Researchers have used high-resolution X-ray imaging, computational reconstruction and machine learning to read the surviving rolled portion of a papyrus carbonised by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in AD 79. The document, known as PHerc. 1667, is the first Herculaneum scroll to be digitally unrolled and examined continuously from beginning to end without being physically opened. The work was carried out through the Vesuvius Challenge, an international project that brings together computer scientists, imaging specialists and papyrologists. The researchers reconstructed approximately 1.4 metres of papyrus containing the lower sections of around 22 columns of ancient Greek text.
The result does not mean that the entire scroll in its original form has been recovered. PHerc. 1667 is the surviving inner section of a larger roll. Attempts to open it manually during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries damaged or destroyed its outer layers. The remaining core is about eight centimetres high, compared with an estimated original height of between 19 and 24 centimetres. Researchers have now read the complete preserved writing surface of that remaining core. Parts of the text are still missing where the papyrus itself has been damaged.
X-rays reveal the internal structure
The scroll was scanned using phase-contrast X-ray microtomography at the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility in Grenoble, France. The resulting three-dimensional scans show the tightly wound and distorted layers of papyrus inside the carbonised object.
Software was then used to trace these layers and convert the curved surfaces into flattened digital images. This process, known as virtual unwrapping, allows researchers to inspect the writing surface without physically handling the fragile material.
Machine-learning models helped identify traces of ink in the scan data. This is particularly difficult because both the papyrus and the ink are carbon-based and were carbonised together, leaving little difference in their X-ray density.
The models analyse subtle variations in the structure and surface of the papyrus that may indicate the presence of ink. The resulting images were then examined, transcribed and reviewed by human papyrologists. AI was therefore used to detect and visualise possible writing, rather than to independently translate or interpret the document.
Text may belong to the Stoic tradition
The recovered Greek text appears to be a philosophical work dealing with ethics, human nature, impulse and practical wisdom. Researchers believe it may belong to the Stoic tradition and date it to the second century BC, or possibly the late third century BC.
The author and title have not yet been identified. The final surviving column mentions Aristocreon, a nephew and student of the Stoic philosopher Chrysippus. This reference, together with the vocabulary and subjects discussed in the scroll, supports the proposed connection with Stoic philosophy.
Chrysippus has been suggested as a possible author, but the researchers say that the available evidence is not sufficient to confirm the attribution. The Herculaneum library is mainly associated with Epicurean philosophy, making the possible presence of an early Stoic work notable but also requiring caution in its classification.
From isolated words to continuous texts
The Vesuvius Challenge was launched in 2023 to accelerate the development of technologies for reading the Herculaneum papyri. Earlier stages of the project recovered individual words, passages and titles from unopened scrolls.
The latest work moves the process from localised text detection towards the reconstruction of complete surviving writing surfaces. According to the researchers, the combination of improved scanning, geometric reconstruction and ink-detection models could eventually be applied more systematically to the wider collection.
The project also reported the recovery of more than 70 columns from PHerc. 172 and the identification of PHerc. 139 as Philodemus, On Gods, Book 8. The latter finding indicates that the philosophical work extended to at least eight books, while only its first book had previously been identified.
More than 600 Herculaneum scrolls remain unopened, although only around 45 scrolls and fragments have so far been scanned. The Vesuvius Challenge is making its scan data, software and machine-learning models available online and has announced a $1 million prize for the first team to complete the reading of another scroll.
The researchers published the technical results in a preprint titled Complete Virtual Unwrapping and Reading of a Rolled Herculaneum Papyrus. The work shows how AI can form one part of a broader digital-archaeology pipeline, combining imaging and computational analysis with specialist human interpretation.
Photo credit: University of Kentucky
