Dutch Professor Identifies Lost 3rd-Century Odyssey Fragment in Utrecht Library
A damaged parchment fragment of Homer's 'Odyssey' was identified in the special collections of Utrecht University in the Netherlands after remaining unnoticed for decades. Discovered by Mark de Kreij, an assistant professor at Radboud University, the fragment dates to the third or fourth century A.D. and contains verses from Book 12, specifically the scene where the sun god Helios demands vengeance after Odysseus' crew killed his sacred cattle. While Utrecht University describes the find as part of a rare 'pocket edition' of the complete epic, experts debate whether it belonged to a full copy or a smaller anthology. The discovery highlights the widespread popularity of Homer in the ancient Mediterranean and underscores the challenges of dating ancient manuscripts through handwriting analysis.