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Homer's Iliad Papyrus Found Inside Egyptian Mummy in Archaeological First
Archaeologists found a rare Iliad fragment inside a mummy and gold-and-copper tongue plates meant to help the dead speak in the afterlife.
- On Monday, Egypt's Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities announced the discovery of a Roman-era mummy at Oxyrhynchus containing a papyrus fragment from Book II of Homer's Iliad, marking the first known instance of a Greek literary text used in embalming.
- A Spanish-Egyptian team from the University of Barcelona led the excavation at the ancient site, now known as Al-Bahnasa, between November and December 2025, uncovering a burial complex reflecting Roman-period cultural syncretism where Egyptian traditions merged with Greek and Roman influences.
- Among recovered artifacts were terracotta and bronze figurines of Harpocrates and Cupid, alongside mummies featuring three golden tongues and one copper tongue placed in the deceased's mouths, believed to ensure communication with the gods in the afterlife.
- Ignasi-Xavier Adiego, a professor in the Department of Classical, Romance and Semitic Languages at the University of Barcelona, noted that while Greek papyri appear in funerary contexts, "this is not the first time we have found Greek papyri, bundled, sealed, and incorporated into the mummification process, but until now, their content was mainly magical."
- Experts are currently using advanced imaging and papyrological techniques to study the fragment and burial goods, as ongoing research aims to illuminate the cultural fusion and literary significance of this unique find in Minya Governorate.
32 Articles
32 Articles
Archaeology breakthrough: Scientists find earliest work of Western literature INSIDE Roman-era mummy
Archaeologists excavating in Egypt have unearthed a papyrus fragment bearing verses from Homer's Iliad within the body of an ancient mummy.The remarkable discovery was made at Oxyrhynchus, a site renowned for yielding ancient texts, where researchers located the literary fragment positioned on the abdomen of a mummy interred roughly 1,600 years ago during the Roman period.According to the research team from the University of Barcelona, the disco…
Copy found in 1,600-year-old mummy
Spanish archaeologists find Homer's Iliad poem in Egyptian tomb
A Spanish-Egyptian team have uncovered a fragment of Homer’s Iliad inside a mummy at Oxyrhynchus, revealing how ancient texts were reused in burial practices and shedding light on the spread of Greek literature in Roman Egypt.
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, 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 Gre…
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