RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE - MANDATORY CREDIT "AFP PHOTO / Greek Culture Ministry" - NO MARKETING NO ADVERTISING CAMPAIGNS - DISTRIBUTED AS A SERVICE TO CLIENTS
A handout picture released by the Greek Culture Ministry shows a clay tablet with an engraved inscription discovered after three years of excavations in the archaeological site of Ancient Olympia which has been shown to preserve 13 verses of a rhapsody in Homer's "Odyssey". According to a culture ministry announcement on July 10, initial estimates date the tablet to the Roman era, possibly before the 3rd century AD. If the preliminary estimate of its age is confirmed then "the clay tablet would preserve perhaps the oldest extant written excerpt of the Homeric Epics that has been found, which besides it uniqueness is also a very important archaeological, literary and historical record". / AFP PHOTO / Greek Culture Ministry / Handout / RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE - MANDATORY CREDIT "AFP PHOTO / Greek Culture Ministry" - NO MARKETING NO ADVERTISING CAMPAIGNS - DISTRIBUTED AS A SERVICE TO CLIENTS