📜 They have succeeded in reading the title in the rolled 2000-year-old papyrus scroll - wins $60,000

• The title "On Vices" by philosopher Philodemus has been recovered from a carbonized papyrus scroll from Herculaneum without unrolling it.
• Two research teams discovered the title independently using image analysis and improved ink detection methods.
• The discovery is rewarded with 60,000 dollars from the Vesuvius Challenge.

First title read from rolled papyrus

Researchers have for the first time succeeded in reading a title from a rolled papyrus scroll from Herculaneum. It was a smaller Roman city that was buried by the Vesuvius eruption in 79 AD, at the same time as several other cities, among them Pompeii.

The title "On Vices" by the Greek philosopher Philodemus has been identified from papyrus PHerc. 172 without unrolling it. This is the first time a title from a still-rolled Herculaneum scroll has been recovered without physical manipulation.

Sean Johnson from the Vesuvius Challenge research team produced a segmentation and image that revealed the title written on the papyrus surface. At the same time, contestant team Marcel Roth and Micha Nowak made the same discovery. They also improved ink detection methods to further refine the text.

Papyrologists confirm the discovery

The papyrological team led by Federica Nicolardi reviewed the images independently. The team unanimously read the author's name as Philodemus and the work's title as "On Vices". The book number is likely written as Book 1, though this is less certain.

The complete version of the title is known from other works as "Περὶ κακιῶν καὶ τῶν ἀντικειμένων ἀρετῶν καὶ τῶν ἐν οἷϲ εἰϲι καὶ περὶ ἅ". In English this translates to "On Vices and Their Opposite Virtues and In Whom They Are and About What".

Unusual format for the title

This title differs from other Herculaneum titles. In all titles recovered so far, this is the first that contains the book number on the same line as the title. Usually the author's name, title, and number are each center-justified on new lines.

The work mentions known historical figures

The work "On Vices" has received special attention not only for its philosophical content. In one of its books, Philodemus addresses some of his friends, namely Quintilius Varus, Varius Rufus, Plotius Tucca, and Vergil.

Quintilius Varus was a literary critic and friend of Virgil and Horace, known for his honesty and early death. Varius Rufus was a poet and playwright, and together with Plotius Tucca helped edit the Aeneid after Virgil's death. Tucca, also active in Maecenas' circle, was a close friend of Virgil and participated in the publication of the unfinished work. Virgil himself was Rome's foremost poet, known for the Eclogues, Georgics and the great epic Aeneid.

Ink detection on the latest autosegmentation shows a significant amount of text. Researchers expect this improvement to continue. Sheet switches, where segmentation falsely jumps from one sheet to an adjacent one, are still present but improving compared to previous iterations.

1.5 million dollars in prize money so far

The Vesuvius Challenge is an ongoing prize competition that started in 2023 to use X-ray tomography, machine learning and computer vision to read the carbonized Herculaneum scrolls that were buried in the Vesuvius eruption in 79 AD. The competition has awarded over 1.5 million dollars in prizes, including a grand prize in 2024 for the first 2000 readable characters, and continues in 2025 with new sub-goals aimed at interpreting entire scrolls.

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