About daily life after Alexander the Great

How exciting to read about daily life as it was after the conquests of Alexander! It sounds like a fiction story, but the truth may be closer than we think! 

Artificial Intelligence, AI, in short, is a relatively new digital means that offers endless possibilities with unexpected results. Machine learning is a branch of AI researchers use to read faint traces of ink on still rolled-up papyrus scrolls. If successful, this technology opens exciting possibilities to decipher Herculaneum's thousands of carbonized scrolls. 

These latest results have been published in Live Science. The study concentrates on an otherwise “lost book” that supposedly discusses the dynasties that succeeded Alexander. 

Although till now only small fragments can be read, hopes are high to learn more about the Macedonian leaders that followed in the wake of Alexander. So far, the names of Seleucos and Cassander have been recognized together with “several mentions of Alexander himself!” 

[Picture from Live Science, credit Michèle Hannoosh]

The “lost book” is one of the many works discovered at the Villa dei Papiri in Herculaneum. Other books contain writings by Philodemus of Gadara, an Epicurean philosopher who lived from c. 110 until 30 BC and resided in the city. 

The fragile carbonized scrolls ended up at the Institut de France in Paris. Over the years, several attempts were made to unroll the scrolls, but they failed. The papyri crumbled into bits and pieces or volatilized into pure dust. 

Clearly, AI gives us new hope to unravel more about our past.