$30k First Title Prize
More than $300,000 in milestone prizes now available to be claimed
The 2023 Grand Prize results were an incredible breakthrough, exponentially increasing the text recovered noninvasively from Herculaneum papyri and providing a clear view into a scroll about food, music, the senses, and pleasure.
BUT:
There’s one piece we are still looking for. Find it, and win $30,000!
We know from the opened ones that Herculaneum scrolls often contain a final title at the end of the roll. In addition to being a satisfying find, a title is of great scholarly interest, including information about the work’s content and author. It is also possible that the title may connect this work to other known works of the collection.
If you find the title in Scroll 1 and our papyrologists can read enough of it to identify the work, the First Title prize is yours!
This image shows the end of the scroll, and the segments that have so far been made in a search for the title.
As you can see, the segmentation team has already made some efforts in this direction. As of yesterday, these segments have all been released, along with the scan data for the bottom half of the scroll!
The title often follows the end of the primary text, in a subsequent column that can be otherwise blank. When the final column of the primary text is short, it may also appear below this last column.
Typically, there is additional information grouped with the title. It often starts with the author’s name on a line of its own. The title itself follows, sometimes spanning multiple lines if it is long enough. If the work consists of multiple books, the next line might indicate the book number. Finally, sometimes the number of lines or the number of columns in the book are included below that. Decorative elements like serifs or other strokes sometimes also appear around the title. Here’s an example from PHerc. 1050:
Don’t forget there are also 3 x $30,000 First Letters prizes available for the first letters discovered in Scrolls 2, 3, or 4. More information about these and the First Title prize can be found on our website. Happy hunting!!