Iliad Papyrus Fragment Found in 1,600-Year-Old Egyptian Mummy

Archaeologists in Oxyrhynchus, Egypt, discovered a papyrus fragment from Homer's Iliad tucked inside the wrappings of a 1,600-year-old mummy. The fragment, from Book II's catalog of ships, was found in Tomb 65 of Sector 22 during late 2025 excavations by the Oxyrhynchus Archaeological Mission, led by Maite Mascort and Esther Pons. It is the first known evidence of a Greek literary text deliberately incorporated into mummification. The mummy was among several in a necropolis, some decorated with gold leaf or geometric patterns. Other finds include mummies with golden and copper tongues, used for speaking to Osiris in the afterlife. The fragment was studied noninvasively due to poor condition. Ignasi-Xavier Adiego, a philologist at the University of Barcelona, analyzed the text, noting the novelty of a literary papyrus in a funerary context. Hisham El-Leithy of Egypt's Supreme Council of Antiquities stated the discovery offers insights into evolving funerary practices during Greek and Roman eras. Oxyrhynchus, documented by Vivant Denon in 1798 and excavated by British archaeologists a century later, has yielded tens of thousands of papyri from its garbage dump, including literary, government, and religious texts. The Iliad fragment is unique among papyri found in mummies, which are typically magical or ritualistic. The team continues restoration, not ruling out further literary texts.