Utrecht University discovers 1,700-year-old fragment of Homer’s Odyssey

Researchers at Utrecht University have discovered a rare 1,700-year-old parchment fragment of Homer’s ‘Odyssey’. The small piece, measuring approximately 6.6 by 7.7 centimeters, was identified by papyrologist Mark de Kreij while studying an ancient manuscript collection.

Originally misidentified as an insignificant fragment from the 7th century, the text has been dated to the 3rd or 4th century AD. The verses belong to Book XII of the epic, specifically recounting the moment when the sun god Helios demands punishment from Zeus after Odysseus’s crew consumes his sacred cattle. This event leads to a storm that destroys the ship and kills the crew, leaving Odysseus as the sole survivor.

The fragment is believed to have been part of a small, portable edition of the poem, similar in size to a modern e-reader, likely used by a reader in the Fayum oasis of Egypt around 300 AD. Experts note that such discoveries are rare, with only about thirty similar specimens known worldwide, and the find confirms the continued popularity and copying of Homeric epics during Late Antiquity.