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Thanks for the kind remarks!

The villa itself is said to have belonged (and probably built by) one of Julius Caesar’s fathers-in-law, who died 43 BC. There’s probably no tellin’ who lived there by 79 AD.

The 1800 or so scrolls are a private library, and all of them that have been meaningfully examined thus far have been books on Epicurean philosophy. A good chunk of the collection was written by Philodemus of Gadara, who died over a century prior to the eruption.

Then as now, scrolls of philosophy have been used to cure insomnia.

Some of the scrolls were stored in boxes. Some were found still on the desk or table in this library, which was more like a study for the pater familias or a scholar living their under patronage. I don’t think it means that the library was being packed for removal as the eruption was underway.

There was speculation a few years ago that there may be more than one library. This grew out of the discovery that the known library was found to be on the third floor rather than at ground level as had been supposed.

This speculation seems silly to me.

OTOH, if either of the speculations turns out to be true, there could be some already-packed boxes on staircases and in corridors, left behind during the evacuation when the conditions were too frightening and extra baggage became too risky.