Introduction

The explosion of mount vesuvius in 79 a d is our eye witness. Pliny the younger was further away still than herculaneum, and lived to write letters about the event. Like any respectable roman town, Herculaneum had respectable citizens who lived in respectable villas. In one of these was a library containing roll upon roll of papyrus. These books were charred into solid blocks and left buried under meters of ash and rock. Now they can be read with advanced scanners without damaging them physically.