AI Deciphers Ancient Scrolls, Helps Researchers Find Out Where Plato Is Buried

The rapid strides made by technology in recent years has led to the proliferation of artificial intelligence (AI). Using machine learning, it analyses decades of data, helping machines learn and act in a way that requite human intelligence. AI is also helping humans decode complex problems and highlight history that has now been forgotten. Last week, University of Pisa in Italy announced that they have successfully used AI to decipher ancient papyrus scrolls, which revealed where the Greek philosopher Plato is buried.

According to a Live Science report, the papyrus scrolls were found in Herculaneum, a town near Pompeii that was destroyed when Mount Vesuvius erupted in AD 79.

Since they were carbonised, these scrolls were too fragile for human touch and required deciphering using hand-free scanning technology. This is where AI came handy.

The outlet said that one of the scrolls contained the writings of Philodemus of Gadara, a philosopher who studied in Athens and later lived in Italy. The text talks about Plato, the academy he built and his burial place.

Historians knew that Plato was buried at the academy he established, but they weren't sure about the exact spot. He believed to have died in Athens between 348 and 347 BC, said Live Science.

Using optical imaging, thermal imaging and tomography, researchers have identified 1,000 words, or roughly 30 per cent of the text written by Philodemus.

"Among the most important news, we read that Plato was buried in the garden reserved for him (a private area intended for the Platonic school) of the Academy in Athens, near the so-called Museion or sacellum sacred to the Muses. Until now it was only known that he was buried generically in the Academy," the researchers wrote in a statement.

This isn't the first time that researchers have used AI to read ancient scrolls that survived Mount Vesuvius's eruption. Earlier this year, researchers deciphered a different scroll that was charred during the volcanic eruption at a nearby villa that once belonged to Julius Caesar's father-in-law.