Parts of ‘Histories from the start of the civil wars‘ by Seneca the Elder (father of Lucius Seneca the younger, and Lucius Junius Gallio Annaeanus who appears in the bible) have been uncovered at the National Library of Naples. This scroll is a part of 1,800 which have been found at the Villa of the Papyri in Herculaneum. These scrolls have been preserved through the heat of the eruption of Mount Vesuvius, carbonizing them into a charcoal-like substance. They are currently in the process of being virtually unrolled and deciphered through a technique called X-ray phase-contrast tomography (Bukreeva, et al 2016).

Seneca the Elder was known as a Rhetorician and writer. He lived during the period of Augustus, Tiberius and Caligula. Seneca was most notably known for his writing, mainly concerning the start and development of the Roman civil wars.

The Histories deciphered and digitally unrolled are few, and may be difficult to interpret because of the technology used and the state they have been preserved in, and by the initial damage of the Pyroclastic flow. The Herculaneum Papyri project seems to be very interesting, we shall continue watching for further updates.

Aside from the anticipation of discovery, this update can teach us a valuable lesson – even if you are well known, successful, and publish widely received information, you will still perish in the end. Even if you are this widely appreciated, it may take intense work and technology to find a scrap of information on even a small amount of what you have done. Therefore, do not act with the motivation of your legacy or what others will think of you. You will still die, some may be sad, but the world will eventually forget. With this knowledge, the only rational way to approach life is to do the best, now. Make the most of your time and genuinely focus on doing what is right, and doing what you do well. Focus on your input, and not the output. What happens is out of your control, and what you do is under it.

Reference, further reading and more resources