Scrap of 1700-year-old copy of The Odyssey washes up in Utrecht

A 1700-year-old piece of parchment, containing verses from Homer's The Odyssey, was recently discovered in the library of Utrecht University. The fragment, measuring 6.6cm by 7.7cm, was found among a collection of manuscripts that belonged to a German scientist, Carl Schmidt. The torn piece of paper, roughly the size of a playing card, contains a handful of lines from book 12 of the epic poem, describing the moment when Odysseus's men killed and ate the sacred cattle of the sun god Helios, leading to a storm that destroyed Odysseus's fleet and killed his army.

The text, written in ancient Greek, was found among a batch of Coptic papyri, which are Egyptian texts written in the Greek alphabet. The university released the discovery following the success of Christopher Nolan's recent film adaptation of The Odyssey, which has reignited interest in the epic tale and boosted sales of English and Dutch translations.

Ancient Greek lecturer, Mark de Kreij, immediately recognized the verses when he came across the parchment. He explained that the fragment likely survived because it was found in the middle of the book, protected by the outer pages. De Kreij said that the discovery highlights the enduring nature of The Odyssey and its ability to be passed down for millennia.