In 79AD a great eruption from Mount Vesuvius blanketed the Roman cities of Pompeii and the resort town of Herculaneum. This event has given vast knowledge into the way of life including that of the Roman elite. Herculaneum was not a normal town, but a resort town to escape the heat of the summer for many of the top Roman families, where money and power was flaunted, including that of Lucius Calpurnius, who was a politician and father-in-law to Julius Cesear, with the Piso Caesoninus. This is the only place where an entire library of ancient Greek and Latin literature has been found intact. And now Bruker Micro-CT is helping to unlock the scrolls and mystery of the Herculaneum library.
The seaside villa stretching more than 220m of beachfront property was blasted with gas from the volcano at nearly 400C. As the ash fell and solidified into rock, the scrolls were preserved in a state that mimicked the look of charcoal. Without the ability to physically unravel the charred scrolls it is now a challenge for modern day Micro-CT and other techniques to discover the mysteries that wait inside.
Learn more about Herculaneum Here!
Information and images from Bruker Micro-CT(Skyscan), University of Kentucky – Center for visualization and Virtual Environments, BBC New Magazine.