Vesuvius Challenge Reads Ancient Herculaneum Scroll End-to-End Using AI, Revealing 20 Columns of Greek Philosophy

For the first time, researchers have virtually read a charred Herculaneum papyrus from beginning to end without opening it, extracting roughly 20 to 22 columns of ancient Greek text from a scroll carbonized in the 79 A.D. eruption of Mount Vesuvius. The Vesuvius Challenge announced on June 25, 2026 that the scroll known as PHerc. 1667, or Scroll 4, had been fully deciphered, producing about 1.5 meters of continuous, readable text that corresponds to the entirety of the surviving portion — the first Herculaneum scroll to be recovered end-to-end.