An intact Greek philosophical text, carbonized by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79. Researchers are using cutting-edge AI models to “read” ancient scrolls superheated by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79, which covered much of the Bay of Naples in ash—including the now-famous towns of Pompeii and Herculaneum. Though the work to decode the scrolls began centuries before the artificial intelligence revolution emerged, myriad new technologies are making that work easier and faster than ever before.

As a term, “AI” is often as unwieldy as the technology itself, and thrown around in sweeping terms. What does it actually mean for AI to decode what has eluded humans for centuries? We spoke with experts working on the algorithms and models that are deciphering and cataloguing the classics to find out. The disappearance and rediscovery of the scrolls

Nearly 2,000 years ago, the Gulf of Naples was rocked by the cataclysmic eruption of Mt. Vesuvius, which buried Pompeii and Herculaneum in ash. The towns were wiped off the map for over 1,500 years.

Flash forward to 1750, when workers digging a well discover marble flooring under the soil. Further excavations reveal a buried villa containing nearly 2,000 carbonized scrolls and charred papyrus fragments. At first, the scrolls are mistaken for fishing nets and charred logs; many are discarded or perhaps burned as torches. Eventually one of the scrolls is dropped and breaks, revealing the true nature of the blackened cylinders. According to the Getty Museum , the scrolls from the villa—now known as the Villa dei Papyri—constitute the only surviving library from the classical world. One of the unwrapped Herculaneum papyri. Photo: Unknown / Wikimedia Commons Like the frescoes and casts of human remains in Pompeii and Herculaneum, the scrolls are extremely fragile, to the point of making them practically inscrutable. Successive attempts to painstakingly unwrap the scrolls caused many to fragment and disintegrate, losing the information so miraculously encased in them to time.

But among the scrolls that have been read are writings of the Greek philosopher Philodemus of Gadara, leading some researchers to believe the villa belonged to his patron—and […]

How AI Is Deciphering Lost Scrolls From the Roman Empire