Zeno of Citium: What the Herculaneum Papyri Deciphered in 2025 Really Teach Us

In 2025, new imaging techniques made it possible to read passages that had until now been invisible in a historic papyrus: The History of Stoicism by Philodemus of Gadara. This text, buried under volcanic debris at Herculaneum since 79 CE, now offers unprecedented details about Zeno of Citium, the founder of Stoicism.

An Epicurean Papyrus… That Talks About the First Stoics

The History of Stoicism is a work written by the Epicurean philosopher Philodemus of Gadara, who lived in the 1st century BCE. He therefore writes nearly three centuries after Zeno of Citium: by then, Stoicism was already well established in Rome thanks to Panaetius and Posidonius — long before Epictetus or Marcus Aurelius.

This text is part of the papyri found at Herculaneum, a town buried during the eruption of Mount Vesuvius. The papyrus containing it, known as PHerc. 1018, was carbonized by the heat but survived, becoming one of the rare direct witnesses to how ancient philosophers recounted the history of Stoicism.

This exceptional papyrus is extremely difficult to read: both the ink and the papyrus, made of carbon-based material, are almost indistinguishable. On top of that, the scroll was found in fragments and is now…