Vesuvius Challenge

Available

• https://scrollprize.org

Authors

• Nat Friedman
• Daniel Gross
• Brent Seales

Description

From the project website (accessed 2025-07-28):

Vesuvius Challenge is a machine learning, computer vision, and geometry competition to read the Herculaneum scrolls. The scrolls were buried and carbonized by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD. After their discovery in the 1750s, some were opened physically, mostly destroying them but revealing some Greek philosophy and Latin works. A few hundred scrolls were excavated that were never opened, and remain rolled up with their contents sealed away. Our community is building methods to read these scrolls using micro-CT and an algorithmic pipeline using machine learning and computer vision. We've awarded over $1,000,000 in prizes and broken through, revealing complete passages of Greek philosophy from the inside of a closed Herculaneum scroll for the first time. Now we are continuing - we want to go from reading 5% of one scroll to reading multiple complete scrolls.