Plato’s tomb was located in a private garden at the Academy of Athens. This is the latest discovery in the city of Herculaneum, buried next to Pompeii by the catastrophic eruption of Vesuvius in the year 79 that devastated the bay of Naples, and which, like its sister city, continues to clarify historical mysteries as technology keep it up. The charred papyri found in one of his mansions have just answered another ancient question: the location of the philosopher’s grave in the ancient Academy of Athens.
Researchers have managed to reveal around 1,000 new words from these papyri – 30% more than in 1991 – where, among other findings, it is said that the famous tomb was located in the garden reserved for the philosopher, a private space intended for the Platonic school, near a sanctuary dedicated to the muses. Until now it was only known that he was buried generically in the Academy. This was revealed this Tuesday by papyrologist Graziano Ranocchia, from the University of Pisa, when presenting the first phase of the results of the research project. Greek schools carried out with the Italian National Research Council (CNR) at the National Library of Naples.
The papyri were in the only complete library that has survived from ancient times to the present in the so-called Villa of the Papyri, an immense palatial mansion of a rich Roman family – most researchers believe that it belonged to the father-in-law Julius Caesar – located in the city of Herculaneum, although they looked closer to burnt logs than books when they were found. For decades, these scrolls had represented a challenge that has now begun to be unraveled thanks to artificial intelligence, albeit with the supervision of papyrologists, philologists, historians and physicists. The investigation has used X-rays, tomography, infrared images and high-resolution digital microscopy to review the writings in detail. The project, which began three years ago, will extend until 2026.
More details about the life and death of Plato
The researchers also explained more details about Plato’s life, detailed in the papyri that tell the History of the Academy written by the poet and philosopher Philodemus of Gadara. According to his account, Plato had been a slave on the island of Aegina perhaps as early as 404 BC, when the Spartans conquered the island, or, alternatively, in 399 BC. C., immediately after the death of Socrates. Until now it was believed that the Greek philosopher had been sold into slavery in 387 BC. C. during his stay in Sicily at the court of Dionysius I of Syracuse.
Thanks to the story of the papyrus rolls, the episode of Plato’s last night and the visit to the Chaldean have also been revised, given that the dialogue was different from what was believed, the team explained. It is now described that Plato, despite suffering from fever, despises in one of his last comments the rhythmic abilities of a barbarian musician from Thrace. The roles indicate who speaks and at what time. This meaning, as well as that of some historical names, has changed thanks to the discovery of the thousand words of the papyri. Sometimes they are new words and other times they have been read differently than they were 30 years ago. The texts reveal, for example, a new theory to tell how the corruption of the Delphic oracle by the academic philosopher Heraclides Ponticus unfolded.
Unlike Pompeii, Herculaneum was destroyed by a rain of mud and gas at very high temperatures, which allowed a lot of organic matter to be saved, such as papyri or numerous remains of wood. The Villa of the Papyri, currently closed to the public, was one of the first sites excavated by Bourbon archaeologists in the 18th century who found all kinds of surprises when they began to rummage through the ruins that they reached through tunnels: they took out statues , some extraordinarily ribald – one showed the god Pan copulating with a goat -; paintings, furniture, but also the library that has been waiting to be read for two thousand years.