BLOG: A Technological Breakthrough!

Dear Readers,

As promised, this week I'm sharing some of the modern research I've been doing for my upcoming story. There are some phenomenal breakthroughs going on right now in the study of ancient manuscripts, so let's jump right in to the meat of it all. As you know, my current project is a dual-timeline; two plots, two protagonists, and something remarkable that ties them together.

Back in 2023, University of Kentucky professor, Dr. Brent Seales garnered support for the VESUVIUS CHALLENGE, an opportunity for students, scientists, and techies worldwide to come up with ways to read the carbonized scrolls from Herculaneum. These documents were in an ancient library that was in a private Roman villa during the Vesuvian event of 79 AD. When the volcano erupted, Pompeii received the ash and pumice. Herculaneum, however, was buried instantaneously in a massive pyroclastic flow, comprised of deadly, burning gases, mud, and other debris. Anyone in this event's path was killed in a millisecond. But when this happened, the density of the mud preserved objects like wood, human bone, and plaster, painted with frescoes. It also preserved delicate papyrus, although the brittle pages were burned to a crisp--carbonized in less than a second. And in the centuries since Herculaneum and its scrolls were discovered, the artifacts were brutalized in destructive attempts to open and read them.

At right are sample photos of some of the carbonized scrolls from the private library. But to whom did the library belong? This is where the story gets truly exciting. Historians believe that the "Villa dei Papyri" where the scrolls were found was actually once the "Villa Pisoni", home to Calpurnius Piso. For those of you who have read Julius Caesar by Shakespeare, do you recall Calpurnia, Caesar's dutiful wife? She was a real person, and her father likely owned the villa where he created a much-admired library of documents toward the end of the 1st century BC. Calpurnius Piso had at least one son, plus his daughter, who was Julius Caesar's widow. It is likely that they inherited his property, with the library intact. Wealthy Romans of the Senatorial class loved appearing well-read. Who knows? More documents may have even been added by Piso the Younger or his sister. Some Classicists today think that more carbonized scrolls have yet to be discovered--possibly a separate Latin library, too. (Most of the scrolls so far have been in Greek.)

Now, back to Dr. Brent Seales, who made it his mission to convince authorities in Italy to have one of the scrolls scanned in some of the 21st century's powerful new methods. It took a lot of persuading, but finally, one was selected to undergo a scan inside a syncrhrotron at the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility (ESRF) in Grenoble, France.

At left, is the ESRF, and the large circular structure is where the synchrtron is housed. It works by heating a charcoal base that is naturally found in many inks in ancient writing. If detected, that writing heats up enough so that the synchrotron's scanner is able to capture it. But the technology also offers a visual of its overall shape and contents, all while still rolled up as a carbonized scroll. Pretty incredible! That data is immediately sent to the University of Kentucky, where Dr. Seales' tech team then places the results inside their scanners. A process to texture and "flatten" the images is completed so that their designed software is able to present a spread sheet of what the scroll looks like inside its blacked, rolled state. And this includes whatever written data was inside.

At this point, it takes a specially educated classicist to sit down at the computer and translate what the text says. These specialists are known as papyrologists--people who know how to read ancient Greek, Latin, and other languages. And they don't come a dime a dozen, either! My main character in my story is Dr. Mercy Hambry, a 29 year old professional papyrologist, whose goal it is to translate Herculaneum scrolls being uncovered at a NEW dig, led by her father.

I have had the pleasure and honor of meeting Dr. Brent Seales personally on video chat for an interview. He is a kind, humble man who really wants to see the Herculaneum scrolls buried by Vesuvius read and documented. And who knows what might be learned? Most of the data at present is philosophical. Calpurnius Piso had a deep interest in Epicureanism, and a late 1st century BC afficianado on the subject was a man named Philodemus. Piso treasured his writings, and apparently the two men were friends. It seems likely that Philodemus may have been a frequent guest in Piso's magnificent villa beneath Mt. Vesuvius. And for those of you who have visited the impressive Getty Villa in Malibu, California, that entire museum's design is based on the Villa dei Papyri--Piso's villa in Herculaneum. Below right is a photo of my husband and me some years back at the Getty Villa. They have the finest antiquities on the US west coast.

Last week, I introduced you to Antonia Maior and this week, you've heard a little about Dr. Mercy Hambry. Now comes my disclaimer. We authors are VERY careful with our usage of AI now that it is everywhere, and not going away. RESPONSIBLE AUTHORS NEVER, EVER use it to write our books or stories, unless it's used carefully in our research. I always back up my AI research with secondary checking. Yes, sometimes AI makes mistakes! I never use it to blog with, either.

The one way I do enjoy using AI is in creating images of my characters to use as inspiration while I write. In so doing, I have a visual to turn back to and remember how I need to describe someone. So as I end this blog this week, below are my two characters in my next book: Antonia & Mercy.

Read ON, everybody!

Meet Antonia! She is mighty troubled in this scene, reading something disturbing on a wax tablet.

Meet MERCY! She's holding up a couple of photos of the scroll her dad has just discovered.