Archaeologists examining a 1,600-year-old mummy in Egypt have identified a fragment of Homer’s Iliad among the materials used in the embalming process — a striking reminder of how far Greek literary culture had spread into Roman-era Egypt centuries after the poem was first composed.
Papyrus, including reused literary and administrative texts, was commonly recycled into mummy wrappings and cartonnage in this period, but an identifiable classical literary fragment like this is a notable find. Researchers are continuing to analyze the fragment for its exact passage and condition.
This is a good history-meets-archaeology story — the kind of piece that pairs well with a short explainer on how papyrus recycling worked in the ancient world.