Turin uni to lead X-ray reading of Herculaneum papyri

(ANSA) - ROME, FEB 19 - Turin university is to lead an international team aiming to use X-rays to decipher two papyri of an unknown work by a third century BC Greek philosopher which were found at Herculaneum, the ancient Roman town buried by Vesuvius in 79 AD along with Pompeii.
    The project aims to reconstructing the thought of the Stoic philosopher Chrysippus of Soli, a key figure in the development of logic, physics and ethics in our philosophical tradition, by producing the first modern edition of his treatise On Providence, a work in at least 5 books, of which we have almost exclusively indirect testimonies.
    The work will be tackled with the study and x-ray deciphering of two Herculaneum papyri, the only existing manuscripts, which transmit the first two books of the work. The project, supported with two million euros by the European Commission, is starting at the Department of Historical Studies of the University of Turin and will see an international and interdisciplinary task force at work, led by the Papyrology chair, Professor Christian Vassallo.
    Using the most advanced manuscript deciphering techniques, the team will analyze these texts with scanning X-ray macro-fluorescence experiments, in collaboration with the CNR Institute of Cultural Heritage Sciences in Naples.
    Experiments will also be promoted to precisely distinguish 'superimposed' and 'underlaid' elements present in the preserved pieces, and bibliometric and mathematical techniques will be applied to reconstruct the original length of the scrolls and the exact sequence of the surviving fragments.
    The project will have a significant impact not only on papyrology, but also on the history of ancient philosophy, opening new research perspectives on Stoic philosophy and on the understanding of the order of the world according to Greek thought of the Hellenistic age. (ANSA).