The 38-year-old man reportedly broke into a flat in the Prati district of Rome but became distracted after picking up a book about Homer’s Iliad.

The owner, 71, awoke and confronted the man, who was busy reading the book.

The book’s author caught wind of the story online and said he wanted to send the alleged thief a copy of the book so he could finish it.

After being caught the man escaped from the same balcony he had used to enter. He told police he had climbed the building to visit a friend.

Giovanni Nucci, the author of The Gods at Six O’Clock, which explains the Iliad from the perspective of the gods, told Il Messaggero: “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.

“It’s a surreal story, but also full of humanity.”

He also said his favourite deity was Hermes, the god of thieves.

“He is also the god of literature. It is clear: everything fits.”