Archaeologists have found a papyrus copy ofHomer'sIliadin the gut of an ancient Egyptian mummy, the first time ever that a Greek literary text has been found incorporated into the preservation process.
The discovery has big implications for our knowledge offunerary practicesand religious life in ancient Egypt.
Thepapyrus fragmentwas discovered in the abdomen of a mummy buried in a Roman-era tomb around 1,600 years ago in Oxyrhynchus.
Oxyrhynchus, known in the Pharaonic times as Per-Medjed, was one of the most important cities of Greco-Roman Egypt. Its remains are in the present-day town of Al Bahnasa, about 190 km south of Cairo, next to the branch of the Nile known as Bahr Yussef.
Researchers from the Institute of Ancient Near East Studies at the University of Barcelona found the mummy during a recent excavation campaign carried out between November and December 2025.
They found the mummy featured an unusual element, a papyrus placed on the abdomen as part of the embalming ritual.
Egyptian mummies from this period have previously been found to carry papyri written in Greek, but they have all carried text of magical or ritualistic content.
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The discovery of theIliadpapyrus marks the first time that a Greek literary text has been found in the embalming context, researchers note, adding that the identified text belongs to the catalogue of ships in Book II of the epic poem.
It contains a famous passage listing the Greek forces massing before Troy.
Researchers said they were unsure why this particular Greek text was chosen for the mummification process.
“This is not the first time we have found Greek papyri, bundled, sealed, and incorporated into the mummification process, but until now, their content was mainly magical,” Ignasi-Xavier Adiego, a professor in the Department of Classical, Romance and Semitic Languages, said.
“Furthermore, it is worth noting that since the late 19th century, a huge number of papyri have been discovered at Oxyrhynchus, including Greek literary texts of great importance, but the real novelty is finding a literary papyrus in a funerary context.”
So far, excavations at Oxyrhynchus have revealed three limestone chambers containing Roman-era mummies and decorated wooden sarcophagi.
Previous campaigns in the ancient city led to the discovery of 52 Ptolemaic-era mummies, of which over a dozen had "golden tongues", a symbol of preparation for afterlife.
