{
  "id": 7861683,
  "title": "1,700-year-old fragment of the 'Odyssey' discovered between pages of Dutch library book",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/09/16/1-700-year-old-fragment-of-the-odyssey-discovered-between-pages-of",
  "topic": "science",
  "section": "Science",
  "published": "2026-09-16T20:12:40.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "Live Science",
    "slug": "live-science",
    "url": "https://www.livescience.com/archaeology/1-700-year-old-fragment-of-the-odyssey-discovered-between-pages-of-dutch-library-book"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": null,
  "summary": "A 1,700-year-old fragment of Homer's Odyssey has been discovered in a Dutch library, hidden between the pages of an old Egyptian text. The fragment, which measures just 2.6 by 3 inches (6.6 by 7.7 centimeters), contains verses from Book 12 of the epic, describing a critical moment when the sun god Helios discovers that Odysseus' men have killed and eaten his immortal cattle. The find was made by Mark de Kreij, a Greek literature expert at Radboud University in the Netherlands, while he was studying early Christian manuscripts purchased by Utrecht University in the mid-20th century. This discovery marks the second time this year that a fragment from a Homeric epic has been found unexpectedly, following the discovery of Iliad papyrus fragments inside a Roman-era mummy in Egypt.",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}