CNN —After using artificial intelligence to uncover the first word to be read from an unopened Herculaneum scroll, a team of researchers has revealed several nearly complete passages from the ancient text, giving insight into philosophy from almost 2,000 years ago. The Herculaneum scrolls are hundreds of papyri that survived the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in AD 79. By using computer technology and advanced artificial intelligence, researchers can now analyze the Herculaneum scrolls without unrolling and risking damage to the extremely fragile documents. The first word to be decoded, the Greek word for purple, was detected in October 2023 and can be found within the newly interpreted passages. The charred documents, now referred to as the Herculaneum scrolls, were recovered from a building believed to be the house of Julius Caesar’s father-in-law, according to the University of Kentucky.

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Persons: ”, Brent Seales, Luke Farritor, Youssef Nader —, Julian Schilliger, Farritor, Nader, Schilliger, papyrologists, Seales, Julius Caesar’s, Philodemus, “ Philodemus, Roger Macfarlane, Macfarlane, that’s, ” Macfarlane Organizations: CNN, classicists, University of Kentucky, University of Nebraska, Freie University Berlin, ETH Zürich, Institut de France, Brigham Young University Locations: Vesuvius, England, France, Italy, Naples