Italian researcher Graziano Ranocchia from the University of Pisa claims to have pinpointed the location of Plato’s burial site in Athens.
By examining papyri unearthed in Herculaneum, Ranocchia believes that Plato was laid to rest in a private garden area within the Academy, near a sacred shrine dedicated to the Muses.
The Herculaneum papyri consist of over 1,800 scrolls discovered in the 18th century within the Villa of the Papyri in Herculaneum, an ancient Roman town near modern-day Ercolano, Campania, Italy. These scrolls were preserved in carbonised form due to the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD, according to tovima.com.
The delicate state of the papyri has made them challenging to decipher. However, with the aid of a bionic eye, researchers were able to identify a thousand new words, marking a 30 per cent increase in readability compared to analyses conducted over three decades ago.
Ranocchia’s findings are based on a historical account of the Academy written by Philodemus of Gadara, an Epicurean philosopher and poet who resided in Herculaneum.
The research was presented at the Naples National Library as part of the ongoing “Greek Schools” project, which began in 2023 and is set to conclude in 2026.
Plato’s Academy, where he taught his philosophical ideas, was demolished by the Roman ruler Sulla in 86 BC.
