“Archaeologists working in Egypt have discovered a remarkable combination of Homeric epic and Egyptian ritual: a 2,000-year-old mummy with a papyrus fragment of the “Iliad” sealed in a clay packet outside its wrappings.” (gift link)

“An Alexandria archaeological discovery in the Muharram Bek district has uncovered a rare circular public bath from the late Ptolemaic period and a Roman villa decorated with mosaic floors.”

“A collection of artifacts dating from the Ptolemic to the Byzantine period were discovered during excavations in the Muharram Bek neighborhood of Alexandria.”

“A sixth century mass grave located in the Jordanian city of Jerash has been identified as the oldest genetically confirmed plague-related burial and the first of its kind in the Eastern Mediterranean.”

Jason Borges writes about the tombstone of Abercius, the “longest and most explicit early Christian inscription.” The 22-line autobiographical text was written in AD 190.

ManuscriptShop sells museum-grade replicas of the earliest surviving biblical manuscripts, including 𝒫46, 𝒫52, and 𝒫66.

The Atlantic: “How did $65 million of allegedly stolen antiquities wind up in two of the world’s greatest museums?” (subscription)

HT: Agade, Alexander Schick