• 4/8/5: Scholars urge Roman villa excavation "The villa, buried in the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 A.D., contained the only known intact library of classical texts, carbonized but still readable although difficult to decipher. Serious examination of the Greek texts found so far began in the 1970s." (..interested in finding earliest known version of Josephus)

• 3/29/5: British scholars call for the excavation of the Villa of the Paryri - March 11, 2005 "Controversy has erupted over Herculaneum’s Villa of the Papyri and whether it should be excavated now or left untouched for future generations. The villa, which was buried by the eruption of Vesuvius in AD 79, was partly excavated in the 1750s, when archaeologists discovered the only intact library of texts from the Classical era. The texts already found are Greek, but the hope is that Latin texts by some of the greatest Roman authors may also be waiting to be discovered.  The 1,800 carbonised scrolls were very difficult to decipher and serious study of them only began in the 1970s. In the early 1990s further excavations at the villa were undertaken, but work was halted in 1998, when it was argued that resources should be put into the preservation of what had already been uncovered elsewhere at Herculaneum, just south of Naples. " | Friends of Herculaneum Society

• 3/29/5: Hunt for Treasures at the Villa of Papyri "When Mount Vesuvius erupted in AD 79, a sprawling Roman villa, once inhabited by Julius Caesar's father-in-law, disappeared beneath a sea of lava.  Now Italian archaeologists are about to begin unearthing the ruins, one of the most important Roman sites in the country. They hope to uncover a priceless library of papyrus scrolls." | How did VoP get into this state? | Unknown Treasures at VoP "These rolls of papyri were, for many years, very hard to decipher, and it was only in the 1970s that they began to receive proper scientific study from an international team of scholars, led by Professor Marcello Gigante of the University of Naples. Hundreds of lost works of Greek philosophy - including half of Epicurus's entire opus, missing for 2,300 years - and some Roman poetry were read for the first time. The author most commonly represented turned out to be Philodemus, an Epicurean philosopher attached to Piso's household, who certainly taught the greatest Latin poet, Virgil, and probably also Horace. "

• British scholars call for the excavation of the Villa of the Paryri  March 11, 2005

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