This Week in the Ancient Near East

← This Week in the Ancient Near East21 jul · 38 min

The Roman Mummy Who Swallowed the Iliad, or, Take 1186 Ships and Call Me in the Morning

The Roman Mummy Who Swallowed the Iliad, or, Take 1186 Ships and Call Me in the Morning21 jul38 min

A Roman mummy from the fabulously named site of Oxyrhynchus in Egypt has tested positive for the Iliad. But why put a snippet of Homer’s tale on a mummy, especially a fairly dull list of ships and places? Maybe it was to audition for a Christopher Nolan movie?