An entire Herculaneum scroll has been read for the first time(scrollprize.org)
1697 points by verditelabs 57 days ago | 365 comments
tl;dr: Researchers have virtually unwrapped and read PHerc. 1667, a carbonized Herculaneum scroll, end-to-end for the first time, using high-resolution X-ray microtomography at ESRF's BM18 beamline combined with machine learning to detect ink. The recovered text—roughly 22 columns of Greek—appears to be a 2nd-century BC Stoic treatise on ethics referencing Aristocreon, disciple of Chrysippus. The team also confirmed prior readings of Scroll 1 via direct 3D ink detection and identified another scroll as Philodemus's *On Gods, Book 8*; all data, code, and transcriptions are openly released.
HN Discussion:
  • Insider team members offering to answer questions and sharing additional breakthroughs
  • Awe at the historical and temporal significance of recovering ancient text
  • Optimism that this represents tech/AI being used for genuinely meaningful purposes
  • Excitement about future potential, especially discovering more scrolls in unexcavated areas
  • ~Skepticism about how translation tone may distort the original writer's voice