AI used to crack the code of Oxford’s ancient scroll
A team of researchers are using Artificial Intelligence algorithms and X-ray imaging to read an illegible scroll that may hold significant philosophical notes made by ancient Greek and Roman scholars.
Among the words deciphered from ancient Greek so far are ἀδιάληπτος (foolish), διατροπή (disgust), βίου (life), and φοβ (fear). The process necessitates Artificial Intelligence as the scrolls cannot be unfurled in their charred state.
This is not the first of its kind. The Vesuvius Challenge is a global initiative that was launched in 2023 to discover the contents of the Herculaneum Scrolls without physical intervention to the artefacts themselves. Teams who can use AI technology to dechiper the scrolls in their current state will benefit from monetary prizes.
Last year, a team of student researchers used AI to decipher what totalled five percent of one of the scrolls. For their discovery, the students from Egypt, Switzerland, and the United States won a $700,000 prize.
Richard Ovenden, Bodley’s Librarian and Helen Hamlyn Director of the University Libraries, stated, “we are at an incredible moment in history, as librarians, computer scientists and scholars of the classical period are collaborating to see the unseen”.
Named the ‘Herculaneum papyri’ after their archaeological birthplace, the Herculaneum Scrolls refers to more than 1,800 papyrus scrolls discovered in the Villa of the Papyri in Herculaneum, in the 1750s. They survived the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD through the process of carbonisation, making them a unique insight into a largely lost era. The library containing these scrolls belonged to Julius Caesar’s father-in-law Lucius Calpurnius Piso Caesoninus.
This positive news come at an important time, as DeepSeek, a Chinese AI software company, have caused huge investment issues and raised massive ethical concerns over their AI product. Additionally, 2025 epic The Brutalist has faced intense backlash for the involvement of AI in the editorial process. The usage of AI tools to uncover greater information on our shared history is worth noting, at a time when Artificial Intelligence is often likened to the deadening of creativity.
