Up From the Ashes

virtual-reality model of the Villa of the Papyri                   Mantha Zarmakoupi

Pompeii is famous for having been buried under the ash of Mount Vesuvius, but it was not the only city to succumb to that fate. Herculaneum also was destroyed when the volcano erupted. While Pompeii is best known for the mummified remains of its citizens, Herculaneum was home to some of the grandest vacation villas, including the Villa of the Papyri. In this villa was a library of about 2,000 scrolls, which, like the Pompeiians, were at once destroyed and preserved by the volcano. Previous attempts to unroll them were ill-fated, but modern technology may at last help us learn what is in those scrolls that remain, while more lie waiting to be found: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-25106956