Researchers in Oxford have deciphered part of a Roman papyrus scroll that was turned into a lump of carbon when Mount Vesuvius erupted nearly 2,000 years ago.
The feat is a milestone in the effort to recover knowledge from what was probably one of the finest libraries in antiquity.
Only a few Greek letters have been read so far and nearly £400,000 in prizes is on offer to anyone who can make further progress.
The story of the Bodleian Library scroll, known to scholars as PHerc.172, began in Herculaneum, a town 12 miles northwest of Pompeii.
Rsearchers have made use of the world’s most powerful x-ray machines, which are available to Oxford scholars
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In AD79 Vesuvius erupted, sending a surge of ultra-hot gas over the villa in which the papyrus was kept. As molten rock and pumice rained down, the scroll became