Greek Epic "The Iliad" Discovered Buried with Egyptian Mummy

Papyrus Discovered in Tomb at Oxyrhynchus Site
Likely Used as a "Guide to the Afterlife" in Roman Egypt

An Egyptian mummy, buried 2,000 years ago together with a copy of the epic poem "The Iliad" by the ancient Greek poet Homer, has been discovered. This is the first time evidence has been found that Greek literary works were used as magical tools for the afterlife by Egyptians during the Roman era.

According to the New York Times (NYT) on May 15 (local time), a team from the University of Barcelona in Spain, while investigating the mummy of a non-royal male in "Tomb 65" at the Oxyrhynchus archaeological site near El Bahnasa in central Egypt, discovered severely damaged fragments of papyrus (the ancient Egyptian writing material) sealed in a clay package outside the mummy.

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After six years of restoration work, the researchers determined that the papyrus was a fragment of "The Iliad," the epic poem written by Homer about 2,800 years ago. The papyrus contained excerpts from the "Catalogue of Ships" in Book 2 of The Iliad, which lists the regions, troop numbers, and fleet sizes of the Greek allied commanders who fought in the Trojan War. Based on the way the papyrus was folded and the traces of sealing, the researchers concluded that the document was deliberately prepared in a mummy workshop before being placed on the body.

This discovery shows that, during the period of Roman rule, as Greek and Egyptian cultures merged, a new funerary custom emerged of burying sealed bundles of papyrus with the deceased. In ancient Egypt, funerary texts such as the "Book of the Dead" or the "Book of Breathing" had traditionally been buried with mummies to guide the dead into the afterlife.

In Roman Egypt, Greek culture and identity were considered symbols of wealth and social privilege, and scholars believe this may have influenced funerary practices. Anna Dolganov, a historian at the Austrian Archaeological Institute, explained that the act of burying a copy of The Iliad with the deceased "may have served as a kind of 'cultural passport' to enter the Greek-style afterlife, instead of navigating Egypt's complex underworld."

The Oxyrhynchus site is known as a place where a vast number of ancient papyrus manuscripts have been excavated. In the late 19th century, British archaeologists uncovered more than 400,000 papyrus fragments from rubbish mounds in the area, bringing renewed attention to the works of ancient poets and playwrights such as Sappho and Euripides.

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