Herculaneum papyri

The Herculaneum papyri are more than 1,800 papyri found in Herculaneum in the 18th century, carbonized by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in AD 79.

The papyri, containing a number of Greek philosophical texts, come from the only surviving library from antiquity that exists in its entirety. Most of the work discovered are associated with the Epicurean philosopher and poet Philodemus of Gadara.

In 1752, workmen of the Bourbon royal family accidentally discovered what is now known as the Villa of the Papyri. There may still be a lower section of the Villa's collection that remains buried.

In the 18th century, the first digs began. The excavation appeared closer to mining projects, as mineshafts were dug, and horizontal subterranean galleries were installed. Workers would place objects in baskets and send them back up.

With the backing of Charles III of Spain, Roque Joaquín de Alcubierre headed the systematic excavation of Herculaneum with Karl Jakob Weber.

Due to the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79AD, bundles of scrolls were carbonized by the intense heat of the pyroclastic flows. This intense parching took place over an extremely short period of time, in a room deprived of oxygen, resulting in the scrolls' carbonisation into compact and highly fragile blocks. They were then preserved by the layers of cement-like rock.

It is uncertain how many papyri were originally found as many of the scrolls were destroyed by workmen or when scholars extracted them from the volcanic tuff.

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