Nearly two thousand years after Vesuvius silenced the library of Herculaneum, a carbonized scroll has yielded its title and author to researchers who never once touched it. Using digital imaging and artificial intelligence born of the Vesuvius Challenge, two German graduate students identified the text as Philodemus' 'On Vices'—a work of Epicurean ethics preserved in volcanic ash and now, at last, in human understanding. The discovery reminds us that patience and ingenuity can recover what catastrophe seemed to seal away forever.
Ancient Herculaneum scroll decoded after 2,000 years reveals Philodemus philosophical text
See inside without touching—the scroll reveals its secrets at last
Mark
So they found a title on a scroll that's been rolled up and carbonized for two thousand years. How is that even possible without unrolling it?
Mimi
They used digital imaging and AI to essentially see inside the scroll without touching it. It's like an X-ray that can read the ink patterns layer by layer.
Luke
But wait—they're reading the title and author from the digital scan. How confident are we that what they're reading is actually accurate? Is this verified by multiple people?
Mimi
Yes. Two graduate students from Würzburg found it, and a researcher named Sean Johnson found the same thing independently. Both were checked by the Vesuvius Challenge's papyrological team.
Mark
And this is the first time anyone's successfully read a title this way?
Mimi
It is. They've decoded individual words before—like "purple" in 2023—but never a full title and author.
Luke
What's the actual text they found? Is it something completely new to scholarship, or was this work already known?
Mimi
It's a work by Philodemus called "On Vices." Scholars knew this work existed, but they didn't know this particular copy was in the villa. And it might be the first book in a series, which would change how they understand the whole work.
Mark
Why does it matter if it's the first book?
Mimi
Because scholars thought a different text called "On Flattery" was the first book. If this is actually the opening, it reshapes how we read Philodemus' ethical philosophy.
Luke
But you said "might be." How certain are they about that?
Mimi
Not entirely. There's a marking on the scroll that could be read as an alpha—which would mean book one—but it could also be other letters. They're still working through it.
Mark
So this is the beginning of understanding the scroll, not the end.
Mimi
Exactly. The title and author are the breakthrough. Everything else—what it actually says, where it fits in the series—that's the work ahead.
The Pulse
- Scrolls buried by Vesuvius in 79 AD have resisted every physical attempt at decoding for centuries, crumbling under weights, chemicals, and careful hands alike.
- The Vesuvius Challenge, launched in 2023, reframed the problem entirely—inviting global researchers to read the scrolls through digital scans rather than risk destroying what little survives.
- Two University of Würzburg graduate students and an independent researcher separately identified scroll PHerc. 172 as Philodemus' 'On Vices,' the first time a scroll's title has been recovered by this method.
- Scholars are now debating whether this scroll is the opening volume of Philodemus' larger ethical series, a finding that could overturn long-held assumptions about how the work begins.
- The discovery lands as one milestone in a growing chain—from the first decoded word 'purple' to 'disgust' appearing in columns of text—each step proving that the ancient library is not lost, only waiting.
Nearly two thousand years after Vesuvius silenced the library of Herculaneum, a carbonized scroll has yielded its title and author to researchers who never once touched it. Using digital imaging and artificial intelligence born of the Vesuvius Challenge, two German graduate students identified the text as Philodemus' 'On Vices'—a work of Epicurean ethics preserved in volcanic ash and now, at last, in human understanding. The discovery reminds us that patience and ingenuity can recover what catastrophe seemed to seal away forever.
In 79 AD, Mount Vesuvius buried the Roman town of Herculaneum, entombing hundreds of scrolls in a villa once belonging to Julius Caesar's father-in-law. Discovered by an Italian farmer in the 18th century, the scrolls remained locked in their rolled, blackened state—so brittle that earlier attempts to physically unroll them often ended in destruction. Scholars tried weights, chemicals, and gases for decades, but the scrolls were simply too fragile to survive direct intervention.
Then, in 2023, the Vesuvius Challenge launched a different approach: use advanced digital imaging and artificial intelligence to virtually unwrap the texts without ever touching them. Researchers worldwide were invited to decode what lay hidden inside the carbonized cylinders.
