That Plato's tomb was located in his Academy was not unknown to archaeologists. Diogenes Laertius mentions, in the 1000rd century AD, that Plato was buried in the Academy where he lived most of his life. So did Pausanius, meaning that Plato was, in fact, buried not far from the Academy. What is important is that we have a technology with which people managed to read XNUMX words more than those who had previously read the text on the same papyrus using a different technology, said archaeologist Kostas Paschalidis, president of the Society of Greek archaeologists, for the Greek news agency ANA-MPA.

"Also, that we may live to learn hitherto unknown texts from the library of Peisonus - the rich owner of the villa - which will be philosophical, for he was chiefly interested in philosophy and especially in Epicurean [philosophy], ” Paschalidis added in response to the news that there had been a new reading of a papyrus containing the writings of Philodemus the Epicurean found in the "Villa of the Papyri" at Ercolano in Italy, in what was once ancient Herculaneum. "The papyrus seems to say that Plato's tomb was near the Temple of the Muses in his Academy. Olympias of Alexandria, in his commentary on Plato, is reported to have said that after reaching Athens, Plato founded a school in the Academy, and as a part of that is a temple for the muses. In reality, the whole Academy is considered a temple of the muses, a place of learning, so to speak," said Paschalidis.

The papyrus was found in the remains of a luxurious ancient Roman villa with an impressive library in Ancient Herculaneum, in the Campania region of southern Italy, which was buried in the 79 AD eruption of Mount Vesuvius that also destroyed Pompeii. The villa was discovered by accident in 1750, and a number of cylinders containing papyri were discovered during an excavation carried out between 1752 and 1754. Although they were damaged, there has been an ongoing effort to decipher their contents using modern digital technology.