The Musk Foundation has allocated $3 million to support archaeological and restorative studies focused on ancient Rome. Andrea Stroppa, an associate of Elon Musk, announced the funding, which also includes deciphering papyri from Herculaneum. Here's what Musk plans to do.One million is to be disbursed by the American Institute for Roman Culture for "archaeological and Roman heritage conservation projects." There is a link with application information. Deadline 31 March 2025.
The remaining two million (amounts to each not specified) goes to the (AIRC-related) Ancient Rome Live educational platform – and to this:
The second part of the $2 million in funding is for a particularly fascinating project: the Vesuvius Challenge. The initiative, which aims to decipher papyri discovered at Herculaneum, focuses on texts written in Greek that date from the time of the 79 A.D. eruption. These papyri contain important writings by philosophers of antiquity, particularly Epicurus, whose thought had great influence on the Herculaneum school of philosophy. The new funds earmarked for the Vesuvius Challenge will be used to scan and decipher the papyri, work that will be done in collaboration with researchers and scientists from around the world.For many PaleoJudaica posts on the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 CE and its destruction of Pompeii and Herculaneum, and on the efforts to reconstruct and decipher the carbonized library at Herculaneum, start with this post, specifically the links on the new Plato biography from Herculaneum and on the Vesuvius Challenge. Follow the links from there.
Visit PaleoJudaica daily for the latest news on ancient Judaism and the biblical world.
