• AutoTL;DRB
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    423 days ago

    This is the best summary I could come up with:


    Historical accounts vary about how the Greek philosopher Plato died: in bed while listening to a young woman playing the flute; at a wedding feast; or peacefully in his sleep.

    The garden was quite large, but archaeologists have now deciphered a charred ancient papyrus scroll recovered from the ruins of Herculaneum, indicating a more precise burial location: in a private area near a sacred shrine to the Muses, according to Constanza Millani, director of the Institute of Heritage Science at Italy’s National Research Council.

    The scrolls stayed buried under volcanic mud until they were excavated in the 1700s from a single room that archaeologists believe held the personal working library of an Epicurean philosopher named Philodemus.

    For instance, in 2019, German scientists used a combination of physics techniques (synchrotron radiation, infrared spectroscopy, and X-ray fluorescence) to virtually “unfold” an ancient Egyptian papyrus.

    “Compared to previous editions, there is now an almost radically changed text, which implies a series of new and concrete facts about various academic philosophers,” Graziano Ranocchia, lead researcher on the project, said.

    And earlier this year tech entrepreneur and challenge co-founder Nat Friedman announced via X (formerly Twitter) that they had awarded the grand prize of $700,000 for producing the first readable text.


    The original article contains 898 words, the summary contains 206 words. Saved 77%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!

  • What I’m missing from the article that claims that the “precise” burial place of Plato was now revealed: is it, though? Is the location of the shrine of the Muses known?