1,700-Year-Old Odyssey Fragment Found in Dutch Library Book
A researcher discovered a torn parchment containing lines from Homer's Odyssey tucked inside a Dutch library collection. The fragment dates to around A.D. 300.
A researcher was perusing a collection of old Egyptian texts in a Dutch library when he stumbled upon a torn piece of parchment containing a pivotal story: a section from Homer’s Odyssey. The fragment appears to be from a pocket edition of the epic produced in Egypt around A.D. 300.
The researcher, Mark de Kreij, a Greek literature expert and professor at Radboud University in the Netherlands, found the parchment while studying early Christian manuscripts that the Utrecht University library purchased in the mid-20th century, according to a statement from Utrecht University. Among a collection of Egyptian and Greek texts, de Kreij found a tiny piece of parchment with words he recognized from Homer’s epic.