For nearly two millennia, PHerc. 172 — a scroll turned to charcoal in the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD — was supposed to be unreadable. The ancient manuscript is simply too fragile to touch and too blackened to see, so it lay sealed like a puzzle that time forgot. Now, with the help of powerful X-ray imaging and artificial intelligence, researchers have finally revealed its title and author.
The scroll, housed at Oxford University’s Bodleian Libraries, has been identified as a work by the Greek philosopher Philodemus. Its title is On Vices and Their Opposite Virtues and In Whom They Are and About What, a sort of ancient self-help book that reads like a guide on how to live a virtuous life.
The Philosopher’s Voice
Philodemus of Gadara was an Epicurean philosopher and poet who lived in the first century BCE. He studied in Athens with the preeminent Epicurean philosopher Zeno before becoming an important part of a vibrant Roman intellectual community that also included the likes of Horace and Virgil.
In the eighteenth century, a number of Philodemus’s writings were found among the ruins of Herculaneum’s aptly named Villa of the Papyri. It was apparently owned by Philodemus’s patron, L. Calpurnius Piso Caesoninus, (who was also Julius Caesar’s father-in-law and Cicero’s nemesis).
The rediscovered scroll, known to scholars as PHerc. 172, may be the first volume of a broader ethical treatise. Though it doesn’t match what scholars previously assumed was the first book — a text called On Flattery — it nonetheless seems to showcase a glimpse into ancient moral philosophy. It is one of three Herculaneum scrolls in the library’s collection, donated in the 19th century by Ferdinand IV, the king of Naples and Sicily.
“This will be a great opportunity to learn more about Philodemus’ ethical views,” said Michael McOsker, a papyrologist at University College London and a member of the team reviewing the findings. “Especially if it turns out to be the first book.”
Some of the first deciphered words from the scroll — “confusion,” “fear,” and “disgust” — hint at its moral focus. Other snippets mention perfume and barbers’ shops, likely used as metaphors or moral illustrations.
AI Resurrects Burnt Scroll
The breakthrough is owed to the Vesuvius Challenge, a global competition launched in 2023 to decode the carbonized scrolls of Herculaneum without unrolling them.
Two German graduate students, Marcel Roth of the University of Würzburg and Micha Nowak of Gray Swan AI, succeeded where centuries of scholars had failed. They trained an AI model — originally designed for medical imaging — to detect ancient ink in high-resolution scans of the scroll performed with a particle accelerator. The scans were produced at the Diamond Light Source, a particle accelerator in the UK close to the Bodleian Libraries at the University of Oxford.
To train their model, Roth and Nowak manually annotated thousands of slices of the scroll, labeling each trace of ink or papyrus fiber. The AI slowly learned to spot letters invisible to the human eye. Eventually, it revealed a string of Greek characters: ΦΙΛΟΔΗΜΟΥ ΠΕΡΙ ΚΑΚΙΩΝ — Philodemus On Vices.
The discovery earned them a $60,000 prize for being the first to name both the scroll’s author and its title. Sean Johnson, another Vesuvius Challenge researcher, made the same identification independently at roughly the same time. Both were credited.
“This is an astonishing achievement,” said Richard Ovenden, chief librarian at Oxford. “It illustrates the huge potential for AI to transform arts and humanities scholarship, our understanding of the past, and breathes new life into ancient artifacts.”
Fragments of History
PHerc. 172 is just one among hundreds of scrolls unearthed from the so-called Villa of the Papyri — a luxurious Roman estate buried along with Herculaneum during Vesuvius’ eruption.
Discovered by a farmer in 1750, the villa is a trove of classical sculpture and, more uniquely, a rare intact library. The latter is of the utmost significance. It is the only known surviving library from the Greco-Roman world. The scrolls were carbonized, not incinerated, thanks to the intense heat and lack of oxygen — turning them into what one researcher called “badly burnt sausages.”
For centuries, attempts to read them involved everything from chemicals to slicing — and usually led to the destruction of the invaluable scrolls. The promise of AI and modern imaging methods is that no blade or solvent is needed. The scrolls can be read without being touched.
On Vices and Their Opposite Virtues and In Whom They Are and About What is part of a broader ethical treatise. The full treatise delves into the nature of human vices and their corresponding virtues. The scroll’s content aligns with Philodemus’ emphasis on practical ethics, focusing on the pursuit of pleasure understood as the absence of pain and disturbance — a central tenet of Epicurean philosophy.
Prior to this discovery, scholars only had access to fragments of other books from the same series. Others found were On Flattery (Book 1), On Property Management (Book 9), and On Arrogance (Book 10), which were physically unrolled and studied despite the risk of damage.
According to the Bodleian Libraries, the scroll’s book number may read as “alpha” — suggesting it could be the first in the series. But other interpretations remain possible. A “delta” could indicate it’s the fourth book. Scholars are still debating.
Beyond the Scroll
Historians have long speculated that the Villa of the Papyri could hold not only Philodemus’ works but also lost texts by major figures like Aristotle, Euripides, or even Sappho.
So far, roughly 800 scrolls have been identified. But the vast majority of the villa — and possibly an adjoining Roman library — remains unexcavated.
If this effort continues, we might be looking at a Renaissance-scale rediscovery of classical literature.
For now, a single scroll has spoken again after nearly 2,000 years. It offers more than just words. It offers a glimpse into how ancient minds wrestled with vice and virtue — and a reminder that buried in the earth may lie the wisdom of entire civilizations, waiting to be heard.
Would you like a visual timeline of the Vesuvius Challenge milestones or a brief profile on Philodemus?
