A Herculaneum scroll has been read for the first time

Scientists have successfully read an entire Herculaneum scroll (PHerc. 1667) for the first time in nearly 2,000 years without physically opening it, using high-resolution X-ray scanning and machine learning to virtually unwrap the carbonized papyrus and recover the ancient ink. The scroll contains a previously unknown Stoic philosophical treatise on ethics from the 2nd century BC, with passages now readable after two millennia of being sealed since Mount Vesuvius's 79 AD eruption. This breakthrough establishes a scalable method that could unlock hundreds of other sealed scrolls from Herculaneum's carbonized library.