Researchers have identified the title and author of a charred scroll from Herculaneum, which was buried by the 79 CE eruption of Mount Vesuvius. Using X-ray imaging and AI analysis at the Diamond synchrotron facility in Oxfordshire, they determined the scroll is part of the multivolume work *On Vices* by the Epicurean philosopher Philodemus, dating to the 1st century CE. The scroll is one of three from the Villa of the Papyri housed at the Bodleian Libraries, Oxford University, and its contents had been unknown for 2,000 years. The discovery was awarded the $60,000 first title prize from the Vesuvius Challenge, an international competition that uses AI to decipher the unopenable scrolls.
This breakthrough matters because it demonstrates how cutting-edge technology—combining synchrotron scanning and machine learning—can unlock ancient texts that were previously inaccessible, opening new windows into classical philosophy and literature. The success on this scroll paves the way for analyzing dozens more from the Herculaneum library, potentially recovering lost works by major Greek and Roman thinkers. It also highlights the growing role of interdisciplinary competitions like the Vesuvius Challenge in accelerating research that would otherwise take decades.