Deciphering the ancient scrolls of Herculaneum | 60 Minutes Archive
60 Minutes・10 minutes read
A city near Pompeii named Herculaneum was also destroyed by Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD, containing a library with ancient Greek and Latin masterpieces, early Christian writings, and references to Jesus. Brent Seals, a computer scientist, proposed using modern technology to virtually read the charred and brittle Herculaneum Scrolls, sparking a race with Italian Scholars who claim to have already unlocked some of their contents using a synchrotron.
Insights
- The city of Herculaneum, buried by volcanic ash, holds a library of papyrus Scrolls potentially containing Greek and Latin masterpieces, early Christian writings, and references to Jesus, yet these valuable artifacts remain unopened due to their fragile condition.
- Scientists like Brent Seals are exploring innovative methods, such as modern medical imaging and synchrotron technology, to virtually unroll and read the charred and brittle Herculaneum Scrolls, offering a glimpse into ancient wisdom previously inaccessible, despite skepticism and competition among scholars.
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Summary
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Unlocking Herculaneum Scrolls: Ancient Texts Revealed
- Herculaneum, a city near Pompeii, was also destroyed by Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD, and its library filled with papyrus Scrolls containing potentially unknown Greek and Latin masterpieces, early Christian writings, and references to Jesus.
- The city of Herculaneum, buried by volcanic ash, was rediscovered in the 1700s, revealing a rich repository of ancient Western wisdom, but the charred and brittle Scrolls have remained unopened due to the risk of breaking them.
- Andrew Wallace-Hadrill, the founding director of the Herculaneum Conservation Project, guided a tour of the excavation site in Herculaneum, showcasing the preserved ancient Roman Seaside town buried under layers of ash.
- The Papyrus Scrolls of Herculaneum, 1,800 ancient books seared by volcanic heat, are considered the greatest treasures found in the once opulent Villa in Herculaneum, now resembling a cave.
- Brent Seals, a computer scientist, proposed using modern medical imaging technology to virtually unroll and read the Herculaneum Scrolls, a 2,000-year-old mystery that scholars have been attempting to solve without success.
- Two Italian Scholars, Vito Mocella and Graziano Renia, claimed to have the same idea as Seals to use a synchrotron, a powerful x-ray, to peer inside the Scrolls, leading to a competitive race to reveal the contents of the ancient Scrolls.
- Despite the Italian Scholars' claims of success in revealing letters and phrases within the Scrolls using the synchrotron, Brent Seals remains skeptical and continues his research, even achieving a breakthrough in Jerusalem with a 1700-year-old scroll from a burned synagogue near the Dead Sea, showcasing the potential of his software in unlocking ancient texts.
