AI Deciphers Vesuvius Scroll’s Hidden Title After 2,000 Years of Silence

Scientists have made a breakthrough in ancient history. After 2,000 years, AI technology has revealed the title “On Vice” from scrolls buried by Mount Vesuvius’s eruption in 79 AD. The carbonized manuscripts from the Library of Herculaneum were previously unreadable. This discovery, part of the Vesuvius Challenge, opens a window into Epicurean philosophy thought lost forever. What other secrets might these ancient texts contain?

Artificial intelligence has revealed a precious piece of ancient history hidden for nearly 2,000 years. In May 2025, AI technology successfully deciphered the title of a charred scroll from Mount Vesuvius as “On Vice” by Philodemus. This ancient text had remained unreadable since the catastrophic eruption of 79 AD that buried the Roman towns of Herculaneum and Pompeii.

Ancient words come to light as AI reads charred scrolls untouched since Vesuvius’ fury in 79 AD.

The breakthrough is part of the Vesuvius Challenge, launched in March 2023 to crowdsource efforts in reading these delicate scrolls. The initiative offers over $1 million in prizes to encourage researchers and technology experts to develop methods for revealing the hidden text without damaging the fragile artifacts.

Early success came in October 2023 when Luke Farritor, a 21-year-old computer science student, identified the first word “πορφύραc” (porphyras) in one of the scrolls. This earned him a $40,000 prize and demonstrated the effectiveness of using AI to detect subtle surface textures indicating the presence of ancient ink.

Building on this progress, Farritor later collaborated with Youssef Nader and Julian Schilliger to uncover more than 2,000 characters from a single scroll. The scrolls contain valuable Epicurean philosophical treatises that provide crucial insights into ancient thought. Their combined work earned them $700,000 in prize money and advanced the project considerably.

The technical approach involves 3D X-ray imaging that allows researchers to examine the scrolls virtually without physical contact. Machine learning algorithms then identify the nearly invisible difference between areas with and without ink on the carbonized papyrus. Experts have identified geometric reconstruction as a key challenge in mapping the damaged scroll surfaces to extract readable text.

The historical significance of this work can’t be overstated. These texts represent entirely unknown works from the Library of Herculaneum, discovered by a farmer around 1750 AD. Prior to these AI breakthroughs, scholars had almost no access to the writings of Philodemus, an important philosopher of the Epicurean school.

With “On Vice” now identified and more text being revealed, experts hope to recover an entire lost chapter of ancient philosophy and literature that hasn’t been read for nearly two millennia.