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PHercParis4Scroll 1scroll

📍 Institut de France, Paris

⚖️ Data access and publication notice

The raw scan data, virtually unwrapped segments, ink-enhanced data, ink identifications, and related derived materials for this ancient scroll are being made available to support open examination, study, verification, and technical experimentation. Access to these materials is provided on the express condition that they are not used for scholarly publication during the temporary publication-reservation period.

For one year from the public release of these data, scholarly publication rights are reserved for the research teams designated by the Vesuvius Challenge or by the custodial institution holding the physical scroll. Those teams have been granted the right to prepare the first scholarly analyses because they were designated by the Vesuvius Challenge or by the institution responsible for the original material. This publication reservation was a condition of the imaging of the scroll and must be respected by all users.

During this period, users may examine, study, test, and analyze the data, but may not publish scholarly claims, transcriptions, translations, editions, interpretations, or formal analyses based on the data without permission from the Vesuvius Challenge, the custodial institution, or the designated scholarly teams. After the one-year restriction has expired and the designated teams have published their analyses, the data will be released from this publication restriction and will be available for unrestricted scholarly use.

These terms are a modification of the CC BY-NC 4.0 license (additional terms) under which these materials are provided. The publication-reservation period runs until 25/06/2027.

Recovered text

Epicurean prose (author/title not yet identified) · Greek

Scroll 1 — the flagship. Substantial continuous Greek text recovered from the banner and body; site of the 2023 First Letters and Grand Prize.

⚠️ The title region shows no detectable ink (possibly a different ink; the top rows are physically missing).

Photograph

Photograph of PHercParis4

3D model

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Stats

Status
Substantial text · unrolled: To Be Estimated
Segments
81 / 49,936 patches
Min pixel size
2.4 µm
Scans
6
Volumes
6
Reached: Text recovered

About this scroll

Scroll 1. The first scroll from which substantial continuous Greek text was recovered (2023 Vesuvius Challenge Grand Prize) — Epicurean philosophy attributed to Philodemus. Rescanned at ESRF at 2.4µm in 2026.

PHerc. Paris 4 is a rolled Herculaneum papyrus from the Institut de France, carbonized during the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD. It was scanned at the Diamond Light Source in Oxfordshire, UK. This is the scroll for which we have by far the most segments, where the first letters were discovered and the 2023 Grand Prize was claimed.

Data & access

Voxel size (min)
2.4 µm
Energies
54, 74, 78, 110, 137 keV
Source / beamline
ESRF Grenoble, DLS (Diamond Light Source)
Scans / volumes
6 / 6
Segments
81 / 49,936 patches
Formats
CT volumes (TIFF stacks · OME-Zarr) · surface segments
Predictions
2 surface · 1 3D-ink
License
EduceLab Data License (the 7.91 µm DLS scans) · CC BY-NC 4.0 (all other data)
HTTPhttps://vesuvius-challenge-open-data.s3.amazonaws.com/PHercParis4/
S3s3://vesuvius-challenge-open-data/PHercParis4/
Full dataset (HTTP)https://data.aws.ash2txt.org/samples/PHercParis4/
Full dataset (S3)s3://vesuvius-challenge/PHercParis4/
.volpkghttps://dl.ash2txt.org/full-scrolls/Scroll1/PHercParis4.volpkg/

Model predictions (3)

Volume-level machine-learning predictions over this scroll's CT data — surface geometry and, where available, 3D ink detection. Each row opens the prediction volume in Neuroglancer or links its raw files.

PurposeBase volumeResolutionModelLevelThresholdLinks
3D ink202604111347262.4 µm · 78 keV20260428123845
surface202604111347262.4 µm · 78 keV2026041314173400.45
surface202604111347262.4 µm · 78 keV2026041322263920.2

Ink detection & renders (3 images)

Substantial continuous Greek text recovered; ink clearly legible at 2.4µm.

Scroll 1 — 2.4µm ink detection (segment 20231210121321)
2.4µm ink detection (segment 20231210121321) · full image ↗
Scroll 1 — Ink detection across windings 28–37 (2.4µm)
Ink detection across windings 28–37 (2.4µm) · full image ↗
Scroll 1 — Ink prediction overlaid on the 3D papyrus surface (2.4µm)
Ink prediction overlaid on the 3D papyrus surface (2.4µm) · full image ↗

Ink predictions (78 segments)

Ink detected on each flattened segment surface. Click a thumbnail to view it (← / → to step through); each segment also links to the full-resolution TIFF, and where available its surface layers in Neuroglancer and its mesh.

Scroll 1 ink prediction — segment w053-058 · jordiw053-058 · jordi · 2.4µmjpg ↗tif ↗3D ↗mesh ↗
Scroll 1 ink prediction — segment w046-052 · jordiw046-052 · jordi · 2.4µmjpg ↗tif ↗3D ↗mesh ↗
Scroll 1 ink prediction — segment 5753_-1_copy5753_-1_copy · 2.4µmjpg ↗tif ↗3D ↗mesh ↗
Scroll 1 ink prediction — segment 2023070218575320230702185753 · 2.4µmjpg ↗tif ↗3D ↗mesh ↗
Scroll 1 ink prediction — segment 20230702185753 · v1420230702185753 · v14 · 2.4µmjpg ↗tif ↗3D ↗mesh ↗
Scroll 1 ink prediction — segment 2023092922092620230929220926 · 2.4µmjpg ↗tif ↗3D ↗mesh ↗
Scroll 1 ink prediction — segment 2023100512333620231005123336 · 2.4µmjpg ↗tif ↗3D ↗mesh ↗
Scroll 1 ink prediction — segment 20231005123336 · v220231005123336 · v2 · 2.4µmjpg ↗tif ↗3D ↗mesh ↗
Scroll 1 ink prediction — segment 2023100710161920231007101619 · 2.4µmjpg ↗tif ↗3D ↗mesh ↗
Scroll 1 ink prediction — segment 2023101218442420231012184424 · 2.4µmjpg ↗tif ↗3D ↗mesh ↗
Scroll 1 ink prediction — segment 2023101615100220231016151002 · 2.4µmjpg ↗tif ↗3D ↗mesh ↗
Scroll 1 ink prediction — segment 2023102217090120231022170901 · 2.4µmjpg ↗tif ↗3D ↗mesh ↗
Scroll 1 ink prediction — segment 2023103114385220231031143852 · 2.4µmjpg ↗tif ↗3D ↗mesh ↗
Scroll 1 ink prediction — segment 2023110615535120231106155351 · 2.4µmjpg ↗tif ↗3D ↗mesh ↗
Scroll 1 ink prediction �— segment 2023121012132120231210121321 · 2.4µmjpg ↗tif ↗3D ↗mesh ↗
Scroll 1 ink prediction — segment 20231210121321 · v820231210121321 · v8 · 2.4µmjpg ↗tif ↗3D ↗mesh ↗
Scroll 1 ink prediction — segment 2023122118025120231221180251 · 2.4µmjpg ↗tif ↗3D ↗mesh ↗