The Discovery of Seneca the Elder's Lost Roman History [3:08]

YouTube ^ | February 13, 2026 | Secrets of the Dead PBS

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Researcher Valeria Piano employs two different technological methods to decipher a carbonized scroll from Herculaneum. First, she uses a microscope to examine the texts, and then she studies images of the scrolls produced with infrared light. Her work has brought to light a history of Rome written by Seneca the Elder, long thought to have been lost forever. 

The Discovery of Seneca the Elder's Lost Roman History | 3:08 
Secrets of the Dead PBS | 12.7K subscribers | 3,726 views | February 13, 2026

 

YouTube transcript reformatted at textformatter.ai follows.

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• The discovery was made between 2016 and 2017, and confirmed an unpublished palaeographical intuition of Robert Marichal [March 20 1904 – October 23 1999], making possible, in addition, the precise identification of the auctor and a plausible proposal concerning the work in question. -- Valeria Piano | Academia.edu | Università degli Studi di Firenze (University of Florence)
• A 'historic(al)' find from the library of Herculaneum: Seneca the Elder and the Historiae ab initio bellorum civilium in P.Herc. 1067 | Valeria Piano | [PDF chapter download]
• Seneca the Elder and His Rediscovered Historiae ab initio bellorum civilium: New Perspectives on Early-Imperial Roman Historiography | Edited by: Maria Chiara Scappaticcio | 2020 [PDF download]

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Transcript

Valeria Piano is a researcher in classical philosophy at the University of Florence. A few years ago, she was studying fragments from one particular Herculaneum scroll at the National Library of Naples, trying to identify its author. But much of the writing was so faded and damaged, it wasn't visible.

Even if they are unrolled, some parts of them couldn't be read. So, technology is essential. In order to read a carbonized papyrus, you have to usually join two kinds of methodologies. The first essential one is to directly read it by using a microscope and using the right angle of visible light. And then, the second crucial methodology is studying the digital images that are produced usually by infrared spectrum.

The Latin scroll Valeria studied had previously been logged as a record of a political speech. But after meticulously studying the text, she spotted a key phrase that convinced her this was actually an important lost book.

The sentence was...

...from the beginning of the Civil War.

For Valeria, this short phrase had huge significance. The Roman philosopher Seneca the Younger, in his own works, had used this exact sentence to refer to a history of the Roman civil war composed by his father, Seneca the Elder.

We best know Seneca the Elder as a historian. He wrote a history of his own time, from the time of the civil wars. Certainly, he was also interested in cataloguing the political events that were taking place in Rome.

Scholars believed that Seneca the Elder's history of Rome had long been lost forever. But Valeria now thought that the fragments she was looking at could contain writings from this missing work. All she needed was proof. And then, at the very end of the text, she found what she was looking for.

His name, Seneca the Elder, is partially readable at the very end of the papyrus. I was, like, shaking. That was really an unforgettable moment for me.

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https://search.brave.com/search?q=Historiae+ab+initio+bellorum+civilium&summary=1

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Review by Martina Russo, University of Warwick. m.russo@warwick.ac.uk
https://bmcr.brynmawr.edu/2021/2021.01.23/

Seneca the Elder and his rediscovered Historiae ab initio bellorum civilium
Maria Chiara Scappaticcio, Seneca the Elder and his rediscovered ‘Historiae ab initio bellorum civilium’. new perspectives on early-imperial Roman historiography. Berlin; Boston: De Gruyter, 2020. Pp. ix, 425. ISBN 9783110685855. $149.99.

[GingisK]

They’ll be reading the same line from our ashes in the future.

[SunkenCiv]

At least they won’t have the internet.

[GingisK]

God bless them, I am so jealous.

[SunkenCiv]

“We found another one of those plastic boxes filled with what look like metal and ceramic parts inside, probably had a ritual purpose, since we find these in every ancient house we excavate.”

[SunkenCiv]

The preview above says "a few years ago", but the scroll fragments are obviously from the "old school" destructive method for examining the papyri. So, it seemed like a good thing to look into. The research is from more than ten years ago.

[Verginius Rufus]

It’s amazing that “Seneca the Elder” was legible. Who would have thought that a Roman author born in Spain would have known any English at that time? Maybe he picked up some from English tourists going to the Spanish beaches.

[Reily]

Soccer hooligans speak a “kind of” English when they stop chanting and fighting.

[Reily]

Soccer hooligans speak a “kind of” English when they stop chanting and fighting.

[Verginius Rufus]

A son of Seneca the Elder is mentioned in the New Testament—Gallio, the proconsul who was governor of the Roman province of Achaea when Paul was in Corinth (Acts 18.12-17).

[mjp]

I just watched a PBS documentary, yesterday, about how the scientists are able to make the Herculaneum Scrolls readable. It was fascinating,

[SunkenCiv]

There are a bunch of articles about the non-destructive scanning methods used, check the FRchives via the “villa of the papyri” or “vesuvius challege” keywords, or the “herculaneum” keyword.

[oldplayer]

Thanks, SunkenCiv, another nice post

I am old and long graduated from college. This is timely for me. For the first time ever, this year I read the “Complete Works of Tacitus.” I am now half-way through Plutarch’s “Roman Lives.”

Victor Davis Hanson’s frequent references to the historians and authors of antiquity, chided me into reading some of them.

[SunkenCiv]

Glad to hear it!

I’m in early going in VDH’s “A War Like No Other” and, uh, I should be reading that instead of horsing around back here...

[SunkenCiv]

That must be it. Even then, they occupied Gibraltar.