Google’s artificial intelligence division, DeepMind, has developed a new AI tool designed to assist historians in decoding damaged Roman inscriptions. The system, named Aeneas, analyzes ancient Latin texts and proposes reconstructions of missing words, while also estimating the origin and age of the inscriptions. The project was developed in collaboration with historians specializing in ancient Rome, including Dr. Thea Sommerschield from the University of Nottingham.
Aeneas was trained on a dataset of approximately 200,000 Latin inscriptions containing over 16 million characters. These texts span from the 7th century BC to the 8th century AD and include carvings found on monuments, tombstones, official records, and everyday objects. Many of these inscriptions have been eroded or damaged over time, making full interpretation difficult. Historians have traditionally relied on manual reconstruction using linguistic and contextual clues.
Aeneas streamlines this process by comparing incomplete inscriptions with similar entries across its database, identifying patterns in structure, grammar, and historical context to suggest plausible completions. Unlike basic keyword matching tools, Aeneas uses deeper linguistic models to assess the syntax and semantics of Latin. It also considers geographical clues to predict where a given inscription was originally created.
Historians report high success rate using DeepMind’s Aeneas tool
The tool can estimate the date of a text with a typical margin of error of around 13 years, allowing researchers to position inscriptions more precisely within the broader historical timeline. The AI system has undergone validation tests using inscriptions whose original content is already known. These trials included well-documented examples such as the Res Gestae Divi Augusti, an account of Emperor Augustus’s achievements.
In these cases, Aeneas successfully identified accurate reconstructions and linked them to similar texts found across the former Roman Empire. Feedback from academic testing has been positive. A group of 23 historians who evaluated Aeneas reported that the tool was useful in 90 percent of cases. Researchers praised its ability to provide meaningful insights, particularly in instances where traditional analysis had reached an impasse.
They described the AI as a significant advancement in classical scholarship. Though still in the research phase, Aeneas represents a growing application of artificial intelligence in the humanities. By enabling more accurate interpretations of fragmented texts, it opens new possibilities for understanding the daily life, governance, and culture of ancient Rome, helping to recover historical knowledge that would otherwise remain obscured by time and decay. – By Content Syndication Services.