AI Deciphered Herculaneum Scrolls Buried by Vesuvius
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00:00In 79 CE, the Vesuvius volcano erupted and burned down two beautiful cities of the Roman Empire, Pompeii and Herculaneum.
00:10Many of you have probably heard about this tragic story.
00:14However, few people know that in the middle of the 18th century, archaeologists discovered ancient scrolls from that time amongst the ruins of Herculaneum.
00:24For any scientist or historian, such a discovery is a treasure trove that offers insights into the thoughts and lives of people from over 2,000 years ago.
00:34However, the problem was that 1,800 scrolls were found in very poor condition.
00:40Singed by the heat of the volcano, coated in ash and soot, they had become hardened black lumps.
00:48Brittle as coal, any careless movement could destroy them.
00:52Scientists were aware that invaluable knowledge from an ancient Roman library was concealed within, and endeavored to decipher the texts.
01:01One method was to cut the scrolls in half and scrape off the thin layers of solid dust and ashes.
01:08Then, the researchers created a special machine that could slowly unroll the scrolls.
01:15They managed to read a few words, but unfortunately, such methods damaged and even destroyed some of the artifacts.
01:23In those instances, archaeologists could only wait for advancements in technology that would allow them to unfold and read the scrolls.
01:31And finally, this day has arrived.
01:35Artificial intelligence has now enabled researchers to decipher texts written 2,000 years ago.
01:41Even though the inscriptions on the scrolls were charred and nearly illegible.
01:46Initially, scientists scanned the scrolls and created high-resolution digital models.
01:51This process allowed specialists to identify the areas where ancient ink had altered the texture and shape of the papyrus fibers.
01:59In the regions where ink was applied, the papyrus was slightly thicker and contained a higher level of carbon, the key component of the ink.
02:08The researchers developed a machine learning model capable of detecting these subtle details within the papyrus.
02:15They uploaded thousands of 3D images of the scrolls to the Internet, inviting people to collaborate with AI in decoding the text.
02:24During the early stages, the system occasionally made errors, making human assistance essential.
02:31To incentivize participation, scientists and investors from Silicon Valley offered $1 million to anyone who could successfully decode the texts.
02:40This initiative significantly accelerated the process, resulting in the deciphering of several passages from the ancient works.
02:49Fragments of the first transcripts are like a blog about how to enjoy life.
02:54The author of the scroll, Philodemus, was a follower of the Greek philosopher Epicurus, who considered pleasure and luxury the highest goal in his life.
03:03So, Philodemus thought so too.
03:06We do not right away believe things that are scarce to be absolutely more pleasant than those which are abundant.
03:13It feels as if it was written by some modern influencer talking about a detox program or a diet.
03:19It seems that people who lived 2,000 years ago were almost the same as modern ones.
03:25Philodemus was apparently a wealthy man, because he lived in a villa that may have belonged to Julius Caesar's father-in-law.
03:34In his works, the author criticized the Stoics, who couldn't say anything about pleasure at all.
03:40Philodemus was such an ardent fan of Epicureanism that one of the scientists compared him to a guy who collected albums from only one band and nothing else.
03:51Several hundred Herculaneum scrolls remain unread.
03:55Scientists believe that they may contain works by Aristotle, Homer, Sophocles, and the Stoics.
04:01Fortunately, with modern AI technologies, the decryption process will go on much faster.
04:08But how did historians and linguists decipher ancient texts in the past centuries?
04:14It was actually a very difficult mental job.
04:17Let's say you found an ancient slab in the 19th century somewhere in Greece.
04:22To understand what was written there, you'd have to compare it to several other deciphered plates with similar writings of that era or similar languages.
04:31Letter by letter, symbol by symbol, you'd be deciphering ancient writings for several months or even years to figure out, say, the recipe for ancient mashed potatoes.
04:43Fortunately, with the development of computer technology, those days are long gone.
04:49Now, all ancient scrolls can be scanned and uploaded to a database on a computer.
04:55You may not even have to decipher the text for a long time if the computer finds a match of characters in other ancient manuscripts.
05:02But even if you have a perfectly preserved piece of papyrus or an ancient book where all letters are visible, this doesn't mean that you and AI will be able to decipher it.
05:14One of the most famous encrypted texts is the Voynich manuscript.
05:19This work, which consists of 240 colorful pages, was acquired by Polish bookseller in 1912.
05:27He found that book intriguing because of astrological symbols, unknown plants and unusual human figures drawn on its pages.
05:36And all this was accompanied by handwritten texts.
05:41The author had beautiful, clear handwriting, but the language of the book is still unknown.
05:47Someone wrote this art book around the beginning of the 15th century and divided it into six sections devoted to botany, astronomy, biology, cooking, medicine and cosmology.
05:59Many scientists and linguists have tried to decipher the mysterious drawings with inscriptions, but no one has gotten reliable results.
06:08Even AI couldn't help this difficult task.
06:12Some believe that this book is dedicated to science and others believe that it contains knowledge about witchcraft.
06:18Perhaps it's a mix of science and magic.
06:22According to one version, the manuscript is a medical textbook that copied information from other scientific works from the Middle Ages.
06:30Before the invention of the printing press, people copied books and rewrote them by hand without worrying about copyrights.
06:38It's possible that the author of the manuscript outlined all their knowledge about herbal medicines and the influence of astrology on health.
06:46People in the past believed that the state of the body and stars in the sky were connected.
06:52The coolest thing is that the book has been scanned.
06:55You can download it in high resolution and try to decrypt it yourself.
07:00Who knows, maybe you will succeed and get some ancient secret knowledge.
07:05An unknown language or poor text condition may not always be a problem for linguists.
07:11Imagine that you open some copy of classical literature dated to the 19th century.
07:16You read the pages carefully and at the end of the day, you feel slightly unwell.
07:21You read the book every day and feel worse and worse.
07:25At some point, you go to the hospital and doctors tell you that you've been poisoned.
07:31Yeah, sometimes working with old books can be literally dangerous for your health.
07:36There are even catalogs of poisonous books in the world.
07:39They are toxic not because someone intentionally sprayed them with poison to hurt the reader,
07:45but because people wanted to make books look more colorful.
07:49Recently, two such books have been withdrawn from the National Library of France because of their bright green covers.
07:56The pages were ordinary, but the hard cover could have been coated with arsenic.
08:01The mass production of books took place in the 19th century.
08:05Book publishers wanted to release as many copies as possible,
08:09so they used not expensive leather covers for them, but cheaper fabric options.
08:14To make a book attractive to customers, they painted them in bright green, yellow, red, and other colors.
08:21They got the green color of the cover thanks to the bright pigment created from copper and arsenic.
08:27It was a very cheap dye, but brighter than other dyes containing copper carbonate.
08:33An arsenic dye was used not only for books, but also to create candles and wallpaper.
08:40The problem was that the dye's pigment decomposed quickly and released toxic carcinogenic fumes.
08:46Arsenic caused severe health problems.
08:49People calmly lived in their homes and couldn't understand what was happening to them.
08:53The same thing happened to many readers of that time.
08:56It was only by the end of the 19th century that people stopped selling toxic items.
09:02Now, to read a poisonous book, if you want to do it that is,
09:06you have to wear gloves and a protective mask.
09:09And after work, wash your hands thoroughly.
09:13That's it for today!
09:14So, hey, if you pacified your curiosity, then give the video a like and share it with your friends.
09:19Or if you want more, just click on these videos and stay on the Bright Side!