12 December 2024 The Future is the Product of the Past

Italian Research Team May Have Found Plato’s Burial Site in Athens

Graziano Ranocchia, a papyrologist at the University of Pisa, said he found Plato’s exact burial place based on papyri findings in Herculaneum near Naples.

Discovered in the 18th century, the Herculaneum papyri comprise more than 1,800 prehistoric scrolls. In the opulent Villa of the Papyri, a Roman estate in Herculaneum, Italy, they were discovered. Buried and protected by volcanic ash for thousands of years, the Herculaneum scrolls represent the only large-scale library from the classical world that has survived in its entirety.

Using AI technology, scientists are now attempting to decipher the papyri. Found new words that indicated a 30% increase in text when compared to a 1991 analysis.

The discovery is contained in a thousand new or differently read words of the papyrus containing the History of the Academy of Philodemus of Gadara.

The discovery was revealed by papyrologist Graziano Ranocchia of the University of Pisa, presenting the mid-term results of the GreekSchools research project conducted with the National Research Council at the National Library in Naples.

The archaeological site of Plato's academy. Photo: Tomisti, CC BY-SA 3.0
The archaeological site of Plato’s academy. Photo: Tomisti, CC BY-SA 3.0

Papyrologist Graciano Ranocchia claimed that the findings indicate that Plato was buried in the “Academy” named after him in Athens, in a garden near the “Temple of the Muses.” This breakthrough stems from a fresh interpretation of papyri written by Philodemus of the Epicurean school, detailing the history of the Academy.

Known as simply “The Academy,” or Plato’s Academy, was a well-known school in ancient Athens that was established outside the city walls in the northwest of the city in 387 BC. The legendary hero Academos is credited with giving the site its name.

Reexamined Herculaneum papyri by researchers indicate that Plato might have been sold into slavery either in 399 BC following Socrates’ passing or in 404 BC during the Spartan conquest of Aegina. This refutes earlier theories that dated the incident to 387 BC, during Plato’s stay in Syracuse.

There are differences in the ways that Cicero and Hermippus relate Plato’s demise: Cicero says he died while writing, while Hermippus says he died at a wedding at the age of 81 and was interred in the Academy.

Cover Photo: “The School of Athens” by Raffaello Sanzio da Urbino. Source

Related Articles

Egypt’s Tanis bronze figurines shed light on ancient commerce

19 July 2021

19 July 2021

A research team told that the newly discovered 3,000-year-old bronze figurines recently unearthed in Tanis, Egypt, can answer questions about...

Archaeologists may have discovered lost settlement of Apancalecan in Mexico

3 August 2023

3 August 2023

Archaeologists from the National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH) in Guerrero discovered a prehistoric settlement spread across 29 hectares...

Archaeologists Find Ornate Roman Domūs in Nimes

25 February 2021

25 February 2021

Archaeologists conducting archaeological excavations in the French city of Nimes have discovered the remains of two high-status Roman domus (houses)....

5,000 years old Mother Goddess statuette unearthed in Yeşilova Mound

25 October 2023

25 October 2023

A Mother Goddess statuette, determined to be 5 thousand years old, was found during the excavations carried out in the...

Ancient rituals recorded on 2,000-year-old bamboo slips deciphered

18 December 2023

18 December 2023

Scholars of China’s Tsinghua University have deciphered five documents recorded on bamboo slips dating back to the Warring States period...

Colossae Ancient City Excavation Works Begin

8 September 2021

8 September 2021

Excavations of the ancient city of Colossae, located in the Honaz district of Denizli province in western Turkey, are starting...

Archaeologists Discover 8600-year-old Bread at Çatalhöyük May be the Oldest Bread in the World

5 March 2024

5 March 2024

Archaeologists have discovered about 8,600-year-old bread at Çatalhöyük, a Neolithic settlement in central Turkey. Çatalhöyük is noteworthy because it is...

Stonehenge’s Altar Stone May Be From Scotland, Over 700 Kilometers Away

14 August 2024

14 August 2024

Recent research led by Curtin University suggests that the Altar Stone at Stonehenge may have originated in northeast Scotland, at...

Ancient Roman coin thought to be fake -certainly authentic and proves the existence of ‘forgotten’ leader Sponsian, study claims

26 November 2022

26 November 2022

History is littered with artifacts that were later discovered to be forgeries, but the opposite can also occur. A new...

Pictish ring believed to be more than 1,000-years-old found during Burghead fort dig in Scotland

5 September 2024

5 September 2024

A “remarkable” Pictish ring thought to be more than 1,000 years old has been unearthed by an amateur archaeologist on...

In a Wisconsin lake, archaeologists discover a 1,200-year-old dugout canoe

6 November 2021

6 November 2021

Maritime archaeologists from the Wisconsin Historical Society have discovered a dugout wooden canoe in Lake Mendota, Wisconsin, USA. Carbon analysis...

4,000-year-old War Memorial of Banat-Bazi in Syria

28 May 2021

28 May 2021

Archaeologists have identified a memorial monument built before 2300 BC in the Banat-Bazi region in Syria. Known as the “White...

Archaeologists discover bones of a woman who lived 14,000 years ago at a site in The Iberian Peninsula

13 August 2021

13 August 2021

Archaeologists have discovered the bones of a lady who lived 14,000 years ago, the earliest traces of a modern burial...

Unique Gems found in Claterna, known as the ‘Pompeii of the North’

18 November 2023

18 November 2023 1

Italian archaeologists have unearthed 50 unique jewels during ongoing excavations at Claterna, the ancient Roman site known as the ‘Pompeii...

A new study reveals the Achaemenid Kingdom paid its workers silver

21 September 2021

21 September 2021

A new study on inscribed clay tablets that were used in the treasury archives of the Achaemenid Empire revealed that...