Two graduate students from Germany's University of Würzburg, Marcel Roth and Micha Nowak, made a landmark breakthrough working with a scroll catalogued as PHerc. 172. They identified both its author and title—'On Vices,' by the Greek Epicurean philosopher Philodemus, whose works dominated the villa's collection. A researcher named Sean Johnson reached the same conclusion independently. Both findings were verified by the Vesuvius Challenge's papyrological team and confirmed by Oxford's Bodleian Libraries, where the scroll is now housed.
This marks the first time a scroll's title has been successfully read using this method. The text belongs to Philodemus' larger ethical treatise on vices and virtues, and scholars are still determining whether PHerc. 172 is the series' opening volume. A marking on the scroll could be read as an alpha—book one—though other readings remain possible. The discovery is particularly striking because scholars had long assumed the first book was titled 'On Flattery,' a description that does not match this scroll's content.
The Vesuvius Challenge has already produced other milestones: the first complete word decoded from an unopened papyrus was 'porphyras,' Greek for purple, followed by the word 'disgust' appearing twice in columns of text. Each recovery is incremental, but together they represent a fundamental shift—ancient voices returning not through destruction, but through deeper looking.
In 79 AD, Mount Vesuvius buried the Roman town of Herculaneum under volcanic debris, entombing hundreds of scrolls in a villa that once belonged to Julius Caesar's father-in-law. Nearly two millennia later, those scrolls remain among the most fragile artifacts in existence—carbonized by heat, so brittle that earlier attempts to physically unroll them often resulted in destruction. An Italian farmer discovered them in the 18th century, but their secrets stayed locked away, preserved in their rolled, blackened state.
For decades, scholars tried every method they could devise: weights, chemicals, gases, even pulverization. None worked without risk. The scrolls were simply too damaged, too delicate. Then, in 2023, the Vesuvius Challenge launched with a different approach: use advanced digital imaging and artificial intelligence to virtually unwrap the texts without ever touching them physically. Researchers from around the world were invited to decode what lay hidden inside.
Now, two graduate students from Germany's University of Würzburg—Marcel Roth and Micha Nowak—have made a breakthrough. Working with digital scans of a scroll catalogued as PHerc. 172, they identified both its author and its title. The text is "On Vices," written by Philodemus, a Greek philosopher whose work dominated the villa's collection. A researcher named Sean Johnson made the same discovery independently around the same time. Both findings were verified by the Vesuvius Challenge's papyrological team and confirmed by Oxford University's Bodleian Libraries, where the scroll is now housed.
This marks the first time a scroll's title has been successfully read using this method. The text is part of Philodemus' larger ethical treatise, "On Vices and Their Opposite Virtues and In Whom They Are and About What." Scholars are still determining whether PHerc. 172 represents the first book in the series—the Bodleian Libraries notes that a marking on the scroll could plausibly be read as an alpha, indicating book one, though it might also be other letters like delta, suggesting book four. What makes this particularly significant is that scholars had long believed the first book was titled "On Flattery," but the content of PHerc. 172 does not match that description.
Philodemus was an Epicurean philosopher whose teachings centered on pleasure as essential to a good life. The majority of scrolls found in the Herculaneum villa were his works, making this villa a kind of philosophical archive. Michael McOsker, a papyrologist at University College London and member of the Vesuvius Challenge team, called the discovery "a very exciting development." Other books from the same series are known from scrolls that were physically unrolled over the years—"On Property Management" (book 9) and "On Arrogance" (book 10) among them—but finding a new text, possibly the opening volume, offers researchers a chance to understand Philodemus' ethical philosophy more completely and to see how the entire work fits together.
The Vesuvius Challenge has already produced other victories. In October 2023, researchers decoded the first complete word from an unopened papyrus: "porphyras," Greek for purple. In February, they identified the word "disgust" appearing twice in columns of text from the same scroll. Each discovery is incremental, but together they represent a fundamental shift in how ancient texts can be recovered—not by risking destruction, but by looking deeper into what remains.
Notable Quotes
This will be a great opportunity to learn more about Philodemus' ethical views and to get a better view of the On Vices as a whole, especially if it turns out to be the first book.— Michael McOsker, papyrologist at University College London
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