Herculaneum Papyri and AI: Theion
Theion is a software based on the application of NLP models to the Philodemus corpus, designed to assist papyrologists in reconstructing the fragmentary texts preserved in the Herculaneum papyri
Steps in the development of Theion
Step 1: New Herculaneum Texts for training Theion
The first step was to expand and update the corpus of Herculaneum papyri on Papyri.info, with particular attention to Philodemean texts. The resulting collection provides the essential dataset for training Theion. The work involved adding texts previously absent from the platform, partially revising existing ones, and replacing outdated editions with more recent ones. As part of this effort, the workshop Papyri.info and AI: Encoding the Herculaneum Papyri was organized, in which the encoding of Herculaneum texts on the platform was tested using Claude AI, using Philodemus’s De poematis II (R. Janko, Philodemus, On Poems, Book Two, Oxford-New York 2020) as a case study.
Below is an updated list of the texts inserted:
Philodemus
Full re-editions
New texts
- PHerc. 353 (Opus incertum) = TM 62408
- PHerc. 1015/832 (Rhetorica VIII) = TM 62429
- PHerc. 1025 (Opus incertum) = TM 62442
- PHerc. 1736 (Opus incertum) = TM 63156
New readings / partial re-editions
- PHerc. 26 (De dis I) = TM 62382
- PHerc. 241 (Rhetorica IV) = TM 62460
- PHerc. 1232 (De Epicuro I) = TM 62512
- PHerc. 1289 (De Epicuro II) = TM 62465
- PHerc. 1507 (De bono rege secundum Homerum) = TM 62479
Uncertain author – other authors
New texts
- PHerc. 296 (Auctor incertus – Opus incertum) = TM 63134
New readings / partial re-editions
- PHerc. 1026 (Auctor incertus – Ethical/epistemological fragment from an Epicurean treatise) = TM 63141
Philodemus' Theological Papyri
A new in-depth study of the theological works by Philodemus.
Epicurean Theology in Context
This project examines Philodemus’ theological writings within their historical-philosophical context, highlighting his role in Hellenistic debates and deepening understanding of Epicurean and other ancient theologies through new LACUNA research.
Herculaneum Papyri and AI: Theion
Development of Theion, an innovative software tool based on Natural Language Processing (NLP) models, designed to assist the papyrologists in the text reconstruction of Herculaneum fragmentary papyri.
Rediscovering Kleve's Archive
The LACUNA project digitizes and transcribes Knut Kleve’s archive using advanced tools to preserve, publish, and make accessible his unpublished research on Herculaneum papyri and Epicurean theology.
