Archaeologists in Egypt have uncovered a jaw-dropping ancient mystery that sounds straight out of an adventure movie: a 2,000-year-old mummy buried with pages from Homer’s “Iliad” tucked into its wrappings as part of a strange burial ritual.
The shocking discovery was made at the ancient burial site of Oxyrhynchus in Egypt, where researchers found a nonroyal male mummy carrying a papyrus fragment from the legendary Greek epic. Experts believe the text may have been used like a supernatural guidebook to help the dead navigate the afterlife.
Even more incredible, researchers say this is the first time a famous literary work has ever been discovered serving a spiritual function in the actual mummification process.
The papyrus contained lines from Book 2 of the “Iliad,” the section known as the “Catalogue of Ships,” and had been carefully folded into a clay packet placed outside the mummy’s wrappings.
Experts now believe the ancient Egyptians living under Roman rule may have treated parts of the Greek classic almost like magical protection spells.
“The find is incredibly significant,” said University of Chicago Egyptologist Foy Scalf, who explained that Greek literary texts were sometimes believed to carry mystical powers in the ancient world.
The mummy was uncovered by a team from the University of Barcelona during excavations at Oxyrhynchus, one of Egypt’s most important ancient cities. Researchers spent years carefully restoring the fragile papyrus after it was found badly damaged inside the tomb.
Leah Mascia, a specialist in Greco-Roman Egypt, worked alongside conservators and language experts to slowly piece the text back together. After six years of painstaking analysis, the team realized they had uncovered something never seen before — proof that Greek literature may have been physically used in Egyptian burial rituals.
The discovery paints a fascinating picture of Roman-era Egypt, when cultures from Greece, Rome and Egypt blended together in strange and unexpected ways.
Instead of simply reading Homer for entertainment, some ancient people may have believed the words themselves carried power beyond the grave.
For historians, it’s another reminder that the ancient world was often far stranger than fiction.
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