Rome-loving Elon Musk has opened the money tap for the eternal city. The Musk Foundation has allocated three million dollars to support archaeological and restoration studies focused on ancient Rome.

The Musk Foundation recently allocated three million dollars to enhance research and conservation of the cultural heritage of ancient Rome. The announcement was made by Andrea Stroppa, Elon Musk’s Italian collaborator, who made the financing public through an official press release. The initiative involves a division of the funds into two main areas of intervention: one dedicated to the conservation of the Roman archaeological heritage, the other focused on the deciphering of papyri found in Herculaneum, which date back to 79 AD. the year of the historical eruption of Vesuvius.

The first part of the financing, equal to one million dollars, is intended for archaeological projects and the conservation of Roman cultural heritage. This amount will be distributed by the American Institute for Roman Culture (AIRC). This non-profit organization manages the Ancient Rome Live educational platform through a grant under the Expander Conscientiae Lumen initiative. The Airc has announced opening a tender to finance innovative projects that meet sustainability criteria and produce measurable results. The funds can be requested by students, researchers, historians, archaeologists and restorers to support initiatives that contribute to a greater understanding and valorization of ancient Rome. The application submission deadline is March 31, 2025.

The first part of the financing, equal to one million dollars, is intended for archaeological projects and the conservation of Roman cultural heritage. This amount will be distributed by the American Institute for Roman Culture (AIRC). This non-profit organization manages the Ancient Rome Live educational platform through a grant under the Expander Conscientiae Lumen initiative. The Airc has announced opening a tender to finance innovative projects that meet sustainability criteria and produce measurable results. The funds can be requested by students, researchers, historians, archaeologists and restorers to support initiatives that contribute to a greater understanding and valorization of ancient Rome. The application submission deadline is March 31, 2025, and all the information to participate is available on the platform website https://ancientromelive.org/ecl/.

Andrea Stroppa, a collaborator of Elon Musk, announced the financing, which also includes deciphering papyri from Herculaneum. “These two initiatives reflect Elon Musk’s vision of preserving, protecting and promoting Roman culture and history, offering concrete resources to researchers, educators, students, archaeologists, restorers, and historians,” continues Andrea Stroppa on X.

Ancient Rome Live:

One of the most respected platforms in the educational field, it acts as a point of reference for those who wish to delve deeper into Rome’s history, culture and archaeology. Founded in 2002, AIRC has established itself as a non-profit organization that promotes the protection and dissemination of Roman cultural heritage through high-impact archaeological excavations and innovative educational programs. AIRC’s mission is to make the ancient Roman world accessible to a global audience by using cutting-edge resources for professionals, educators, and enthusiasts. The second part of the financing, which is equal to two million dollars, is intended for a particularly fascinating project: the Vesuvius Challenge. The initiative, which aims to decipher papyri discovered in Herculaneum, focuses on texts written in Greek that date back to the eruption of 79 AD. These papyri contain critical writings by philosophers of antiquity, particularly Epicurus, whose thought greatly influenced the philosophical school of Herculaneum. The new funds allocated to the Vesuvius Challenge will be used to scan and decipher the papyri, a work carried out in collaboration with researchers and scientists worldwide.

The deciphering of the papyri

Next March, a selection of papyri will be taken to Oxford to be scanned at high resolution using a particle accelerator, an innovative technique that allows detailed images to be obtained without damaging the delicate texts. Subsequently, the data will be processed in the United States to decipher the content of these thousand-year-old writings. This project follows success last year, when three students, including a SpaceX intern, won a $700,000 prize for deciphering a Herculaneum papyrus containing writings by the Epicurean philosopher Philodemus. The papyrus had remained undeciphered for over 2,000 years, and its reading revealed valuable information about Epicurus’s thinking, who had a school in Herculaneum and contributed significantly to our learning about ancient philosophy.

Including the Musk Foundation in the project marks a further step in the collaboration between technology and archaeology. Through advanced technologies, such as scanning with particle accelerators and significant investment in research and conservation, the Foundation aims to demonstrate a concrete commitment to protecting and enhancing historical heritage. Modern technologies, such as those used in the Vesuvius Challenge, could open up new opportunities to discover secrets hidden for millennia that could reveal new perspectives on ancient Rome’s philosophy, culture, and daily life.