The Herculaneum Papyri

The Herculaneum papyri are more than 1800 papyri found in the archaeological site of Herculaneum in Italy.

XVIII They were found in the 10th century in the Villa of the papyri of Lucius Calpurnius Piso Cesoninus (AD 101-43), father-in-law of Julius Caesar . It was located between Naples and Pompeii , at the foot of the Vesuvius volcano. After the eruption of the volcano [ here ] in the year 79, these papyri survived covered by mud and lava . Like other houses in the city, it was buried under at least 30 meters of ash. [1] [2]


Papyrus spreading machine

It is believed that a gas discharge from the volcano at 320°C incinerated the papyri before they were buried. The texts are still not fully known, because the documents remain small burnt logs, and therefore it is a very delicate [ get more info ] task to unfold and read them. They are kept in the Papyrus Office, in the National Library of Naples. [3]