A man has been arrested in Rome after he stopped to read a book on Greek mythology in the home he was attempting to burgle.
Italian media reported that the 38-year-old broke into a flat in the Italian capital’s Prati district via the balcony but only got as far as the bedside table where he was distracted by a book about Homer’s Iliad.
The 71-year-old homeowner woke up and confronted the alleged burglar, who was reading the book.
After being caught off-guard the man reportedly attempted to flew via the same balcony but was arrested shortly after.
The man claimed he thought he was at a B&B to visit a friend while police found on him a bag containing expensive clothing, allegedly stolen from another house earlier that evening.
The book that caught the burglar’s attention was “The Gods at Six O’Clock’ by Giovanni Nucci, which explains the Iliad from the gods’ perspective.
Nucci was informed of what transpired and he said: “It’s fantastic”.
“I’d like to find the person caught red-handed and give him the book, because he’ll have been arrested halfway through reading it. I’d like him to be able to finish it,” he told Il Messaggero.
“It’s a surreal story, but also full of humanity.”
The author said his personal favourite Greek deity is Hermes, who happens to be god of literature among other things.
