Vesuvius Challenge 2023 Grand Prize awarded: we can read the scrolls!
The 2000-year-old scroll discusses music, food, and how to enjoy life’s pleasures.
scrollprize.org
Major Herculaneum Scroll News: "In the closing section of the text our author takes a parting shot at his adversaries, who 'have nothing to say about pleasure, either in general or in particular, when it is a question of definition.'”
SUNDAY WEEKLY ZOOM - 12:30 PM EDT - Ancient Text Study: De Rerum Natura by Lucretius -- Read the post for our December 7, 2025 meeting -- or find out how to attend.
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This is exciting!!!
QuoteThere was one submission that stood out clearly from the rest. Working independently, each member of our team of papyrologists recovered more text from this submission than any other. Remarkably, the entry achieved the criteria we set when announcing the Vesuvius Challenge in March: 4 passages of 140 characters each, with at least 85% of characters recoverable. This was not a given: most of us on the organizing team assigned a less than 30% probability of success when we announced these criteria! And in addition, the submission includes another 11 (!) columns of text — more than 2000 characters total.
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I read their announcement just a few minutes ago on their website. I've checked it every day since the beginning of the year. This is a great day!
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Sounds very promising if it is a discussion of the meaning of "pleasure"! Almost like he was lecturing some Epicureans of today who fail to focus on the importance of this topic.
Are his adversaries Stoics -- or other Epicureans who were failing to argue the details of pleasure forcefully enough? The Stoics had plenty to say about pleasure - they denounced it.
Would not be surprising to see echos of the debate that Cicero memorializes through Torquatus.
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P.Herc. 4 has been around just as a place holder, I have never seen any text from it (except for the clips in this article). Hopefully they fully release what they have.
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“Epicureanism says hi, with a text full of music, food, senses, and pleasure!”
Oh, yeah!
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Since this episode of Lucretius today focuses on the importance of being clear about the nature of pleasure, I'm posting this link here in addition to the normal places since it is not crazy to speculate that it may be on point with what Philodemus is complaining about:
More coverage. Never heard of this site and not much new in the artlcle but the website has an interesting title perhaps for following events in modern Greece.
Much more substantive article with nice graphics:
Head-shaking conclusion to the Bloomberg article:
"Barring a mass relocation, Friedman is working to refine what he’s got. There’s plenty left to do; the first contest yielded about 5% of one scroll. A new set of contestants, he says, might be able to reach 85%. He also wants to fund the creation of more automated systems that can speed the processes of scanning and digital smoothing. He’s now one of the few living souls who’s roamed the villa tunnels, and he says he’s also contemplating buying scanners that can be placed right at the villa and used in parallel to scan tons of scrolls per day. “Even if there’s just one dialogue of Aristotle or a beautiful lost Homeric poem or a dispatch from a Roman general about this Jesus Christ guy who’s roaming around,” he says, “all you need is one of those for the whole thing to be more than worth it.”"
Logged on to make sure everyone heard about this. This link has a lot of substance:
Vesuvius Challenge 2023 Grand Prize awarded: we can read the scrolls!The 2000-year-old scroll discusses music, food, and how to enjoy life’s pleasures.scrollprize.orgI blogged about this today:
Hidden ancient texts are coming to lightThere's been a big breakthrough in the efforts to decipher and read the library of charred scrolls that were left after the eruption of Mo...www.rawillumination.netHow ancient Herculaneum papyrus scrolls were deciphered | Nearly 2000 years ago, the eruption of Mount Vesuvius buried a trove of papyrus scrolls. Now a portion of the damaged documents have been deciphered,... | By New ScientistFacebookNearly 2000 years ago, the eruption of Mount Vesuvius buried a trove of papyrus scrolls. Now a portion of the damaged documents have been deciphered,...www.facebook.comKalosyni
September 15, 2024 at 9:23 PM Moved the thread from forum General Discussion to forum Herculaneum Text Research.I've been meaning to do this for a while, but I've organized the Herculaneum scrolls by number, and linked each one with the fragment that is hosted online in ancient Greek.
I'm still working on Philódēmos. Most of the scrolls are his.
This is excellent -- great idea to have each one link to the specific papyri.info page!
P.Herc. 908 may actually be by Demetrius Lacon. The content is interesting -- the topic is on sex, and it is very medical/gynecological (rather than moral/ethical).
This is excellent -- great idea to have each one link to the specific papyri.info page!
P.Herc. 908 may actually be by Demetrius Lacon. The content is interesting -- the topic is on sex, and it is very medical/gynecological (rather than moral/ethical).
Thanks! Let me know if you see anything in need of revision. The site does host some information that seems to conflict, especially between Latin and Greek translations (where they are).
P.Herc. 4 has been around just as a place holder, I have never seen any text from it (except for the clips in this article). Hopefully they fully release what they have.
Wanna see it? Starts at page 13. Happy reading
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