3-047-592 - Heritage Art/Heritage Images

Papyrus Fragment with Text from Homer's Odyssey, 1st century BC. Additional Info: This tiny papyrus fragment, broken on three sides, preserves a passage from the Odyssey by Homer. Believed to have been composed in the 700s BC, the Odyssey tells the story of the hero Odysseus's return from the Trojan War. This passage describes the moment when Odysseus frees his companions, who had been held under a spell by the sorceress-goddess Circe. Sheets of papyrus, made from the fibers of the papyrus plant that grew in Egypt, were the main writing material in the ancient world. From the form of the letters used in this text, scholars can date this papyrus copy of the Odyssey to the first century BC. Additional writing, possibly a commentary on a later section of the Odyssey, covers the back side of the fragment.