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Revealing letters in rolled Herculaneum papyri by X-ray phase-contrast imaging

Started by Duncan Head, January 21, 2015, 10:48:37 AM

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Duncan Head

Reading the scroll without unrolling it because the X-rays can differentiate "the relief of the letters, which rise at least one hundred microns above the surface of the papyrus fibres". This is seriously impressive.

Summary at http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-30888767
Article at Nature Communications

Duncan Head


Patrick Waterson

Also quite remarkable discovering a Greek 'H'. I suspect this may actually have been a pi.  Still, X-ray phase-contrast tomography looks like the best thing since sliced scrolls. :)
"Men occasionally stumble over the truth, but most of them pick themselves up and hurry off as if nothing had happened." - Winston Churchill

Duncan Head

Quote from: Patrick Waterson on January 21, 2015, 08:34:09 PM
Also quite remarkable discovering a Greek 'H'. I suspect this may actually have been a pi.

The original article makes clear it's a capital ēta, of course.
Duncan Head

Tim


Patrick Waterson

Quote from: Duncan Head on January 21, 2015, 09:51:15 PM
Quote from: Patrick Waterson on January 21, 2015, 08:34:09 PM
Also quite remarkable discovering a Greek 'H'. I suspect this may actually have been a pi.

The original article makes clear it's a capital ēta, of course.

Thanks, Duncan.

It looks as if it will be a while before anything comes to light, but maybe some day we shall have a fuller version of Polybius and see what all the missing bits actually say.
"Men occasionally stumble over the truth, but most of them pick themselves up and hurry off as if nothing had happened." - Winston Churchill

Duncan Head

Duncan Head

willb

There is also the possibility that some of the missing histories may be found.

Duncan Head

Resurrecting this thread from the ashes - http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-35865470 gives a scientific update: apparently there is lead in the ink some centuries earlier than expected.

"Most [of the scrolls] are philosophical works in Greek, but other works include a comedy in Latin" - so don't expect much in the way of historical revelations.
Duncan Head

Duncan Head

The latest article on trying to read the Herculaneum scrolls - https://www.theguardian.com/science/2019/oct/03/ancient-scrolls-charred-by-vesuvius-could-be-read-once-again - suggests that the X-ray phase-contrast stuff at the top of this thread was a false alarm:

Quote... it has also proved impossible to replicate findings that letters within Herculaneum scrolls can be deciphered by the naked eye from scans captured by a slightly different x-ray technique.

But all is not lost:

QuoteAs a result the team have come up with a new approach that uses high-energy x-rays together with a type of artificial intelligence known as machine learning.

Breath still bated, then. However, I think I had missed:

QuoteA new historical work by Seneca the Elder was discovered among the unidentified Herculaneum papyri only last year

For that, see https://www.romeandart.eu/en/art-news-historia-seneca.html:

QuoteA new technology and the expertise and patience of Valeria Piano have given back to the world an important text by Anneo Seneca the Elder: "Historiae ab initio bellorum civileum", a historical work related to events from the period of civil wars to Emperor Tiberius, probably the last work written by the historian who died in 37 AD
Duncan Head

PMBardunias

I am curious to know what work or works each of you would most like to have found? My tops are Aeneas's and Pyrrhus's Taktica, perhaps Sosylus as well.

Patrick Waterson

1) Polybius' missing books.
2) Livy's earlier missing books (judging by a partial recovery of Book XCI, his later books were rather a waste of time).
3) Claudius' Etruscan history.
4) Claudius' Carthaginian history.
"Men occasionally stumble over the truth, but most of them pick themselves up and hurry off as if nothing had happened." - Winston Churchill

Tim