Scrap of 1700-Year-Old Copy of The Odyssey Washes up in Utrecht - DutchNews.nl
The fragile parchment contains verses from Book 12 and was identified among Coptic manuscripts bought by the university.
- A 1,700-year-old parchment fragment containing verses from The Odyssey was discovered at Utrecht University. Researcher Mark de Kreij identified the artifact, measuring 6.6cm by 7.7cm, within a collection of manuscripts formerly owned by a German scientist.
- The text, written in Ancient Greek, was nestled among Coptic papyri, which are Egyptian texts written in the Greek alphabet. Kreij discovered the piece while examining manuscripts purchased from the estate of German academic Carl Schmidt.
- Verses from book 12 of Homer's epic detail the moment Odysseus's men consume the sacred cattle of the sun god Helios. This action prompts Zeus to destroy the fleet and kill the army, ignoring their leader's warnings.
- Utrecht University publicized the find following the success of Christopher Nolan's recent screen adaptation, which renewed interest in The Odyssey. This surge in popularity has boosted sales of both English and Dutch translations.
- Only a handful of fragments from this period have survived, showing how the epic tale has endured for millennia. Kreij noted that while he found the text, he considers the work itself less exciting than other passages.
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Utrecht University Library had been in possession of the piece of parchment for decades, but has only known what text is on it for the past two years. "This was the perfect moment to tell it."
The fragment measures 6.6 by 7.7 centimeters, approximately the size of a card from a deck.It belonged to a Homer reader who lived in Egypt in the year 300.
The preserved verses narrate one of the decisive moments of the work: when Helio, the god of the sun, discovers that the companions of Ulysses (or Odysseus, in the Greek version) sacrificed and ate the sacred flock, despite the prohibition
NOS
cedarnews.netAn approximately 1,700-year-old fragment of the Odyssey has been discovered in the Utrecht University Library. Researcher Mark de Kreij of Radboud University Nijmegen found the piece of parchment two years ago while conducting research in the university's collection of ancient manuscripts. The Odyssey is one of the most famous stories in Greek mythology. Utrecht University is only now announcing the find. According to the university, it aligns …
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