Scientists find earliest work of Western literature INSIDE Roman-era mummy

George Bunn
Tue, 21 Apr 2026 21:08:11 +0000

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 discovery marks the first occasion that a work of Greek literature has been identified as part of the embalming process.

While Greek papyri have previously emerged from Egyptian mummies of this era, all prior examples contained magical or ritualistic writings rather than literary works.

TRENDING

Stories

Videos

Your Say

The find offers fresh perspectives on how classical texts circulated throughout ancient Egyptian society and the complex interweaving of Mediterranean cultures during Roman rule.

The excavation was conducted by a team from the Institute of Ancient Near East Studies at the Catalan institution during a campaign spanning November and December 2025.

Oxyrhynchus, which bore the name Per-Medjed during Pharaonic times, ranked among the most significant urban centres of Greco-Roman Egypt.

The ancient city's remains lie beneath the modern town of Al Bahnasa, situated approximately 190 kilometres south of Cairo alongside the Bahr Yussef, a branch of the Nile.

The mummy was recovered from tomb 65, a hypogeum that had been plundered in antiquity yet still preserved an wide array of funerary objects.

Dr Maite Mascort and Dr Esther Pons Mellado directed the project, which also uncovered bandages adorned with geometric patterns in vivid colours, polychrome wooden coffins, and a small collection of metalwork including three thin gold sheets and a copper piece.

The identified passage belongs to the catalogue of ships in Book II of the Iliad, a celebrated section enumerating the Greek forces assembling before their assault on Troy.

Homer's epic, traditionally attributed to the eighth century BC and comprising 24 books, centres on the Trojan War and the heroic exploits of Achilles, the Greeks' most formidable warrior.

LATEST DEVELOPMENTS

Researcher blows lid on discovery which could PROVE Noah's Ark was real

Schoolgirl finds 500,000-year-old mammoth bone on beach in stunning discovery

Native American man who helped Mayflower pilgrims settling in America was secretly sold into slavery

The poem explores themes of pride, fate, honour and mortality, remaining influential across millennia and inspiring countless adaptations.

Researchers remain uncertain why this particular literary excerpt was selected for inclusion in the burial.

Mummification practices at Oxyrhynchus during the Roman era represented a fusion of Egyptian, Greek and Roman traditions.

Priests of the period preserved bodies over 40 days using natron salt for dehydration before wrapping them in linen.

Rather than employing traditional canopic jars for organ storage, embalmers packed cavities with preserved materials alongside papyri sealed with clay.

Professor Ignasi-Xavier Adiego from the Department of Classical, Romance and Semitic Languages explained the significance of the discovery.

He said: "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.

"Furthermore, it is worth noting that since the late 19th century, a huge number of papyri have been discovered at Oxyrhynchus, including Greek literary texts of great importance, but the real novelty is finding a literary papyrus in a funerary context."

Excavations at the site have so far revealed three limestone chambers housing Roman-era mummies and ornately decorated wooden sarcophagi.

Earlier digs in the ancient city yielded 52 mummies from the Ptolemaic period, more than a dozen of which featured golden tongues, objects believed to prepare the deceased for the afterlife.

The most recent campaign also uncovered mummies with gold and copper tongues.