Researcher discovers 1,700-year-old fragment of Homer's Odyssey in Dutch library

Mark de Kreij, an expert in Greek language at Radboud University, found a handwritten Greek parchment fragment containing verses from Book 12 of Homer's Odyssey, dated to around 300 C.E., hidden among early Christian manuscripts at Utrecht University. The three-inch piece describes the moment the sun god Helios discovers that Odysseus' crew has slaughtered his sacred cattle.

Only about 30 Odyssey fragments from the third or fourth century have been found; the full extent of this text's unique content remains to be studied.