Tuesday, June 30, 2026
Science

Archaeological mission in Oxyrhynchus has found Homer's 'Iliad' inside a Roman-era mummy

The Oxyrhynchus Archaeological Mission, run by the Institute of Ancient Near East Studies (IPOA) at the University of Barcelona and led by Maite Mascort and Esther Pons, has identified a papyrus containing a fragment of Homer's "Iliad" inside a Roman-era tomb dating to approximately 1,600 years ago,...

Archaeological mission in Oxyrhynchus has found Homer's 'Iliad' inside a Roman-era mummy
Image: Phys.org
The Oxyrhynchus Archaeological Mission, run by the Institute of Ancient Near East Studies (IPOA) at the University of Barcelona and led by Maite Mascort and Esther Pons, has identified a papyrus containing a fragment of Homer's "Iliad" inside a Roman-era tomb dating to approximately 1,600 years ago, in the Egyptian town of Al Bahnasa, ancient Oxyrhynchus. The discovery is exceptional: it is the first time in the history of archaeology that a Greek literary text has been found deliberately incorporated into the mummification process.

Originally published at Phys.org

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