AI deciphers a 2000-year-old Greek scroll without opening it in a groundbreaking discovery

For centuries, scholars stared at blackened, fragile scrolls buried by Mount Vesuvius, convinced their secrets were lost forever. Now, artificial intelligence has managed to read one without unrolling it—revealing philosophical insights untouched for nearly 2,000 years.

A Scroll Frozen in Time

The charred manuscripts of Herculaneum, entombed by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD, have long been considered impossible to read. So delicate they crumble with the slightest touch, these scrolls sat locked away in libraries as priceless artifacts but inaccessible sources of knowledge.

That changed when researchers, using AI-powered imaging and analysis, unveiled the text of one scroll, attributed to the philosopher Philodemus. The work, titled On Vices, explores the Epicurean approach to life—balancing pleasure, ethics, and virtue—and offers a rare glimpse into the intellectual world of Rome’s elite.

Technology Meets Ancient Philosophy

The breakthrough came through the Vesuvius Challenge, an international project uniting historians, papyrologists, and computer scientists. Using high-resolution scans combined with deep learning algorithms, the team reconstructed words hidden in layers of carbonized papyrus.

This isn’t the first success: in 2023, AI detected the word “porphyras” (purple) inside an unopened scroll. Months later, another revealed the word “diatrope” (disgust). But the decoding of On Vices marks the first time a full, coherent text has emerged—without physically opening the scroll.

Rediscovering Epicurean Thought

Philodemus, a disciple of Epicurean philosophy, lived in the first century BC and influenced Roman intellectual circles. His writings, found in the Villa of the Papyri, examined how to live well by avoiding destructive vices while embracing moderation and simple pleasures.

According to researchers at Oxford’s Bodleian Libraries, this discovery overturns earlier assumptions. Scholars once believed the first volume of On Vices dealt with flattery. Instead, the scroll known as PHerc. 172 reveals a broader exploration of moral failings and their counterbalancing virtues.

From Ashes to Algorithms

NASA-like precision meets ancient papyrus: that’s how experts describe the process. By digitally peeling away microscopic layers, AI acts as an X-ray vision tool, exposing ink invisible to the human eye. As Dr. Weijia Kuang, a NASA geophysicist involved in modeling magnetic fields, has said of similar scanning technology, “What we’re doing is weather forecasting—but for the past.”

For historians, it’s nothing short of a revolution. “We are finally hearing voices silenced by volcanic ash for two millennia,” noted one papyrologist from the Vesuvius Challenge team.

What Comes Next

This is just the beginning. Thousands of unopened scrolls remain preserved in European collections, waiting for the same treatment. Each one could contain lost works of philosophy, literature, or science—texts that might reshape how we understand the ancient world.

The decoding of On Vices is more than a technological triumph. It’s proof that modern innovation can resurrect ancient wisdom, bridging a 2,000-year gap between civilizations. And as more scrolls are read without ever being touched, the past is no longer buried—it’s being rewritten before our eyes.