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A tiny fragment of Homer\u2019s \u201cOdyssey\u201d<\/strong>, believed to have come from a pocket-sized edition produced in Egypt around 1,700 years ago, has been identified in a Dutch university library.<\/p>\n The remarkable discovery was made at Utrecht University<\/strong>, where Greek literature specialist Mark de Kreij of Radboud University was examining early Christian manuscripts acquired by the university during the mid-20th century.<\/p>\n The parchment fragment measures just 6.6 by 7.7 centimetres<\/strong>, yet it preserves verses from Book 12 of the \u201cOdyssey\u201d<\/strong>, including the dramatic aftermath of Odysseus\u2019 crew slaughtering and eating the sacred cattle of the sun god Helios.<\/p>\n In Homer\u2019s epic, Odysseus and his men reach the island of Helios after surviving the dangers of Scylla and Charybdis.<\/p>\n They have been warned not to harm the god\u2019s cattle. But after becoming desperately hungry, the crew ignores the warning and kills the animals for food.<\/p>\n Helios demands punishment, and Zeus ultimately destroys their ship. Odysseus is left as the only survivor.<\/p>\n Researchers believe the parchment once formed part of a small codex produced in Egypt\u2019s Fayum oasis during the third or fourth century AD<\/strong>.<\/p>\n Utrecht University says only around 30 comparable fragments<\/strong> are currently known, making the tiny piece an unusually valuable survival from the ancient literary world.<\/p>\n De Kreij has suggested that the fragment may have survived precisely because of where it was positioned within the original book.<\/p>\n Located towards the middle of the codex, it would have been surrounded and protected by other pages, helping shield the parchment from damage over the centuries.<\/p>\n The fragment was actually identified in 2024<\/strong>, but details of the discovery have only now been made public.<\/p>\n De Kreij has been studying Utrecht University\u2019s collection of Greco Roman Egyptian texts, with his research expected to appear in a forthcoming book.<\/p>\n The discovery provides another glimpse into how Homer\u2019s works were read and circulated long after the ancient Greek world had changed.<\/p>\n It is also the second unexpected Homeric discovery reported in 2026<\/strong>.<\/p>\n Earlier this year, fragments of Homer\u2019s \u201cIliad\u201d<\/strong> were identified inside a Roman era mummy in Egypt, offering another extraordinary link between the surviving remains of ancient Egypt and the works of one of Greece\u2019s greatest poets.<\/p>\n More than two millennia after Homer\u2019s epics were composed, even fragments no larger than a hand can still reveal new chapters in the story of how his words survived through the ages.<\/p>\nA pocket edition from ancient Egypt<\/h3>\n
Discovered in 2024<\/h3>\n