5 Archaeological Finds That Illuminate Homer’s ‘Iliad’ and ‘Odyssey’

The stories behind the epic poems of Homer have captivated the world for centuries. The ‘Iliad’ and the ‘Odyssey’, two of the most famous epics in history, were likely composed as oral poems around the 8th or 7th century BC. However, it wasn’t until the 3rd century BC that scholars at the Library of Alexandria began to record the stories in written form, using papyrus scrolls.

The oldest known papyrus fragments that contain portions of the ‘Iliad’ and the ‘Odyssey’ date back to the 3rd century BC, which is a fascinating period in history when Greek was still the administrative language of Egypt, and mummies were being entombed.

The Greek poet Homer is believed to have been active during this time, but his identity remains a topic of debate among scholars. According to Professor Serena Perrone of the University of Genoa, the oldest Homeric papyri were extracted from mummy cartonnage, such as the decorated face or body coverings placed on mummies. Workers created these plaster casts with linen or papyrus scraps, which made them a unique source of ancient writing.

One of the oldest known ‘Odyssey’ papyri is a fragment housed at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, dated between 285 and 250 BC. This fragment, discovered in an Egyptian necropolis in 1902, contains three lines that do not appear in the modern version of the poem passed down to us from medieval scholars, illustrating how the poem changed over time.

The city of Troy, immortalized in the ‘Iliad’, has been the subject of scholarly debate for centuries. While some argue that it was just a myth, many others believe that there was truth behind Homer's epic tale. The city, known as Ilios, Ilion, or Ilium, became an ancient tourist destination, attracting visitors such as Alexander the Great and Roman emperors.

Modern archaeologists have identified several potential sites that might have inspired the poems, including a German excavation in Hisarlık, Turkey, which revealed an ancient site that some scholars believe could be the true location of Troy. The UNESCO World Heritage Convention identifies it as the ‘Archaeological Site of Troy’, and while the debate continues, it appears that this site holds significant historical value.

The discovery of ancient papyrus fragments containing the ‘Odyssey’ has also shed light on the evolution of the poem. For instance, a potsherd from ancient Olbia, a site in modern-day Ukraine, contains a single line dated to the 5th century BC. More recently, archaeologists identified 13 lines of the ‘Odyssey’ inscribed on a brick in Olympia, Greece, which dates to the 3rd century AD.

In 1939, archaeologists identified an ancient palace in Pylos, Greece, which dates back to around 1300 BC. Some scholars have suggested that the site might have inspired the palace of King Nestor in the ‘Odyssey’, where Odysseus’ son Telemachus travels to in search of information about his missing father. The discovery of tablets at the palace that might refer to a large ritual bull sacrifice also adds to the intriguing narrative.

The discovery of sealed papyri at a necropolis in Oxyrhynchus, Egypt, has also provided valuable insights into the evolution of the ‘Iliad’. One of the mummies buried with a sealed excerpt from the poem, which likely dates back to the 1st or 2nd century AD, contained the famous ‘Catalog of Ships’ that lists all of the groups who sailed to Troy to fight in the Trojan War.

According to Professor Perrone, it is possible that the ‘Iliad’ excerpt served as a magical talisman, as some of the other sealed papyri appear to have a magical context. However, she is waiting until the scholars involved in this finding publish their research before she draws any conclusions.