Aeneas

Aeneas is a new open-source AI model from Google DeepMind that helps historians restore, date, and place fragmentary ancient inscriptions. It analyzes both text and images to provide new context on ancient texts.

Aeneas is an open-source AI model developed by Google DeepMind to assist historians in studying ancient inscriptions. It analyzes text and images to restore, date, and place fragmentary texts, offering contextual insights into ancient Roman life. Unlike traditional methods, Aeneas rapidly identifies parallels across thousands of Latin inscriptions, revealing historical connections. The model excels in handling damaged texts, including those with gaps of unknown length, and provides state-of-the-art accuracy in restoration and attribution. It also processes multimodal inputs, combining textual and visual data to determine geographic origins. Aeneas enhances historical debates by offering probabilistic estimates, as demonstrated in dating Emperor Augustus’ Res Gestae. Developed in collaboration with leading universities, Aeneas is freely accessible, supporting researchers and educators. It integrates seamlessly into historians' workflows, combining AI with expert knowledge to deepen understanding of the ancient past.