Get Started

You can make history, win prizes, and help read the lost library of the Herculaneum scrolls. Here's how:

1. Join the community

Join our Discord server, subscribe to our mailing list, follow @scrollprize on X, and complete our community survey.

2. See a scroll

Get a feel for the data by looking inside a scroll that has not been opened in 2,000 years:

• In your browser
• In 1-2 lines of Python (or in C!)

3. Dive in

Our goal is to read the entire library, starting with a complete scroll:

📜Read an Entire Scroll

• Prizes: $200,000 Read Entire Scroll Prize
• Starting point: Data, Tutorials

There are currently two primary subproblems where we need your help:

⚙️Segmentation

• Prizes: Progress Prizes
• Starting point: Virtual Unwrapping, Segmentation tutorial, Segmentation - a different approach

🖋️Ink Detection

• Prizes: 7 x $60,000 First Letters and First Title Prizes
• Starting point: Ink detection tutorial

4. Utilize resources

Find more information about our datasets (data page) and what to do with them (tutorials).

There are many great tools and resources that you can use and contribute to:

🌎Open Source

• Prizes: Progress Prizes
• Starting point: Awesome Scroll Tools and Progress Prizes Wish List

For prototyping new ideas, we recommend the vesuvius Python and C libraries for working with scroll data.

Reach out to our Discord community and team with your questions!