual unwrapping software and scanning discuss sources of pleasure including music, the color purple, and the taste of capers. The team trained an algorithm on texture differences in the ink, based on three-dimensional computed tomography scans of the scrolls.
The scroll is one of hundreds of intact papyri excavated in the eighteenth century from a luxury Roman villa in Herculaneum, Italy. Known as the Herculaneum scrolls, these lumps of carbonized ash are the only surviving library from the ancient world, but are too fragile to open.
Charred papyrus, too fragile to open
The winning entry, announced on 5 February, reveals hundreds of words across more than 15 columns of text, corresponding to around 5% of an entire scroll. The success of the contest has erased doubts about the effectiveness of virtual unwrapping techniques.
Using the crackle of the ink to train a machine-learning algorithm, an undergraduate student studying computer science, revealed the word “porphyras”, winning him the prize for unveiling the first letters in late October. An Egyptian PhD student followed with even clearer images of the text, earning second place.
A team of researchers used machine-learning to image the shapes of ink on the rolled-up scroll. Credit: Vesuvius Challenge
The content of most of the previously opened Herculaneum scrolls relates to the Epicurean school of philosophy, and seems to have formed the working library of a follower of the Athenian philosopher Epicurus, who lived from 341 to 270 BC, named Philodemus.
The new text revealed in the contest doesn’t name the author but, from a rough first read, researchers predict it is by Philodemus. As well as pleasurable tastes and sights, the scroll includes a figure called Xenophantus, possibly a flute-player of that name mentioned by the ancient authors Seneca and Plutarch, whose evocative playing apparently caused Alexander the Great to reach for his weapons.
Researcher Seales has been trying to read these concealed texts for nearly 20 years. His team developed software to virtually unwrap the surfaces of rolled-up papyri using three-dimensional computed tomography (CT) images. In 2019, he carried two of the scrolls from the Institut de France in Paris to the Diamond Light Source particle accelerator near Oxford to make high-resolution scans.
Seales’ team also previously read the Dead Sea Scrolls, a set of ancient Jewish manuscripts, using similar techniques.
Comments
If the provided articles seems to be less than 200 characters or it is an intro of the author, then try to generate an articles using this title.Essay on pleasure revealed in ancient scroll
