https://www.cnn.com/2024/04/30/style/pl ... index.html
Ancient text reveals details of Plato’s burial place and final evening, experts say
Newly-deciphered text from ancient scrolls may have finally revealed the location of where Greek philosopher Plato was buried, along with how he really felt about music played at his deathbed, according to Italian researchers.
The so-called Herculaneum papyrus scrolls, which were charred after being buried under layers of volcanic ash following the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 A.D, continue to be examined by experts using artificial intelligence and other technologies.
The latest revelation is that Plato is believed to have been buried in a secret garden near the sacred shrine to Muses inside the Platonic Academy of Athens that had been reserved for him, according to Graziano Ranocchia, professor of Papyrology at the Department of Philology, Literature and Linguistic at the University of Pisa.
It was previously only known that he was buried in the academy, but not specifically where, Ranocchia told CNN Tuesday.
The Platonic Academy was destroyed in 86 B.C. by Roman general Sulla.
The text is part of around 1,800 carbonized scrolls discovered in the 18th century in a building believed to have belonged to the father-in-law of Julius Caesar, who lived in Herculaneum, a seaside town about 20 kilometers (12 miles) from Pompeii.
Experts are using AI along with optical coherence tomography, an imaging technique, and infrared hyperspectral imaging technology to read sequences of previously hidden text from the papyri that had been partially destroyed.
Again, interesting bit of name-dropping here because it is unlikely that Caesar, who died in 44 BCE and his father-in-law, Lucius Calpurnius Piso, owned property in Herculaneum or anywhere else when Vesuvius blew up 120+ years after their deaths. Still, the Calpurnii remained an important family in the first century CE and doubtless descendants of Piso still owned the very valuable house.