Everyone knows ancient Pompeii was buried in the great eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 CE. Less familiar to many is its neighbor Herculaneum, buried at the same time. (The archaeological site of Herculaneum, not far from Pompeii, is less visited and, for some, more interesting and intimate.) One of the buildings archaeologists have uncovered was called the Villa dei Papiri because it contained hundreds of scrolls constituting an ancient library, including lost works by Epicurus and other philosophers. The latest issue of The New Yorker contains a fascinating article on new efforts to read these scrolls: The Invisible Library.
The Library of Herculaneum
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