NICOSIA, Cyprus ? A 2,500-year-old stone coffin with well-preserved color illustrations from Homer’s epics has been discovered in western Cyprus, archaeologists say.

“It is a very important find,” said Pavlos Flourentzos, director of the island’s antiquities department. “The style of the decoration is unique, not so much from an artistic point of view, but for the subject and the colors used.”

Only two other similar sarcophagi have ever been discovered in Cyprus before. One is housed in New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art and the other in the British Museum in London, but their color decoration is more faded, Flourentzos said.

The limestone sarcophagus was found by construction workers last week in a tomb near the village of Kouklia, in the coastal Paphos area. The tomb, which probably belonged to an ancient warrior, had been looted during antiquity.

Flourentzos said the coffin – painted in red, black and blue on a white background – dated to 500 B.C., when Greek cultural influence was gaining a firm hold on the eastern Mediterranean island. Pottery discovered in the tomb is expected to provide a precise date.

Experts believe the ornate decoration features the hero Ulysses in scenes from Homer’s “Iliad” and “Odyssey” – both hugely popular throughout the Greek world.

A rare 2,500-year-old stone coffin with well-preserved color illustrations from Homer's epics has been discovered in an ancient tomb in Kouklia village near the coastal town of Paphos, Cyprus. This scene shows two warriors on a chariot.

In one large painting, Ulysses and his comrades escape from the blind Cyclops Polyphemos’ cave, hidden under a flock of sheep. Another depicts a battle between Greeks and Trojans from the “Iliad.”

Other drawings depict a figure carrying a seriously injured or dead man and a lion fighting a wild boar under a tree. These are not believed to be linked with Homer’s poems.

Reflecting a long oral tradition loosely based on historic events, Homer’s epics were probably composed around 800 B.C. and written down in the sixth century B.C.

The tomb was found in an area containing several ancient cemeteries which belonged to the nearby town of Palaepaphos, some 11 miles inland from modern Paphos.

First settled around 2800 B.C., Palaepaphos was the site of a temple of Aphrodite – the ancient goddess of beauty who, according to mythology, was born in the sea off Paphos.