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Papyrus Reveals Ancient Greek Stories

Italian researchers have recovered part of a lost ancient Greek treatise, the earliest cartography of the Greek-Roman era, and a sketchbook for ancient painters — all by piecing together 50 fragments of a first- century B.C. parchment used in a mummy's wrapping.

Known as the papyrus of Artemidorus, the 2.5-meter- (eight-foot-) long and 32.5-centimeter- (13-inch-) wide parchment will go on display for the first time this week in Turin at the exhibition "The three lives of the papyrus of Artemidorus," which is part of the cultural events accompanying the Winter Olympics.

The papyrus "helps write new pages of Greek literature, cartography and art history," according to Claudio Gallazzi, a professor of Papirology at the University of Milan and the exhibition's curator.

Read entire article at Discovery Channel News