From the library's high passageways hang long brass ribbons embossed with Greek words. This is the beginning of an essay written around the first century AD and entitled On poems.
Written by Philodemus of Gadara, an Epicurean poet and philosopher, this text has recently been deciphered in its entirety (Janko, 2020), after repeated attempts since 1763: it was written on papyrus scrolls charred at Herculaneum during the eruption of Mount Vesuvius.
This is the first time since 79 AD that we are able to read them. The themes developed in this passage are: ‘poetry is not just a pleasant sound’, ‘bad content does not necessarily make bad verse’ and ‘is the poet's material comparable to that of other craftsmen?

Embossed brass ribbons
10 x 12 500 cm