Plato’s exact burial spot has been identified, according to his research Italian Research Foundationwhich was based on papyri from the site of Hercolano, near Naples.

According to the research, led by the Italian papyrologist Graziano Ranocchia, Plato was buried in the “Academy” which bears his name in Athens, in a garden near it “temple of the Muses”.

This important discovery, as it became known, is due in a new reading of a papyrus of Philodemus the Epicureanwhich contains the History of the “Academy”.

The papyri were “read” by a bionic eye, which, despite being charred by the eruption of Vesuvius in AD 79. which also destroyed Pompeii, was able to discover this new, useful information. The whole research started three years ago and will be completed in 2026.

The bionic eye detected a thousand new words, compared to the previous one, which was done in 1991, i.e. 30% more text.

The Italian researchers add that from this new reading “it follows that Plato was sold as a slave already in 404 BC, when the Spartans conquered Aegina, or, as an alternative case, in 399 BC, immediately after the death of Socrates”.

Until now, this particular event was always referred to in 387 BC. and in the period when Plato was in Syracuse, Sicily.

What else emerges from the papyri?

The Herculaneum Papyrus, which was read with a bionic eye and allegedly reveals the burial place of Plato, contains other important historical facts, according to the Italian press.

These are reports on Plato’s last night before his death, in the corruption of the Oracle of Delphi by Heraclides and in the accurate rendering of the name of the philosopher Philo of Larissa, who died in Italy, due to a pandemic, in 83 BC

The importance of the Herculaneum papyri

The location of Plato’s burial site, at the Academy of Athens, was made possible thanks to a bionic reading of papyri located in Herculaneum, Lower Italy, charred by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in AD 79.

This is a total of over 1,800 papyri, with philosophical texts, mainly by Philodemos the Epicurean.

The vast majority of them are kept in the National Library of Naples and are not exposed to the public because they are considered particularly “sensitive” archaeological findings.

According to the official record, there are 1,814 papyri and fragments, 1,756 of which were discovered in 1855. Thanks to the efforts of papyriologists, so far 340 have been read, 970 are considered partially damaged, while about 500 are charred fragments.