Register for a CSMC lecture

Thursday, 21 November 2024, 4:15 pm – 6:00 pm CET

Warburgstraße 26, 20354 Hamburg, room 0001, and online

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The Herculaneum Scrolls and the Vesuvius Challenge — Classics and AI

Jürgen Hammerstaedt (University of Cologne) and Youssef Nader (Freie Universität Berlin)

The ancient city of Herculaneum was completely buried under the volcanic material of the catastrophic eruption of Vesuvius in 79 AD. It remained hermetically sealed until the 18th century, when, among other things, around 1000 carbonized scrolls came to light. Various mechanical technologies were used to open and read the charred papyrus scrolls, which mainly contain philosophical texts, in the course of their exploration. At worst, these led to the total loss. But even the more successful methods were unsuccessful in completely recovering any of the scrolls. Furthermore, around 500 scrolls remain completely or partially unopened. Jürgen Hammerstaedt's part of the lecture is intended to provide an insight into important stages and developments in the research into this unique cultural asset, which has been ongoing for more than two and a half centuries and still has a promising future. Youssef Nader, awardee in the prestigious Vesuvius Challenge 2024, will present his solution to read letters from within the scrolls and talk about the data and challenges of reading carbon based ink as well as giving a future outlook in the possibilities of AI in this endeavour.

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