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The ruins of a Roman villa near Mount Vesuvius, discovered under the remnants of another villa built above it many years later, may have been where Augustus, the first Roman emperor, drew his last breath, archaeologists say.The earlier villa, which excavations suggest was inhabited before the first century A.D., seems to have been destroyed in the devastating eruption of Mount Vesuvius in A.D. 79, and the later villa was built there in the second century...She noted that the site corresponds with writings by the Roman historians Tacitus, Suetonius and Cassius Dio, who recorded that Augustus died in A.D. 14 at...

Newly deciphered passages from a papyrus scroll that was buried beneath layers of volcanic ash after the AD79 eruption of Mount Vesuvius may have shed light on the final hours of Plato, a key figure in the history of western philosophy. In a groundbreaking discovery, the ancient scroll was found to contain a previously unknown narrative detailing how the Greek philosopher spent his last evening, describing how he listened to music played on a flute by a Thracian slave girl. Despite battling a fever and being on the brink of death, Plato – who was known as a disciple of...

The papyrus had been buried under metres of ash at the house, believed to have belonged to Julius Caesar’s father-in-law, after Vesuvius erupted in AD79 and scholars have spent the last 250 years painstakingly trying to find a way to read its contents, The Times reports. Now Professor Graziano Ranocchia of the University of Pisa and his colleagues have used techniques, including shortwave infrared hyperspectral imaging, which picks up variations in the way light bounces off the black ink on the papyrus, to decipher the document. Professor Ranocchia described the scroll as 'the oldest history of Greek philosophy in our...

A £560,000 prize was on offer for scholars who could read the ancient Roman texts buried when Mount Vesuvius erupted in 79AD. Scrolls cocooned in volcanic ash that consumed the Roman city of Pompeii have been deciphered for the first time in 2,000 years. Using AI researchers were able to discern some meaning from the writings which were discovered in the doomed ancient Italian city that was destroyed by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79AD. ...In a statement the Vesuvius Challenge revealed some of the information hidden until now in the scrolls which appear to be philosophical treatises concerning...

A group of archaeologists excavating the doomed city of Pompeii found quite the surprise earlier this week: a banquet hall complete with paintings inspired by the Trojan War. The discovery was announced earlier this week, The Associated Press noted. The banquet hall and its mosaic floor were uncovered during a project to help prevent further demise of the ruins of Pompeii.

Nearly 2,000 years since it was buried by volcanic rubble, the lost city of Pompeii is yielding even more astonishing discoveries.Archeologists have uncovered remarkably preserved 'fresco' paintings on a wall at a former private residence along Via di Nola, one of Pompeii's longest streets.One of the stunning artworks depicts Helen of Troy, a beautiful woman in Greek mythology, meeting Paris, prince of Troy, for the first time...The frescos have been discovered in the 'black room', an 'imposing' banquet hall with elegant black walls at a former private residence along Via di Nola.It's being called the black room because it was...

Archaeologists excavating a house adjacent to the House of Leda in Insula 6, Regio V, in the ancient Roman city of Pompeii have unearthed a fresco depicting the Greek mythological siblings Phrixus and Helle (also known as Ellie).Still astonishingly colorful some 2,000 years after the eruption of Mount Vesuvius wiped out the city, the frescoes were unearthed during restoration work around the mansion of the House of Leda.The director of Pompeii Archaeological Park, Gabriel Zuchtriegel, described the discovery as a poignant reflection of history unfolding.The unearthed fresco depicts two refugees at sea from ancient Greece, Phrixus and Elle, brother and...

Most of us are familiar with the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in AD 79, which destroyed the Roman cities of Pompeii, Herculaneum, Oplontis, and Stabiae. But did you know that this was not the first time that Vesuvius unleashed its fury on the surrounding lands? Centuries before, around 2000 BC, another massive eruption buried a Bronze Age village in Italy, preserving it in volcanic ash and mud. This village is known as Afragola.In this video, we will show you how archaeologists and scientists uncovered the secrets of this fascinating site.You will discover how ancient plants helped reveal the season of...

Explanation: A cosmic dust grain plowing through the upper atmosphere much faster than a falling leaf created this brilliant meteor streak. In a serendipitous moment, the sublime night sky view was captured from the resort island of Capri, in the Bay of Naples, on the evening of February 8. Looking across the bay, the camera faces northeast toward the lights of Naples and surrounding cities. Pointing toward the horizon, the meteor streak by chance ends above the silhouette of Mount Vesuvius. One of planet Earth's most famous volcanos, an eruption of Mount Vesuvius destroyed the city of Pompeii in 79...

What are we usually missing from the ancient world? Wood! Fortunately, the eruption of Vesuvius in AD 79 preserved a lot of wooden objects- ranging from a bed and crib, to a table, bench, and shrine, and more! Usually, these items are not on display, but on the occasion of a new exhibit, we are now able to examine the world of carpentry through these objects of everyday life- and many other artifacts- rarely preserved from Antiquity. A truly unique collection of artwork from ancient Herculaneum.0:00 Introduction2:00 Fabri2:43 small boat3:15 Telephos relief wooden coffered ceiling (recently discovered)3:57 bed, table, crib,...

