The study of ancient Latin inscriptions, known as epigraphy, is crucial for understanding the Roman world. However, this field faces significant challenges. With over 176,000 inscriptions and about 1,500 new ones added each year, scholars often deal with damaged texts, uncertain dates, and varied geographical origins. This is where Google DeepMind’s innovative tool, Aeneas, comes into play.
Challenges in Latin Epigraphy
Latin inscriptions date back more than two millennia, covering a vast range of documents from legal texts to tombstones. The physical deterioration of these artifacts complicates the work of epigraphers, who traditionally rely on their expertise to restore lost or illegible segments. This process demands deep knowledge of language and cultural context, which can be a daunting task given the sheer volume and variety of the inscriptions.
Aeneas: A Solution to Epigraphic Challenges
Aeneas is a transformative tool designed to address these issues. Developed by Google DeepMind, it is a generative neural network that can restore damaged text, determine the chronological and geographical context of inscriptions, and retrieve relevant historical parallels. This capability allows historians to make more informed interpretations of fragmented texts.
The Latin Epigraphic Dataset (LED)
Aeneas is trained on the Latin Epigraphic Dataset (LED), which comprises 176,861 inscriptions from three major databases. This extensive dataset includes around 16 million characters, covering inscriptions from the 7th century BCE to the 8th century CE. Notably, about 5% of these inscriptions come with grayscale images, enriching the data available for analysis.
Model Architecture and Input Modalities
The architecture of Aeneas is based on a deep transformer decoder, specifically adapted from the T5 model for enhanced character processing. It employs multiple specialized heads to perform various tasks:
- Restoration: Predicts missing characters, even when the gap length is unknown.
- Geographical Attribution: Classifies inscriptions across 62 provinces.
- Chronological Attribution: Estimates the dates of texts by decade.
Performance and Evaluation
Aeneas has shown remarkable performance in evaluations conducted on the LED test set and through collaboration with 23 epigraphers. The results are promising:
- The character error rate for restoration dropped to approximately 21% with Aeneas, compared to 39% for unaided human experts.
- Geographical attribution accuracy reached around 72%.
- The average error in date estimation was reduced to about 13 years.
- Aeneas provided useful contextual parallels that were accepted for historical research about 90% of the time.
Integration in Research Workflows and Education
Aeneas is not just a standalone tool; it enhances the workflows of historians by speeding up the search for epigraphic parallels and refining the attribution process. The tool and its dataset are openly accessible via the Predicting the Past platform, promoting interdisciplinary collaboration and digital literacy in historical research.
Conclusion
In summary, Aeneas represents a significant advancement in the field of Latin epigraphy. By leveraging AI, it addresses the complexities of restoring and contextualizing ancient texts, ultimately enriching our understanding of the Roman world. This innovative tool not only aids historians but also opens new avenues for research and education in the field of epigraphy.
FAQs
- What is Aeneas and what tasks does it perform? Aeneas is a generative multimodal neural network that helps historians restore damaged Latin inscriptions, estimate their dates, attribute their geographical origins, and retrieve relevant historical parallels.
- How does Aeneas handle incomplete or damaged inscriptions? Aeneas predicts missing text segments and generates multiple plausible restoration hypotheses, allowing experts to evaluate and choose the most likely options.
- How is Aeneas integrated into historian workflows? Aeneas provides ranked lists of epigraphic parallels and predictive hypotheses, enhancing historians’ confidence and accuracy while reducing research time.
- What datasets does Aeneas use? Aeneas is trained on the Latin Epigraphic Dataset (LED), which includes a vast collection of Latin inscriptions from various historical periods.
- Can Aeneas be used for educational purposes? Yes, Aeneas is available for open access, making it a valuable resource for education and research in the field of epigraphy.
