The Herculaneum Papyri what they contain

Herculaneum has given and still gives today a unique heritage in the world. Houses, furnishings, fixtures, perfectly preserved jewelry, despite the fact that the terrible eruption of Vesuvius in 79 A.D.devastated the entire city.

In Herculaneum it is as if time has crystallized, to that October 24, when the fury of Vesuvius swept everything away.

A devastating fury that, however, has equally allowed so many of Herculaneum’s jewels to be preserved intact. One of the most important, perhaps the only one in the world in the history of an ancient city, was the discovery around 1750 of a massive Villa, inside which 1826 charred papyrus scrolls were found.

A unique, exceptional discovery that had never occurred in history.

Papyrus scrolls, which from the very beginning of the exceptional discovery, aroused awe, wonder and curiosity throughout the scientific populace.

From the very beginning the intent of the many scholars, focused mainly on unrolling the papyrus scrolls, to analyze the texts contained within them.

Together with experienced guides, for those who wish to visit the marvelous Herculaneum, you can discover not only the history of its papyri and what was contained therein, but also all the minute details of this splendid buried city.

Herculaneum Papyri found in the Villa of the Papyri

It was around 1750 when during well excavation in Herculaneum, an immense Villa was accidentally found, probably according to the various studies conducted, located overlooking the sea.

A villa became famous in the world, not only for its majesty and beauty ( a copy of the Villa was made in Malibu by J.Paul Getty), but above all, for the heritage contained in its library.

A treasure unique in the world, which has as many as 1826 carbonized Papyrus scrolls.

Papyri that were found stored in some crates and wrapped in wooden peels.

And it is from this exceptional discovery that the Villa of the Papyri takes its name.

A Villa not yet visible in Herculaneum and difficult to bring to light completely, because of the imposing layer of volcanic material, more than 25 meters high, deposited on the Villa. But also because of the continuous lack of funds, which continually interrupt the excavation work.

But in spite of this, as far back as 1751 it was possible to create an integral map of the Villa of the Papyri thanks to the work of engineer Karl Weber. And it is on the basis of this map that the beauty of Herculaneum’s Villa of the Papyri comes alive again in the MAV project.

The Virtual Archaeological Museum, which through 3-D images and holograms makes it possible to view all the rooms of which the Villa was composed.

The Papyri of Herculaneum as they have been preserved

The Herculaneum papyri are one of the many heritages left behind by the city of Herculaneum.

Never in the history of an ancient city had such an exceptional discovery been made. Never had it been possible to analyze the contents of papyrus scrolls charred by the high temperatures of an erupting volcano.

But in Herculaneum this was possible, thanks to the dynamics of the eruption that struck the city.

The scrolls, in fact, were charred during the eruption by the intense heat produced by the pyroclastic flows. This intense overheating occurred in a very short period of time and in oxygen-poor environments, which caused the papyrus scrolls to carbonize into compact and extremely fragile blocks.

They were later covered and preserved by the layers of lava rock erupted by Vesuvius.

Unfortunately, however, of the 1826 papyrus scrolls found at Herculaneum, many were destroyed or lost.

Because, during the first phase of discovery, it was not understood that these were charred papyri, but were mistaken for pieces of coal and then thrown away.

Others, however, were destroyed during the first attempts at unrolling.

And it is precisely this technique that scientists have focused on.

The unwinding technique

The first valid approach was made by Camillo Paderni and Antonio Piaggio, who made a machine that allowed the unrolling of the scrolls.

Thanks to this technique, it was possible in part to analyze the texts contained within the papyri.

For the most part, these were texts of Epicurean philosophy, made by the poet Philodemus of Gardara, written in Greek.

Others, however, a small minority, were written in Latin and dealt with the war between Mark Antony and Cleopatra VII against Augustus.

Piaggio’s technique had to be abandoned soon after, however, because many rolls were destroyed during unrolling.

Over time a series of techniques gradually followed, all of which were unsuccessful because of the fragility of the rolls.

Today, however, there is a shift to a new approach.

Papyrus scrolls are no longer unrolled, with the risk of damaging them, but Italian and French researchers are attempting to decipher the texts of the Herculaneum Papyri through the use of X-rays.

So far, encouraging results have been obtained, but the technique still needs to be perfected.

Today the Herculaneum papyrus scrolls are kept at the National Library in Naples, in the section called the Herculaneum Papyrus Workshop.