Enhanced X-ray-phase-contrast-tomography brings new clarity to the 2000-year-old 'voice' of Epicurean philosopher Philodemus

A collection of more than 1800 carbonized Greek and Latin papyri, discovered in the Roman 'Villa dei Papiri' at Herculaneumin the middle of 18th century, is the unique classical library survivedfrom antiquity. These ancient-Herculaneum-papyriwere charred during79 A.D. Vesuvius eruption, a circumstance which providentially preserved themuntil now. This magnificent collection containsvaluable workbyGreek philosophers, such as Epicurus, Chrysippus and Philodemus,in particular an impressive amount of extensive treatises by Philodemus of Gadara, an Epicurean philosopher of the 1st century BC1,2.The aim of the present study isto read extended and hitherto unknown portions of text hidden inside carbonized-Herculaneum-papyri using enhanced X-ray-phase-contrast-tomography(XPCT)non-destructivetechnique and anew set of numerical algorithms for virtual-unrolling.