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Archaeologists Find Iliad “Catalog of Ships” Papyrus Inside Egyptian Mummy
Arkeonews: “Archaeologists working at the ancient site of Oxyrhynchus in Egypt’s Minya Governorate have uncovered a Roman-era burial that combines rare funerary objects with an unexpected literary find: a papyrus fragment from Homer’s Iliad concealed inside a mummy. A Spanish-Egyptian excavation team working at the ancient site of Oxyrhynchus (modern-day El-Bahnasa) has uncovered a Roman-era necropolis containing mummies adorned with golden tongue amulets.
The discovery was announced by Egypt’s Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities, highlighting it as one of the most significant recent finds in Middle Egypt. The excavation was led by researchers from the University of Barcelona and the Institute of the Ancient Near East, under the direction of Dr. Maite Mascort and Dr. Esther Pons Mellado…
The most captivating discovery, however, lies within one of the mummies: a rare papyrus fragment containing text from Book II of Homer’s Iliad. Specifically, the passage corresponds to the famous “Catalog of Ships,” which lists the Greek forces that sailed to Troy. Finding a classical Greek literary text inside an Egyptian mummy is exceptionally rare and opens up fascinating questions.
Why was this text included in the burial? Was it meant as a symbol of education, status, or cultural identity? Or did it hold a deeper ritual significance? Dr. Hisham El-Leithy, Secretary General of Egypt’s Supreme Council of Antiquities, emphasized that this discovery adds a new intellectual dimension to the site. It suggests that the local elite in Oxyrhynchus were not only influenced by Greek culture but actively engaged with its literary traditions…”
