AI Can Fill In Gaps In Our History, Starting With Ancient Rome

History has always been a puzzle, pieced together from fragments—broken texts, weathered monuments, and scattered artifacts. For centuries, historians have painstakingly reconstructed narratives from these remnants, often relying on educated guesses and interpretations. Now, a new frontier in historical research is emerging, powered by artificial intelligence. Specifically, a model named Aeneas, developed by Google DeepMind, is demonstrating a remarkable ability to reconstruct damaged Latin texts and contextualize ancient Roman inscriptions, offering the potential to fill significant gaps in our understanding of the Roman world—and, potentially, all of human history.

This isn’t just about automating translation; it’s about leveraging AI’s pattern recognition capabilities to suggest plausible completions for fragmented texts, date inscriptions, and even pinpoint their geographical origins. The implications extend beyond simply recovering lost words—it’s about refining our understanding of Roman society, politics, and daily life.

The Power of AI in Reconstructing Lost Texts

The core strength of Aeneas lies in its extensive training dataset. The model was fed a database of 176,000 Roman inscriptions, allowing it to learn the nuances of Latin language, common phrasing, and the contextual patterns within Roman epigraphy—the study of inscriptions. This vast knowledge base enables Aeneas to move beyond simple word prediction and offer informed suggestions for missing text, taking into account the surrounding context and the likely purpose of the inscription.

This is a significant leap forward from previous AI applications in the field, which often focused on deciphering already relatively complete texts, like those found on ancient scrolls. Aeneas, however, excels at dealing with severely damaged materials, where large portions of the text are missing. The collaborative work between Google DeepMind and historians, such as Alison Cooley at the University of Warwick, highlights the importance of human expertise in validating and interpreting the AI’s suggestions. The model doesn’t operate in a vacuum; rather, it functions as a powerful tool that augments the historian’s skillset, providing new avenues for investigation and accelerating the research process.

The results, published in *Nature*, demonstrate the model’s ability to accurately predict missing words and offer plausible reconstructions, even in cases where human scholars have struggled for years. For example, Aeneas has successfully reconstructed inscriptions that were previously deemed too fragmented to decipher, shedding new light on Roman military campaigns, religious practices, and social hierarchies.

Beyond Text: Dating and Localizing Inscriptions

Beyond text reconstruction, Aeneas offers capabilities in dating and geographical localization. Roman inscriptions often lack explicit dates, making it difficult to establish a precise timeline of events. Similarly, determining the origin of an inscription can be challenging, especially if it has been moved or repurposed over time. Aeneas can analyze the linguistic style, the formulaic phrases used, and the content of the inscription to estimate its date and likely place of origin. This is achieved by identifying patterns and correlations within the training data, allowing the AI to make informed predictions based on the characteristics of known inscriptions.

This capability is particularly valuable for inscriptions found outside of Italy, where establishing provenance can be especially difficult. For instance, an inscription found in a distant province might bear linguistic or stylistic clues that suggest it was originally created in Rome, providing insights into the spread of Roman influence and cultural exchange. Furthermore, the AI’s ability to analyze inscriptions from everyday objects—pottery sherds, building materials, and personal items—provides a window into the lives of ordinary Romans, a demographic often underrepresented in traditional historical sources.

By analyzing these previously overlooked fragments, Aeneas can help to build a more comprehensive and nuanced picture of Roman society. For example, inscriptions on pottery might reveal trade routes and economic practices, while graffiti on walls could offer glimpses into the social dynamics and daily concerns of ordinary citizens.

The Broader Implications for Historical Research

The development of Aeneas represents a broader trend: the increasing application of AI to the humanities. While AI has long been used in scientific fields for data analysis and modeling, its potential to transform historical research is only now being fully realized. The success of Aeneas demonstrates that AI is not simply a tool for automating tasks but a powerful instrument for generating new insights and challenging existing assumptions.

However, it’s crucial to acknowledge the limitations of this technology. Aeneas is not a replacement for human historians; it is a tool that requires careful interpretation and validation. The AI’s suggestions are based on probabilities and patterns, and there is always a risk of error or misinterpretation. The best results, as researchers have found, come from a collaborative approach, where human scholars work alongside the AI, leveraging their expertise to refine the model’s output and ensure its accuracy.

Looking ahead, the principles behind Aeneas could be applied to other ancient languages and historical datasets, potentially unlocking new knowledge about civilizations across the globe. For example, similar models could be trained on ancient Greek, Egyptian hieroglyphs, or even early Chinese texts, offering a more complete and nuanced picture of the human story. The ability to reconstruct fragmented texts and contextualize historical artifacts has the potential to revolutionize our understanding of the past, offering a more complete and nuanced picture of the human story.

In conclusion, Aeneas represents a groundbreaking advancement in historical research, demonstrating the transformative potential of AI in reconstructing lost texts and contextualizing ancient artifacts. While challenges and limitations remain, the collaborative approach between AI and human historians offers a promising path forward, unlocking new insights into the Roman world and beyond. As AI continues to evolve, its role in the humanities will only grow, offering unprecedented opportunities to fill in the gaps of our collective history.