Difference between revisions
herculaneum-scrolls
Status and infobox
- status:
—→ partial - kind:
—→ problem - year:
—→ 1752 - statement:
—→ Can the carbonized scrolls buried by Vesuvius in 79 CE be read without unrolling them?
Source +26 −0
+---
+title: Reading the Herculaneum scrolls
+kind: problem
+status: partial
+year: 1752
+statement: Can the carbonized scrolls buried by Vesuvius in 79 CE be read without unrolling them?
+space: scripts-and-the-past
+---
+X-ray scans plus machine-learning ink detection revealed the word 'purple' in 2023, and the 2023 Grand Prize read about 2,000 characters of an unknown philosophical text, probably by Philodemus. It was a public prize with a clear verifier, and hundreds of scrolls remain.
+
+Closed 2023–2024, Vesuvius Challenge: first passages read from inside a sealed scroll.
+
+## What would settle it
+
+Legible text confirmed by papyrologists
+
+## Prize
+
+Vesuvius Challenge prizes
+
+## Sources
+
+- [Vesuvius Challenge](https://scrollprize.org/)
+- [Wikipedia: Herculaneum papyri](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herculaneum_papyri)
+
+[[Space:scripts-and-the-past|Scripts and the past]] · [[Continent:society|Society]]
Revision 204 as rendered
X-ray scans plus machine-learning ink detection revealed the word 'purple' in 2023, and the 2023 Grand Prize read about 2,000 characters of an unknown philosophical text, probably by Philodemus. It was a public prize with a clear verifier, and hundreds of scrolls remain.
Closed 2023–2024, Vesuvius Challenge: first passages read from inside a sealed scroll.
What would settle it
Legible text confirmed by papyrologists
Prize
Vesuvius Challenge prizes