TWO MILLENNIA AFTER THE VESUVIUS ERUPTION, HERCULANEUM SCROLLS CONTAIN A MISTERY JUST WAITING TO BE REVEALED The Villa of the Papyri collection is the only known library to survive from Greco-Roman antiquity. Using particle accelerators and artificial intelligence, researchers finally have the ability to virtually “unwrap” the scrolls and read their contents. A team of papyrologists, historians, scientists, and AI experts have identified one scroll as potentially among the oldest in Roman history, while another could provide great new insights into Greek theology. Vesuvius buried these scrolls. AI is bringing them back. | National Geographic

FOCUS ON THE ON-SITE STUDY OF ANCIENT WALL-INSCRIPTIONS "There has been a surge of studies in ancient graffiti, and that's very exciting," says historian Rebecca Benefiel, initiator of The Ancient Graffiti Project, a user-friendly platform that digitizes inscriptions found at Pompeii and the nearby Herculaneum. New technology is opening up further possibilities for ancient graffiti research, namely the use of Reflectance Transformation Imaging (RTI) which uses special lighting to expose scratches in plaster that the naked eye can no longer see. Ancient graffiti reveals scenes of everyday life in Pompeii | DW.com

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VENI, VIDI, JUST LIKE HERCULES The Excavations of Herculaneum and life in Roman times even more intensely. 'Veni, Vidi, Herculaneum' arrives at the Archaeological Park of Herculaneum, an experimental project that allows visitors, through the use of special virtual reality headsets, to embark on an immersive journey and get even closer to the prestigious site. A true experience to enjoy even before the regular visit, that lets you virtually enter the Excavations, explore every space, notice the details, and closely observe environments and architectures reconstructed in 3D. Immersive Journeys Through Herculaneum | Il Mattino

SCANDALOUS DETAILS OF AN ANCIENT SCROLL REVEALED BY ITALIAN SCIENTISTS A charred papyrus fragment of manuscript managed to survive in the Villa dei Papiri at Herculaneum. The research have shed light on the provocative teachings of Greek philosopher Zeno, "morally questionable, since it recommends social and sexual practices regarded as embarrassing". Abolishing the institution of private matrimony and traditional family; collective sharing of romantic partners within communities; Zeno vision promoted complete gender equality and endorsed open homosexual relationships.  Archaeologists stunned as secrets of long-lost Pompeii decoded for first time in 2,000 years | GB News

CAMPANIA WINE IN THE WORLD 365 DAY A YEAR Vesuvius will host the 2025 edition of Campania Stories, the presentation of the new vintages of wines produced in the main Campania denominations to the national and international specialized press, scheduled for May 18 to 21. Organized by Miriade & Partners with the support of the Campania Region, in collaboration with AIS Campania, the event will see the participation of over 90 wineries from all over the region. Campania Stories: Vesuvius, Between Myth and History, Hosts the Press from All Over the World for the New Vintages of the Region’s Wines | Wine Industry Network

PROBABLY THE FIRST INSTALMENT OF PHILODEMUS' ON VICES Thanks to cutting-edge X-ray imaging and digital unwrapping techniques, researchers have identified the scroll as part of Philodemus’s Epicurean treatise, marking the first time that a scroll from Herculaneum has yielded such precise authorial and textual information through non-invasive methods. His writings, long buried and carbonized in the Villa of the Papyri, offer invaluable insight into Hellenistic philosophy and ethics. Lost Work of Greek Philosopher Philodemus Unearthed from Herculaneum Scroll | Greek Reporter

AI & X-RAY TO SCAN AND READ ALL ANCIENT HERCULANEUM SCROLLS “Everything we find is a surprise,” said Federica Nicolardi, a papyrologist from the University of Naples Federico II. Nicolardi selected the scrolls for the Vesuvius Challenge project, and delivered to the Diamond Light Source facility near Oxford. There, researchers used high-powered X-rays to peer inside the tightly wound scrolls without unrolling them. The scans are reconstructed into 3D models and digitally “unrolled” into flat images. Dozens of Ancient Herculaneum Scrolls on Brink of Being Revealed in Landmark Project | Greek Reporter

"THRILLED WITH THE SUCCESSFUL IMAGING OF THIS HERCULANEUM SCROLL" Another Herculaneum scroll is being deciphered using X-ray imaging and artificial intelligence (AI) algorithms by a team competing in the Vesuvius Challenge. Among the ancient Greek words identified so far are ἀδιάληπτος (foolish), διατροπή (disgust), φοβ (fear), and βίου (life). AI is Decoding Oxford’s Mysterious Herculaneum Scroll | ARTnews

KILLED JUST STEPS AWAY FROM THE SEA The beach at Herculaneum archaeological park, once a popular resort town for many of Rome’s patrician families, has now been restored and officially reopened to the public. Artefacts, including human remains, were discovered in the years-long restoration effort in southern Italy. This Ancient Beach Has Just Reopened After Nearly 2,000 Years | The Daily Beast

PROFESSOR ALICE ROBERTS JOINS THE TEAM USING TECHNOLOGY TO UNRAVEL THE SCROLLS Channel 5’s documentary followed the project to digitally delve inside the only surviving library from the ancient world. The 1,800 papyrus scrolls of the title were found in Herculaneum, which lies a few miles along the Italian coast and was also hit by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79AD.  But Pompeii is the name that gets bums on seats, so she’s lumbered with it. Lost Scrolls of Pompeii: New Revelation, review: a misleading title − but a fascinating subject | The Telegraph

