THE HIDDEN LIBRARY OF HERCULANEUM

How scientists are using artificial intelligence to unlock a library buried for nearly 2,000 years

In the year 79 AD, Mount Vesuvius erupted, destroying the Roman cities of Pompeii and Herculaneum. But among the devastation, something extraordinary survived: an ancient library containing hundreds of papyrus scrolls.

The scrolls were discovered in the 18th century at what became known as the Villa of the Papyri. Around 1,800 carbonized papyri were recovered, making the collection one of the most important surviving libraries from the ancient world. 

But there was a problem.

The intense heat from Vesuvius transformed the papyrus into black, fragile, carbonized objects. The individual layers of the scrolls became fused together. Trying to physically open them could destroy the very writing researchers were trying to save. 

For centuries, the words inside remained hidden.

A library trapped inside charcoal

The scrolls may look like pieces of charcoal today, but they once contained carefully written Greek texts.

Many of the known works are associated with Philodemus, a Greek philosopher who lived during the first century BC. The collection could also contain texts that have never been seen since antiquity. 

Previous attempts to open the scrolls sometimes involved cutting or peeling away their layers. Although these methods revealed some writing, they also damaged or destroyed portions of the manuscripts. Hundreds of scrolls therefore remained sealed. 

Then technology changed the game.

Reading without opening

Researchers began using extremely powerful X-ray imaging to create detailed three-dimensional scans of the scrolls.

Instead of physically unrolling a scroll, scientists can create a digital model of its interior. Computer software can then virtually separate the layers and flatten them, effectively creating a digital version of the scroll that can be examined without touching the original. 

Artificial intelligence has taken this process even further.

The writing itself is made with carbon-based ink, which makes it extremely difficult to distinguish from the carbonized papyrus. However, high-resolution scans can reveal tiny differences in the texture and structure of the papyrus fibers caused by the ink. Machine-learning systems can be trained to recognize those differences. 

The breakthrough

In 2024, researchers using these techniques successfully revealed substantial passages from an unopened Herculaneum scroll. The decoded text included philosophical discussions about subjects such as the senses and pleasure. 

But the breakthrough went even further in 2026.

Researchers announced the first complete non-invasive reading of a sealed Herculaneum scroll. The achievement demonstrated that an entire ancient manuscript could potentially be recovered digitally without physically opening it. 

The implications are enormous.

What could still be hidden?

More than 600 unopened scrolls are reportedly still awaiting examination. If scientists can continue improving their scanning and AI techniques, they could potentially recover hundreds of ancient texts that have been inaccessible for almost two thousand years. 

These could include unknown works of philosophy, literature, science and history.

Every scroll could contain something that has never been read by a modern human.

That makes the Herculaneum collection more than an archaeological curiosity. It is potentially an enormous missing piece of the ancient world's written history.

From disaster to discovery

Vesuvius destroyed Herculaneum, but the same heat that made the scrolls unreadable also helped preserve them.

For nearly 2,000 years, their words remained trapped inside layers of carbonized papyrus.

Now, scientists don't need to open the scrolls.

They can look inside them digitally.

And for the first time in centuries, the ancient library of Herculaneum is beginning to speak again.