The Library of the Villa dei Papiri at Herculaneum

by David Sider

The eruption of Mt. Vesuvius that destroyed Pompeii in A.D. 79 also buried nearby Herculaneum. Over time the location of the small town was forgotten. Shortly after its rediscovery in the 1730s, excavations--more likely treasure hunts--were organized that unearthed ancient sculptures that had
survived the disaster. The richest finds were from a villa that came to be called the Villa dei Papiri, because it also yielded upward of a thousand papyrus rolls--the only library ever to have been recovered from the classical world. To the great excitement of contemporaries, the papyri held out
the tantalizing possibility of the rediscovery of lost masterpieces by classical writers.
Written for the general reader, this introduction to the ancient library describes the long and difficult history of attempts to unwind the damaged rolls. Sider discusses the texts that have been deciphered and puts them in the context of literacy and Roman society of the time. He describes the how
the ancient books were created from papyrus, and provides an account of attitudes toward books in Greece and Rome. He also surveys the private and civic libraries of the ancient world. This thoroughly researched and engaging book will be enjoyed by any reader with an interest in classical
studies.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Philosophy

132 pages, Paperback

First published September 12, 2005

About the author

Professor of Classics at New York University, most of his work has been in Greek poetry and Greek philosophy.

Reviews

[Leanne · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a fantastic book on the basics of the papiri found at Herculaneum (the only intact library to survide from antiquity) and a primer on how to read the scrolls--charred and otherwise. I especially apprciated the introduction chapters on the library itself, including detailed explanations on the Epicurean philosopher and his connection to the probably owner of the villa. I couldn't put the book down! There is a great PBS documentary on the story here--the film is excellent on high-tech approaches including Multi-spectral sensors and virtual reading.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cH6MD...

The 18th century papyrus unrolling contraption is also explained in detail in the book and documentary.,

Finally, there was a long article from 2005 in the New Yorker, called theQuest to Unlock an Ancient Library (I didn't think it was great though) https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/20...

[Brook Allen · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book had plenty of excellent information. As expected, it was presented in a scholarly manner and in places, the writing wasn't even overly dry. However, the size font throughout was microscopic. In many places print was made even smaller for indented quotes or samples of selected text. It was literally PAINFUL to read for people over the age of fifty, and I wound up using a magnifying glass for the second half of the book.

That being said, there needs to be more contemporaneous sources on current work on the Herculaneum scrolls, as much is being accomplished through AI and other digital means to translate them. It might happen within the next year or so, the way Dr. Seales' competition is going. Fingers crossed that these carbonized treasures will soon be added to the annals of Classical literature!

Three TINY stars because of the TINY font!

[Dr G · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is quite a worthy book. It is only 100 pages so it can't do anything in much detail, but it has good accounts of Vesuvius eruptions, including that in 79AD; ownership of the Villa dei Papyri; anceint boooks and libraries; and the sequence of attempts to recover the papyrus scrolls. It concludes with some interesting material on the Epicurians, on Philodemus and on some of the scrolls with reasonable amounts of content.
Production standards are good (published by the Getty Museum) and there are some good photographs. The book was published in 2005, so the more recent technologies of x-ray tomography are not mentioned, although this can easily be added with a quick look at Wikipedia.

[Ron Me]

Very specialized, yet very interesting

[Mike · Rating 5 out of 5]

visually spectacular, nice comprehensive introduction

[Valerie]

I haven't seen this book, and I'll try to find a copy, but based on PBS documentaries, I gather that the 'papyri' in question are the library of a society of Epicurans.