BURNED, BAKED, OR BROKEN Like the Dead Sea Scroll found at Ein Gedi, the Herculaneum scrolls were damaged by heat and could not be unrolled. But scholars knew that inside were the tantalizing remains of a rich Roman library, perhaps filled with works thought lost to time. So, scholars hung on to them and waited for a way to unlock the contents. The Vesuvius Challenge announced another contest for 2024. These ancient texts were once unreadable. Now technology is decoding them | National Geographic

"WE'RE GOING TO READ THE SCROLLS!" Almost 2,000 years ago, a volcano preserved Herculaneum’s vast library of scrolls but left them unreadable. A volunteer army of nerds has been racing to decipher them. The Herculaneum papyri are a collection of scrolls whose status among classicists approaches the mythical. Last year Nat Friedman launched the Vesuvius Challenge, offering $1 million in prizes to people who could develop AI software capable of reading four passages from a single scroll. Can AI Unlock the Secrets of the Ancient World? | Bloomberg

WOODEN WONDERS OF HERCULANEUM In 79 AD, Mount Vesuvius, a volcano that is still active, blew its lid. Herculaneum almost looks as though it was abanonded just yesterday — not almost 2,000 years ago. The best-preserved city in the world largely because its ancient Roman structures stand today much as they did thousands of years ago. Houses, buildings, roofs, and even organic food are still intact, with excavations of the city's sewers turning up things like olive pits. The ancient but perfectly preserved beautiful Roman city where even food is still intact | Daily Express

THE WORD "PURPLE", A COLOR CLOSELY ASSOCIATED WITH ROYALTY AND POWER With the help of artificial intelligence, an ancient Greek word has emerged from a text damaged in the A.D. 79 eruption of Vesuvius,  to decipher an unparalleled ancient library. The global competition - Vesuvius Challenge - offers prize money for significant benchmarks in coaxing the long-lost Herculaneum texts from their carbonized husks. Two competitors revealed at least 10 letters from a single small area of an intact scroll, including the colorful and complete “πορφύραc.” AI just deciphered part of an ‘unreadable’ ancient scroll. Here’s what it says. | National Geographic

CAN AN AI INVESTOR SOLVE AN ANCIENT MYSTERY FROM THE ASHES OF VESUVIUS? Bay Area entrepreneurs-turned-investors launched the Vesuvius Challenge. It’s an open contest: Entrants have 100 more days to find passages of “continuous and plausible text” in scans of the ancient scrolls, called the Herculaneum Papyri. Their texts, which researchers think could include unknown Greek and Roman masterpieces and early Christian writings, were written with carbon-based ink, which doesn’t stand out on even the most modern X-ray scans. Bay Area techies are funding a $1M contest to solve an ancient literature puzzle | SFGATE

HERCULANEUM. THE CITY OF VESUVIUS The first monograph in Spanish by an history professor. Much of the Roman city is under modern Ercolano, a suburb located much closer to Naples than Pompeii. It is an immense square of about two hectares (5 acres) and 25 meters of rock hardened by the centuries. This has allowed materials to be preserved, such as wood, practically unique for remains from the ancient world. Today, Herculaneum is, in the words the director of the site, “an open-air archaeological laboratory,” which can still offer many surprises, such as the corpses on the beach. Herculaneum, the Roman city destroyed by Vesuvius that still hides its mysteries | El Pais

THE VESUVIUS CHALLENGE IS A MACHINE LEARNING AND COMPUTER VISION COMPETITION - WIN $250,000 - TO READ THE HERCULANEUM PAPYRI The eruption of Mount Vesuvius carbonised hundreds of ancient scrolls in the library of an enormous luxury villa at Herculaneum. Now, researchers are launching a global contest to read the charred papyri after demonstrating that an artificial intelligence programme can extract letters and symbols from high-resolution X-ray images of the fragile, unrolled documents. Contest launched to decipher Herculaneum scrolls using 3D X-ray software | The Guardian

A 2,000-YEAR-OLD SCROLL IS BEING DECIPHERED WITH MACHINE LEARNING When Mount Vesuvius erupted in A.D. 79, it carbonized a book on rulers who followed Alexander the Great. Now, machine learning is deciphering the "lost book" from the Villa of the Papyri at Herculaneum. Researchers are using machine learning, a branch of artificial intelligence, to discern the faint ink on the rolled-up papyrus scroll. AI is deciphering a 2,000-year-old 'lost book' describing life after Alexander the Great | Live Science

AMONG THE OBJECTS FOUND AT HERCULANEUM IS A CHILD'S CRIB MADE OF OAK - NOW CARBONIZED Domenico Camardo, an archeologist with the Herculaneum Conservation Project, says it moves him every time he catches sight of it. After the initial explosion, Vesuvius imploded, releasing a massive flow of hot mud, preserving even objects made of wood. Now, for the first time ever, a comprehensive exhibit of those astonishingly rare wooden remnants from ancient times opens in Reggia di Portici, an 18th-century palace just down the road from Herculaneum. Exhibit of precious wood items buried by Vesuvius eruption offers glimpse into everyday life in ancient Rome | CBC News

THE WORLD'S MOST UNUSUAL FURNITURE SHOW A line-up of 2,000-year-old beds, stools and tables. Herculaneum was buried by Vesuvius in 500C mud, which sealed objects in as it cooled and turned to rock, preserving wooden furniture and other household items. "It was buried in the mud raining from the sky, seawater cooled the mud,” Stefania Siano, an archaeologist, says. “The wood didn’t carbonise but was nevertheless sealed in and preserved. It’s unique.” Archaeologists prepare for unusual furniture show at ancient Roman city of Herculaneum | The Times