Discovering the ancient coffin that recreates the Iliad and Odyssey epics

Experts have discovered a stone casket carved with colorful illustrations from the immortal Iliad and Homer's Odyssey in eastern Cyprus.

The image remains on the coffin. The stone coffin was found by construction workers in a grave near Kouklia, the seaside town of Paphos, in an area containing many ancient cemeteries belonging to Palaepaphos town , which was first settled in 2,800 BC, and is home to the temple of Aphrodite, the beauty goddess born in Paphos.

Pavlos Flourentzos, the island's ancient office director, said the coffin was painted in red, black and blue on a white background, dating back to 500 BC, when the Greek culture was influential. strong on the island in the eastern Mediterranean. Many decorations in a coffin that are thought to be made from special date scrub.

" The style of this quach is very unique, not really a work of art, but the colors and themes are quite unique, " Flourentzos said.

Experts believe that decorations depict the hero Ulysses in Homer's Iliad and Odyssey. In a big picture, Ulysses and his friends escape from the Cyclops Polyphemos cave and hide among the sheep. Another depicts the war between the Greeks and Trojan soldiers from the Iliad.

Archaeologists think these images imply the position of the casket owner. "Maybe those images illustrate the character of the deceased and maybe it's a warrior," Flourentzos said.

There are also some other paintings depicting a character carrying a seriously injured or dead person, and a lion fighting a wild boar under a tree. But these images are not related to Homer's song.

Historically, Cyprus has discovered two similar coffins, one in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York and one in the British Museum in London, but their colors have faded, Flourentzos adds. .

Homer's work, based on historical events, can be composed around 800 BC and was written in the 6th century BC.

T.LÊ