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Ancient Poetry

Newly discovered poems from the 3rd century B.C. by the Greek poet Posidippus are causing a stir in the academic world. The poems were written on a papyrus that turned up inside a mummy casing. They'd been recycled, turned into a kind of paper mache mask for the body. NPR's Steve Inskeep talks with Kathryn Gutzwiller, classics professor at the University of Cincinnati, who reads some of the newly found poems and explains the significance of the finding.

Copyright 2002 NPR

Steve Inskeep is a host of NPR's Morning Edition, as well as NPR's morning news podcast Up First.