It is the first discovery of its kind: Egyptian mummy unearthed with literary text in the abdomen

The mummy in question was one of several that were found at an archaeological site in Egypt.

Archaeologists working in the ancient city of Oxirrinco, Egypt, have unearthed a mummy with a passage from Homer’s “Iliad” attached to its abdomen, in what is a first-of-its-kind discovery.

While other mummies in the region have been found with sealed packages containing papyri with what appear to be ritualistic formulas applied as part of the embalming process, this is the first time a literary text has been found, Ignasi-Xavier Adiego, a classical philologist at the University of Barcelona in Spain, tells CNN.

“This is the biggest advance for us”, summarizes Adiego, who is part of a team that has been working at the site for years.

“Until now, we didn’t know that they would have used literary texts as part of this funeral ritual,” he adds.

The mummy was found in the modern-day Egyptian city of Al Bahnasa, about 200 kilometers south of the capital Cairo. It is approximately 1,600 years old, from the Roman era, according to a statement from the University of Barcelona.

Even though the papyrus is fragmentary and in poor condition, the team was able to determine that the text is from the ship catalog from Book II of the Greek epic poem, says Adiego.

“We haven’t had the opportunity to study it using high-tech methods, like X-rays, that could allow us to read it better,” he notes. “We did everything we could without destroying the papyrus.”

Consequently, research on papyrus is in a preliminary phase, explains Adiego. Therefore, there are still important questions to be answered.

At this time, little is known about the role of papyrus in the embalming process, he adds. Still, there is a possible explanation: they would act as a kind of signature of the embalmer who mummified the body.

The discovery of what appear to be ritual instructions written on other papyri has led some to theorize that they had some kind of protective function, says Adiego.

“The idea that a papyrus with a literary text would have fulfilled this same function is much stranger”, he adds.

“Therefore, until now, we have not been able to interpret the reason for the existence of this literary papyrus”, concludes Adiego.

Furthermore, little is known about the lives of those whose mummies were found at the site, other than the fact that their families must have had a certain level of wealth to be able to afford the embalming process, he adds.

Egypt’s Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities said the excavation revealed three limestone tombs containing several mummies, three of which had gold tongue blades and another with copper tongue blades.

In a statement posted on Facebook, the ministry said one of the rooms contained a large jar with the charred remains of an adult, as well as bones of a baby and the head of a feline. The remains were wrapped in pieces of fabric.

There was a similar jar containing the charred remains of two people and bones of an animal of the same species in the second room, he added.

CNN’s Sarah Tamimi also contributed to this report.