'Second renaissance': tech uncovers ancient scroll secrets of Plato and co

More than 2,000 years after Plato died, the towering figure of classical antiquity and founder of the Academy, regarded by many as the first university in the west, can still make front-page news. Researchers this week claimed to have found the final resting place of the Greek philosopher, a patch in the garden of his Athens Academy, after scanning an ancient papyrus scroll recovered from the library of a Herculaneum villa that was buried when Mount Vesuvius erupted in AD79. The project belongs to a new wave of efforts that seek to read, restore and translate ancient and even lost languages with cutting-edge technologies. Armed with modern tools, many powered by artificial intelligence, scholars are starting to read what had long been considered unreadable. "It's going to have a huge impact," said Dr Kilian Fleischer, a papyrologist who worked on The History of the Academy, the scroll that revealed details of Plato's life.