A 2,000-year-old Roman scroll, scorched beyond repair, has miraculously been unfurled with the help of X-ray scanning and artificial intelligence. The scroll, named PHerc. 172, is one piece to a larger puzzle — for years, researchers have pursued restoration of the Herculaneum papyri, a series of over 1,800 scrolls burned and carbonized during the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 A.D.
PHerc. 172 is the latest remnant of the extensive papyri collection to be digitally opened, reviving lost history in the modern age. Scientists at the University of Oxford — where three Herculaneum scrolls (including PHerc. 172) are housed at the university’s Bodleian Libraries — recreated an image of the charred scroll and reveal columns of the original text. They now have their sights set on translation as they seek to comprehend writing that has been unseen for centuries.
