Ammon News - In a remarkable confluence of classical scholarship and modern innovation, researchers have finally uncovered the author and title of a charred scroll that lay unread for nearly 2,000 years. Buried beneath the volcanic fury of Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD, this blackened relic from the Roman town of Herculaneum is rewriting history—without ever being unrolled.

Known as PHerc. 172, the scroll is part of a collection discovered in the 18th century in what is believed to be the luxurious villa of Julius Caesar’s father-in-law. Preserved under layers of ash and mud, these scrolls were carbonized during the eruption and rendered so fragile that any attempt to open them risked destruction. For centuries, their secrets remained locked away—until now.

Enter the Vesuvius Challenge, a global initiative launched in 2023 with a mission as ambitious as any archaeological excavation: decode the unreadable using artificial intelligence. Scholars, scientists, and tech enthusiasts from around the world were invited to virtually unwrap these scrolls using machine learning and advanced imaging.

It was through this challenge that Marcel Roth and Micha Nowak, graduate students at the University of Würzburg, made their groundbreaking discovery. Independently verified and supported by Vesuvius Challenge researcher Sean Johnson, the scroll has been identified as a work by Greek philosopher Philodemus, titled “On Vices.”

This is the first time in history that a title has been read from one of the unopened Herculaneum scrolls. Economic Times