Herculanean papyri

One of the charred scrolls, Papyrus H, from the Herculaneum papyri (photographed 2016)

Papyri from Roman antiquity , which were discovered between 1752 and 1754 during excavations in the Villa dei Papiri in Herculaneum , are known as Herculanensic papyri (also Herculaneum papyri or Papyri from Herculaneum , Italian Papiri Ercolanesi , Latin Papyri Herculanenses , abbreviated PHerc. ) . The 1792 papyri are now in the National Library of Naples , six more are kept in the Institut de France in Paris.

The Herculaneum papyri are the only coherent collection of literary and scientific scrolls preserved from antiquity. The reason for their preservation is the burial of the city by lava and ash due to the eruption of the volcano Vesuvius in the year 79. The papyri mainly contain writings of Epicurus and Philodemos of Gadara .

discovery

The Villa dei Papiri in Herculaneum

The papyri were found during excavations between October 19, 1752 and August 25, 1754. They were in a small room in the Villa dei Papiri, which was later named after this find.

Preservation

It is believed that the papyri have been preserved and are still legible from exposure to heat. When lava and ash spilled the city, they were exposed to high temperatures of over 300 degrees Celsius, preventing their organic matter from decomposing. The deformation of the scrolls can be explained by the pressure of the 25 to 30 m high lava and ash layer.

Unrolling and deciphering

Since its discovery, various processes have been developed and used to unroll the already damaged papyrus rolls. In 1969 Marcello Gigante founded the Centro Internazionale per lo Studio dei Papiri Ercolanesi on the basis of an already existing Officina in order to internationalize the work.

Library room

The excavators first came across the room in which the papyri were found on October 19, 1752. Charred shelves are said to have stood on the walls and another free-standing shelf cabinet in the middle. Charred cylinder-shaped objects were found in the shelves, which were hidden and only later identified as scrolls. Because of escaping mine gas, the excavations of the villa had to be filled in again as early as 1765. There are no pictures of the library, until the new excavation at the end of the 20th century nothing was left of the shelves. Only dowel holes in the walls indicate the presence of wooden furniture. According to Carl Weber's plans, the room was 2.65 by 3.20 meters. According to an eyewitness report by Johann Joachim Winckelmann , written in 1756, it was a simple room with man-high cupboards on the walls and in the middle, which to him looked like an antique archive. In a letter dated December 17, 1752, the curator Camillo Paderni speaks of a mosaic floor in the room, the cupboards are said to consist of different types of wood and topped off with a cornice. Next to the library room there was another small room of 1.90 by 2.65 meters, which may have served as a relaxation room, as well as larger rooms of unknown use.

literature

Tiziano Dorandi : Herculanean Papyri. In: The New Pauly (DNP). Volume 5, Metzler, Stuttgart 1998, ISBN 3-476-01475-4 , Sp. 398-400.
Tiziano Dorandi: La Villa dei Papiri a Ercolano e la sua bibliotheca . In: Classical Philology , Volume 90, Issue 2, 1995, pp. 168-182
Marcello Gigante : Philodemus in Italy. The books from Herculaneum . Univ. of Michigan Press, Ann Arbor 2002, ISBN 0-472-10569-8
David Sider: The library of the Villa dei Papiri at Herculaneum. J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles 2005, ISBN 978-0-89236-799-3
Agnese Travaglione: Charred Papyrus Rolls. The ancient library of the Villa dei Papiri and its deciphering . In: Josef Mühlenbrock, Dieter Richter (ed.): Buried from Vesuvius. The last hours of Herculaneum (exhibition catalog). Zabern, Mainz 2006, ISBN 3-8053-3445-1

Web links

Individual evidence

^ Christopher Charles Parslow: Rediscovering antiquity. Karl Weber and the excavation of Herculaneum, Pompeii and Stabiae , Cambridge University Press 1995, ISBN 0-521-47150-8 , p. 100.
↑ Johann Joachim Winckelmann: Johann Winckelmann's letters of the Herculan discoveries. To Mr. Heinrich Reichsgrafen von Bruehl , Walther, Dresden 1762 ( digitized version ), p. 63.
↑ Printed in: Christopher Charles Parslow: Rediscovering antiquity. Karl Weber and the excavation of Herculaneum, Pompeii and Stabiae , Cambridge University Press 1995, ISBN 0-521-47150-8 , p. 103.
^ Wolfram Hoepfner : Private libraries in Pompeii and Herculaneum . In: Wolfram Hoepfner (Hrsg.): Ancient libraries . Zabern, Mainz 2002, ISBN 3-80-532846-X , pp. 81–85, here: pp. 81–83.

[1] Christopher Charles Parslow: Rediscovering antiquity. Karl Weber and the excavation of Herculaneum, Pompeii and Stabiae , Cambridge University Press 1995, ISBN 0-521-47150-8 , p. 100.

[2] Johann Joachim Winckelmann: Johann Winckelmann's letters of the Herculan discoveries. To Mr. Heinrich Reichsgrafen von Bruehl , Walther, Dresden 1762 ( digitized version ), p. 63.

[3] Printed in: Christopher Charles Parslow: Rediscovering antiquity. Karl Weber and the excavation of Herculaneum, Pompeii and Stabiae , Cambridge University Press 1995, ISBN 0-521-47150-8 , p. 103.

[4] Wolfram Hoepfner : Private libraries in Pompeii and Herculaneum . In: Wolfram Hoepfner (Hrsg.): Ancient libraries . Zabern, Mainz 2002, ISBN 3-80-532846-X , pp. 81–85, here: pp. 81–83.