A different ancient scroll burned by the same volcanic explosion.
(Photo:University of Kentucky)
Lost libraries hold something of a mystique.
The lostlibrary of Alexandria, for example, famously burned in 48 BCE.
A different ancient scroll burned by the same volcanic explosion. (Photo:University of Kentucky)
TheVesuvius Challengeis dedicated to crowdsourcing AI solutions to decipher the scrolls with prize money as an incentive.
Computers were cleverly able to unroll them too, creating a landscape of captured texture for study.
College student Luke Farritor has now been announced as the prize winner of the First Letters Prize.
“Porphyras” means purple. (Photo:Vesuvius Challenge)
For this, he received a second place monetary prize.
So why does the text say purple?
Scholars of ancient Greece note that the word rarely appears in ancient texts.
Due to the lack of context it is not possible to exclude [or ].
These alternative meanings could come from very different texts, so the mystery of the contents only grows stronger.
