Musk vows to rewrite the Roman history books
Whether likening his social media platform to a colosseum battleground or challenging another tech magnate to a gladiatorial duel, Elon Musk has long made clear his fascination with the ancient world order.
Now the world’s richest man, who once called himself the “Imperator of Mars”, says he is “rewriting the history books” by financing a new age of data-driven research in archaeology, powered by artificial intelligence.
Musk spoke on Friday at the award ceremony for the annual Expandere Conscientiae Lumen prize at the seat of the mayor of Rome, on the Capitoline Hill that was once home to the Temple of Jupiter, the most sacred place in ancient Rome. Eleven grants were given to innovative archaeological projects harnessing digital technology.
The initiative, organised by the American Institute for Roman Culture, aims to improve understanding of Greco-Roman culture. This year’s is funded with $1 million from Musk’s US-based charitable foundation.
“I am interested in history and Rome constitutes a large part of the history of western civilisation,” Musk said via video link at Friday’s ceremony. AI, he said, would fill knowledge gaps by writing “a new history book based entirely on ancient material and archaeology”.
The winning projects showed that the technology was about far more than writing texts. One used advanced drone fleets and photogrammetry powered by AI to capture high-resolution aerial data of Greco-Roman heritage in Jordan — from the grand colonnades of Jerash to the Roman amphitheatre in Amman — to preserve intricate architectural details in danger of being lost to climate change in “stunning” 3D models.
Another initiative aimed to reconstruct the supply chains of ancient Rome by analysing the geological “fingerprints” of pigments used in the frescoes of Pompeii, the city buried by Mount Vesuvius in AD 79, and through simulations of ancient sea routes, integrating historical weather patterns and ship performance data.
Five of the winning projects were Italian, and others were based in Morocco, Tunisia and Albania.
Musk, who in 2023 challenged Mark Zuckerberg, the tech billionaire rival, to a cage fight at an ancient site in Italy, before the culture minister ruled out Rome, was accused of making a fascist gesture at a rally celebrating President Trump’s second inauguration. Some commenters on X, Musk’s platform, insisted it was a “Roman salute”.
His latest comments coincide with an era of dawning digital experimentation at Italian heritage sites.
In Naples, researchers are using x-ray imaging and computer software to “digitally unroll” Roman papyrus carbonised at Herculaneum by the Vesuvius eruption. The project, which has shown that one text was written by the Epicurean philosopher Philodemus and revealed the location of Plato’s garden grave, was awarded €2 million by Musk this year.
In Pompeii, researchers are using drone-mounted lasers, engineering simulations and 3D renderings to reconstruct the lost upper floors and observation towers of ancient domuses used for stargazing at banquets. “We can reconstruct experiences, spaces and social dynamics of the time,” Gabriel Zuchtriegel, director general of the archaeological park in Pompeii, said.
Marta Modolo, an archaeology specialist in AI at Milan University, who is analysing thousands of Neolithic animal bones from central Italy, said digital technology could slash research time from years to months and reduce the risk of human error.
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