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This blog will explore ancient peoples’ aspirations, visions, philosophies, beliefs, and more through their recently deciphered original texts, thanks to modern artificial technology and advanced scanning techniques.
There are hundreds of texts, inscriptions, and oral traditions containing intriguing thoughts about spirits, the origin of living beings, deities, myths, folklore, and much more. However, the reason we chose these three scrolls is because they have been recently deciphered using the latest AI technological tools. Second, they hold universal human appeal, addressing existential questions such as human suffering, happiness, pleasure, death, and beyond. Interestingly, these ancient philosophical texts provide a glimpse into the root causes of human suffering but also offer solutions in a gentle, non-dogmatic manner, unlike the religious doctrines of later monotheistic religions. Finally, we wanted to show our readers the intellectual level of those ancient teachers and how they conversed with their disciples.
Ancient Egyptian Scroll
The first scroll is from ancient Egypt and is preserved on Papyrus Berlin 3024. The text “Dispute Between a Man and His Ba” is almost 4,000 years old, making it one of the earliest examples of existential literature. It was last transcribed in 1896 and last reviewed in 2014. You can find the link to that PDF here.
Dispute Between a Man and His Ba-Soul- Wikimedia Commons
The Dialogue Between Man and his Ba
| Man | Ba |
|---|---|
| “Who shall I speak today? Brothers are evil, and the friends of today do not love.” | “Death is before me today, like a sick man’s recovery, like going out into the garden after sickness.” |
| “To whom shall I speak today? Hearts are greedy, and every man seizes his neighbor’s goods.” | “Death is before me today, like the scent of myrrh, like resting beneath a sail on a windy day.” |
| “To whom shall I speak today? Kindness has perished, and insolence assaults everyone.” | “Death is before me today, like the fragrance of lotus flowers, like sitting at the edge of intoxicating bliss.” |
| “To whom shall I speak today? The peaceful man is cast down in every place.” “To whom shall I speak today? There are no righteous men; the earth is given over to doers of wrong.” | “Death is before me today, like the passing away of rain, like the return of home after a campaign.” |
Summary of the Dialogue
Ba Birds Artistic Depiction Credit: Wikimedia Commons
This philosophical dialogue presents a conversation between a man and his ‘Ba,’ a spiritual component of the Egyptian belief system representing the soul. The man, disillusioned by the moral decay and injustice of society, questions the value of life. He laments, ‘To whom shall I speak today? Brothers are evil, and the friends of today do not love.’ He feels isolated, describing a world filled with greed, cruelty, and wrongdoing. But the ‘Ba’ offers a different perspective, framing death as a peaceful release. The Ba uses comforting metaphors, describing death as a form of recovery, the fragrance of myrrh, and the calming presence of nature. For the Ba, death is not an end to be feared but a transition to something better, akin to returning home after a long journey or campaign. This text reminds us that even millennia ago, people struggled with existential questions, seeking meaning in life and peace in death.
Ancient Roman – Herculaneum Scrolls
Our next text scroll is from the Roman Herculaneum scroll deciphered in 2024. It is around 2,000 years old, dating back to the first century CE. These over 2000-year-old scrolls were buried in Herculaneum near Pampie, Rome. They burned during Mount Vesuvius’ eruption in 79 CE, which devastated the ancient city of Herculaneum. Although discovered in the 18th century, scrolls remained unreadable until recent advances in artificial intelligence and machine learning.
Ancient Greek Carbonized Scroll and AI Generated Text
One of the scrolls was recently deciphered using machine learning and AI. It was too fragile to open, and the ink was not visible due to the charred papyrus paper. Therefore, high-intensity light beams were used to isolate the ink from the paper to read it. So far, only 5% of the scroll has been deciphered. With this new technological advancement, all the over 1,000 carbonized scrolls will be deciphered by the end of 2025.
Content of the Roman Scroll
The deciphered text from Philodemus (an Epicurean philosopher and poet who was an Athen but later moved to Rome) explores the nature of “pleasure,” a profound philosophical concept about 2,000 years ago. He argued that just because something is rare does not mean it is more enjoyable. He goes on to say that food is in abundance and provides pleasure. He casually advises his students or audience to seek out good companionship, live in the present moment, and appreciate the joys and blessings they have rather than yearning for something rare and unattainable. In other words, Philodemus advocates a simple, contented life (link).
Philodemus’ message is one of moderation—an idea that contrasts the excesses we sometimes associate with Roman culture. His advice resonates even today: find joy in life’s simple pleasures, live in the present, and be grateful for what you have.
Note: If you want to read more and see images about how AI was used to decipher this carbonized scroll, check this out. Link
Mahāyāna Movement Text From Ancient Silk Route
The third text discovery is the three manuscripts found in the late 1990s in the Bajaur district of Northwest Pakistan along the border of Afghanistan. It was once part of the ancient Silk Road that transferred not just goods but knowledge, ideas, and philosophy. These manuscripts, written on papyrus-like paper and with a reed pen, depict Buddhist thought from an earlier time of the Mahāyāna movement. The text was written in Kharoṣṭhī (Ghandari or Arian Pali) script and dated to the second century. The manuscripts are fragmentary, making some portions challenging to comprehend fully. However, they still provide enough context to understand Buddha’s philosophy at the time.
Three Early Mahāyāna Treatises from Gandhāra: Credit UW Manifold Platform
Detailed Description of the Buddhist Manuscripts’ Content
All these manuscripts revolve around a common theme of detachment from what is painful (duḥkha) and useless. The teachings within these texts revolve around four key themes: what must be understood (pariññeyyā), what must be let go (pahātabbā), what must be realized (sacchikātabbā), and what must be developed (bhāvetabbā). At the heart of these ideas is the concept of ‘duḥkha‘—the suffering that arises from attachment to impermanent things. To achieve liberation, or ‘moksha,’ one must let go of ignorance and cravings and cultivate wisdom and mindfulness.
This all seems complex but the texts provide a step-by-step guide on how to achieve all the above by cultivating the right view (sammādiṭṭhi) and right concentration (sammāsamādhi), which are based on seclusion (vivekanissitaṃ), detachment from desires (virāganissitaṃ), and aiming for cessation (nirodhanissitaṃ), ultimately leading to release (vossaggapariṇāmiṃ) from suffering. The practitioner’s goal is to relinquish attachment to the skandhas and attain moksha (liberation) from the cycle of rebirth and awakening oneself. It teaches that when a person fully understands the impermanence of things, they attain prajñāpāramitā, or the highest wisdom, which is considered necessary for achieving enlightenment in Mahayana Buddhism.
Note: You can find the Mahāyāna Treatises in PDF format through the following links:
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University of Washington Manifold Platform: Download the PDF of the Three Early Mahāyāna Treatises from Gandhāra here
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OAPEN Library: The text is also available for download via the OAPEN platform here
Both links provide open access to the treatises in PDF format for further reading and research.
It’s remarkable that despite being written by different cultures thousands of years ago, these ancient texts share a common theme: the search for meaning and relief from human suffering. Whether through Egyptian reflections on detachment, Roman philosophy’s pursuit of simple pleasures, or Buddhist teachings on letting go, these writings show that the quest for understanding is timeless. The Buddhist idea of detachment mirrors the pessimism in the ancient Egyptian “Dispute Between a Man and His Ba,” while the Greeks sought lasting happiness through moderation and an optimistic outlook.