Plato: The papyri that "showed" his burial place also revealed how he spent his last hours!

Recently deciphered passages from papyri buried under layers of volcanic ash after the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in AD 79. they may shed light on the last hours of Plato, one of the most important figures in Western philosophy.

According to the Guardian, Italian scientists discovered that the ancient papyri in question included a hitherto unknown account describing how the Greek philosopher spent his last night listening to the music played in the chamber by a Thracian slave.

Despite the fact that he had a very high fever and on the verge of death, Plato seems to have had enough mental clarity, after criticizing the musician for her lack of rhythm, according to the account.

It is recalled that decoded passages of the said papyrus mentioned, among other things, the exact burial location of Plato in a garden near the "temple of the Muses", in the Academy that bears his name in Athens. Previously, it was only generally known that he was buried within the Academy.

Presenting the findings of the research at the National Library of Naples, Professor Graziano Ranocchia, of the University of Pisa, who led the team responsible for deciphering the papyrus, called the discovery a "great development that helps us have a deeper understanding of ancient history'.

"Thanks to the most advanced imaging diagnostic techniques, we are finally able to read and decipher new passages of texts that we previously considered inaccessible," said the scientist.

The text also reveals that Plato was sold as a slave on the island of Aegina, possibly as early as 404 BC when the Spartans captured the island, or alternatively in 399 BC, shortly after the death of Socrates.

"Until today it was believed that Plato was sold as a slave in 387 BC. during his stay in Sicily at the court of Dionysius I of Syracuse," Ranocchia said. "For the first time, we have been able to read sequences of hidden letters from papyri that were wrapped in multiple layers and stuck to each other over the centuries through an unwrapping process using a mechanical technique."

According to him, the ability of scientists to locate these layers and virtually restore them to their original position, thereby restoring the coherence of a text, represents a significant advance that may lead to the recovery of a huge amount of information in the future. The impact of this development will be fully felt in the coming years, he pointed out.

At the heart of Ranocchia's team's work are the papyri found in the luxurious Roman villa at Ancient Heraklion (Herculaneum) in Campania, also known as the "Villa of the Papyri". This particular villa, which had an impressive library, was razed to the ground during the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in AD 79, which destroyed Herculaneum and Pompeii.

The villa was found by chance in 1750 and from 1752 to 1754, through the excavation process, numerous papyrus scrolls came to light. The attempt to decipher them continues with modern methods of digital technology.