Advances in Reading the Herculaneum Scrolls

[abaris]

I'd take a kitchen list, too. In a way, I find these documents of ordinary daily life more fascinating than official documents or writings, because they let these long gone times appear much more real - some guy writing a shopping list 2000 years ago gives me a direct connection to real human beings and their concerns. For example, one of the things that left the biggest impression on me in the Forum Romanum was not the monumental architecture, but the marble game that had been etched into the stairs of the Basilica Iulia. Someone did that - who knows who he or she was - bored and in need of a board game.

And we have all of this. The Graffiti of Pompeij, which, apart from being refreshingly vulgar at times, also show that political campaigns weren't that different back then. We also have the letters of Vindolanda, showing that these people had very familar concerns. Such as the wish for being sent warm socks or the invitation to a birthday party.

This however is on an entirely different level. I'm not entirely familar with the layout of this villa, but it was either a public library or the pet project of some very wealthy man. In both cases, chances are that it contains a treasure trove of knowledge, since a collection of this size didn't come cheap.