Most of our concepts of Stoicism, an ancient school of thought that is featured heavily here on Open Culture, come from the writings of just three people: Epictetus, Marcus Aurelius, and Seneca the Younger. However, there are other Stoics, and despite their antiquity, we may be able to learn more about them. take Chrysippus on the sleighhe was officially known as the second founder of Stoicism because of his influence on the spread of Greece and Rome throughout the world. What we know about his difficult work is thanks to references written on scrolls that were accidentally preserved in a villa in Herculaneum when nearby Mount Vesuvius erupted in 79 AD. So far, most of those Herculaneum papyri have been illegible, but thanks to technologies such as X-ray microtomography and artificial intelligence, that may soon change.
In 2023, we posted about deciphering the first word of such a scroll. This is an achievement achieved through prize incentives provided by a competition called the Vesuvius Challenge. now, The company’s website says:“We completely opened virtually and read PHerc. 1667 — the scroll known in the Vesuvius Challenge community as Scroll 4 — without ever touching a page.”
What appears to be nothing more than a large lump of charcoal, further damaged by several attempts to physically unroll it in a pre-technological era, turns out to be a “philosophical treatise on ethics, which evidence points to as the work of the Stoics, focusing on human nature, impulses, and human moral progress.” The column saved at the end of the scroll contains aristocleon“nephew and pupil of the great Stoic Chrysippus”, and has been suggested to date from the 2nd century BC.
Through this technical and intellectual collaboration, PHerc was born. 1667 “The first Herculaneum Papyrus is digitally expanded, read cover to cover, and made available for continued scholarly research.” However, some documents, such as PHerc, are still being deciphered. 139 is identified as “Philodemus, On God, Volume 8 — treatises by the Epicurean philosopher, whose works make up the bulk of this library.” At the time, Stoicism and Epicureanism existed as similar but opposing philosophies, and the owner of the so-called Villa of the Papyrus (probably Julius Caesar’s father-in-law) seems to have had an interest in both. The ancient Stoics and Epicureans had a lively debate about how to live, and some of their discussions were written down. If the necessary technology continues to advance, someday we may be able to read them all and pick up the conversation where we left off. Click here for details Click here to decipher papyrus and here.
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Researchers use AI to decipher the first words of ancient scrolls burned by Mount Vesuvius
Based in Seoul, Colin Mbemust write and broadcastIt’s about cities, languages and cultures. he is the author of the newsletter books about cities books as well Home page (I won’t summarize Korea) and korean newtro. Follow him on the social network formerly known as Twitter. @Colinbemust.
Source: Open Culture – www.openculture.com
