HOMERE, Fragment manuscript de l'Iliade,
Circa second quarter of the 2nd century BC,
Ink on papyrus, 70 x 80 mm.
Preserved under glass in a modern brown morocco binding. Rare fragment from the beginning of the Iliad. This papyrus fragment gives the incipit of The Iliad, Canto I, With the first nine lines of the opening of the epic poem). Are preserved: the upper margin and part of the right margin of the papyrus, the second half of the column, giving almost half of each line, in informal round writing.
The importance of this fragment is indisputable. This is one of the rare copies of a papyrus roll that has come down to us and gives the incipit of the Iliad, fundamental text in the history of literature. The writing in well-spaced lines can be dated to the second quarter of the 2nd century. This fragment comes from a roll of papyrus.
Courtesy: Aguttes