Chapters:0:00 Formerly lost cities2:30 Ekster3:32 Suburbs of Pompeii5:01 Tripergole5:45 Helike and other drowned cities6:44 Tigranocerta7:12 Ptolemais Theron and Muziris7 Lost Cities (that could still be found) | 8:35toldinstone | 444K subscribers | 69,473 views | December 8, 2023

Researchers used artificial intelligence to extract the first word from one of the first texts in a charred scroll from the ancient Roman city of Herculaneum, which has been unreadable since a volcanic eruption in AD 79 — the same one that buried nearby Pompeii...The Vesuvius Challenge, a contest with $1,000,000 (£821K) in prizes for those who can use modern technology to decipher the words of these scrolls, has awarded a 21-year-old undergraduate student at the University of Nebraska $40,000 (£32.8K) for being the first to read a word from one of the ancient Herculaneum scrolls.Luke Farritor, who is at...

The north slope of Mount Vesuvius has largely been ignored archaeologically compared to its other sides, where the cities of Pompeii and Herculaneum were once located. Recent work there has shown that it was no less important than these other sites during the Roman era. Having reached his mid-seventies, Rome's first emperor, Caesar Augustus, lived out his final days in a villa near the base of Mount Vesuvius. While traveling in the Bay of Naples, he fell ill and detoured to the ancestral home of his biological father's family, the Octavii, near the city of Nola. In A.D. 14, at...

Archaeologists in Pompeii recently unearthed the well-preserved remains of two people believed to have died in an earthquake that accompanied the infamous volcanic eruption there almost 1,500 years ago.The two male skeletons were found beneath a collapsed wall in the Casti Amanti, or House of Chaste Lovers, the site said in a statement Tuesday.Evidence suggests the wall that trapped both men crumbled during an earthquake that shook the area as Mount Vesuvius buried the Roman city under volcanic material in October 79 AD.Around 20% of the city’s population perished in the catastrophic Italian eruption, the site stated. The Casti Amanti...

An ancient Nabataean temple with marble altars has been found in the gulf of Pozzuoli outside Naples in the Italian region of Campania. A statement from the Italian ministry of culture says: "The two marble altars of the Roman period, datable to the first half of the first century AD, are inserted inside the great Temple of the Nabataeans, now submerged." It is unclear when or if the ancient ruins will be removed from the seabed.The Nabataean population was based in the desert areas of the Arabian Peninsula. Around 2,000 years ago they established a settlement at Pozzuoli, building up...

Baiae is an archaeological park consisting of a partially sunken town from the Roman period, located on the shore of the Gulf of Naples in the present-day comune of Bacoli in Italy.Baiae developed into a popular Roman resort which was visited frequently by many notable Roman figures, such as Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus..., Julius Caesar, Gaius Marius, Lucius Licinius Lucullus, Hadrian, and Septimius Severus.The town would never attain a municipal status, but instead gained a reputation for a hedonistic lifestyle. This is supported by an account by Sextus Propertius, a poet of the Augustan age during the 1st century BC, who...

...a team of researchers, led by Dr. Allison Emmerson of Tulane University, is exploring Insula 14, a block in the southeastern part of the city that could reveal new information about Pompeii's early existence, how the city developed over time, its economy and infrastructure, and the lives of residents who lived on the margins. The project, called Pompeii I.14, includes a digital data initiatives team that is employing geospatial technology to more efficiently and accurately collect, organize, analyze, visualize, and share the data that's being unearthed at the site. ArcGIS Survey123, ArcGIS Pro, ArcGIS Dashboards, and web scenes in ArcGIS...

A 2,300-year-old drainage system carved into bedrock beneath Pompeii will be used again to divert increasing rainwater into the sea.Mount Vesuvius on the west coast of Italy is the only active volcano in continental Europe and its eruption in the year AD 79 buried the city of Pompeii under thousands of tons of hot ashes and rocks. Seconds after the eruption the southern Italian town was engulfed in a 500°C "pyroclastic heat surge," when fast-moving currents of hot gases and volcanic matter (tephra) killed every one of the approximately 30,000 inhabitants, instantly.This 170-acre archaeological site is mostly preserved within ash,...

An ornate courtyard found in an otherwise humble home may have reflected the owners' aspirational vision of the future.Discoveries in Pompeii—from elaborate frescoes to garden shrines—have taught researchers a lot about the city's wealthiest residents. Until recent years, however, the lives of the lower and middle classes have garnered less interest.But now, archaeologists have excavated several rooms in a middle-class home partially destroyed by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 C.E. Frozen in time, the rooms provide a snapshot into the lives of everyday people in the ancient Roman city, according to a statement from the Archaeological Park of...

The man, who has not been named, allegedly walked on an unauthorized path to reach the summit of Mount Vesuvius at 1,281 meters, according to a spokesperson from the Carabinieri of the Forestry department of the Park of Vesuvius. The spokesperson told ABC News he believes the man went on the unmarked path because tickets for visiting Vesuvius, which cost $2,500 per day, were all booked. The guides immediately started moving toward the area and were able to come to the man's rescue after seeing him attempt to retrieve his cellphone, according to Carabinieri's spokesperson. The guides also performed first...