Herculaneum and the Villa of the Papiri
Mount Vesuvius erupted almost 2000 years ago, releasing 100,000 times the thermal energy of the atomic bombings of Nagasaki and Hiroshima. As a result, the nearby Roman towns were buried in pyroclastic flows, allowing them to stand the test of time. More than 1700 years later, during the digging of a well, a wall that was part of a theatre was discovered marking the beginning of modern archaeology and the discovery of Herculaneum.
According to Greek legend, Herculaneum was founded by the hero Hercules. In 86 BC it became a Roman municipium (town or city) and was mainly used as a vacation resort for Rome's elite, one of whom was Lucius Calpurnius Piso Caesoninus, the father-in-law of Julius Caesar. Lucius was the owner of one of the most luxurious villas of Herculaneum, located on the coastline of the Bay of Naples. The first excavations of this Villa began in 1750 by Karl Weber. Much of the Villa remains largely unexcavated.
Karl Weber's excavation plan of Herculaneum showing the layout of the Villa of the Papyri and surrounding structures.
Fourteen years after the first discovery of Herculaneum, excavators realized that the 'lumps of charcoal' that they sometimes even used as torches contained faint appearances of letters. These charcoal lumps turned out to be papyrus scrolls, and many of them were discovered giving the seaside villa its name 'Villa dei Papiri'.
The library of the Villa dei Papiri is the only surviving library of the classical world. Approximately 1800 scrolls were found and it is possible that unexcavated areas of the villa contain more. The content of these scrolls could revolutionize our knowledge of the ancient world.
An example of a carbonized papyrus scroll discovered in the Villa of the Papyri.
Present day: the archeological site of Herculaneum was inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. It had some conservation issues in the past, mainly because of bad management, tourism, vandalism, and water damage by the modern Ercolano town. However, in 2001 the Herculaneum conservation project was established with the aim of overcoming these issues.
The scrolls are kept in several institutions, including the National Library of Naples, the 'Bibliothèque Nationale de France' in Paris, the British Museum in London, and more. The most interesting development is the scanning of the scrolls using non-destructive techniques like X-ray and micro-computed tomography. This allows the possibility of a computer program virtually unwrapping and reading the scrolls: this is the goal of the Vesuvius Challenge.
Virtual reconstruction of the Villa dei Papiri. Drawn by Rocio Espin.
The Getty Villa: a reconstruction of the Villa dei Papiri located in Malibu, California.
The Vesuvius Challenge
This section is still being written
This section is currently being written as of November 28. It will contain information about the history of the vesuvius challenge, some of the progress that has been made, and what still has to be done. Check back in a day or two!