The Manchester Odyssey, designated P. Ryl. Gr. I 53, is a Roman Egyptian Greek codex made of vellum that was once a complete manuscript of The Odyssey by Homer. First documented in 1899 in a fragmented state, it is considered to have been written by hand right at the turn of the 4th century. Since 1908, it has been a part of the John Rylands Research Institute and Library, University of Manchester as part of its papyri corpus. It is considered one of the earliest surviving vellum codices around, and therefore, also the oldest surviving book of The Odyssey.[1][2]
| The Manchester Odyssey | |
|---|---|
 Folio 90-91 | |
| Type | codex |
| Material | vellum |
| Height | 168 mm (6.6 in) |
| Width | 130 mm (5.1 in) |
| Writing | Uncial script, Greek |
| Created | circa 300 AD |
| Discovered | 1900 Egypt |
| Present location | John Rylands Research Institute and Library |
| Identification | Greek P 53; 60947; P. Ryl. Gr. 1 53; Mertens-Pack 01106.000; Trismegistos 60947 |
| Culture | Roman Egypt |
| https://www.digitalcollections.manchester.ac.uk/view/MS-GREEK-P-00053/4 | |
Provenance
editThe earliest documentation of the papyrus dates to the winter of 1899, as part of an acquisition by British papyrologists Arthur Surridge Hunt and Bernard Pyne Grenfell, famed for their work on documenting the Oxyrhynchus Papyri from 1896 to 1907.[1][3] They acquired the work from James Lindsay, 26th Earl of Crawford in Winter 1899, and two years later, it entered the Rylands collection through a purchase by Enriqueta Augustina Rylands, which was then passed onto the Library in 1908.[1]
Hunt later catalogued the Greek papyri holdings of the Library (including this manuscript) in 1911 in the Catalogue of the Greek Papyri in the John Rylands Library, Manchester Volume I.[4]
Description
editCatalogued P. Ryl. Gr. I 53, the codex is made of vellum parchment measuring 16.8 cm x 13.0 cm, and the surviving folio fragments consist of Folios 1-30, and 52-101 in varying conditions, from heavily fragmented to mostly surviving pages with holes in the middle.[1][5] From Folio 79 recto, quire-markings "κδ ", and in Folio 87, "κε" which determine the placement of the pages, in addition to a standard of 29 lines of text per page indicates the manuscript originally consisted of 207 folios.[1][5] The text is handwritten in Greek, with uncial-style formatting in brown ink with corrections done in black ink[1][5]
Overall, the surviving texts consisted of Books XIII-XV, and Books XX-XXIV, with the end of the story being in better condition.[1][5] In 1900, its then owner, Crawford noted to his librarian that the center of the manuscript was rotted away from moisture, and that the best practice at the time would be to lay out each leaf between glass plates.[2] Later condition studies by Hunt in 1911 noted that some of the degraded leaves adhered to each other, with "two or three small coagulated lumps that defied treatment".[5]
Modern preservation techniques and conservation done by the National Manuscripts Conservation Trust involved preserving, stabilizing and re-housing the codex. In addition, digital imaging was utilized to capture both the preserved and degraded portions of the text.[5]
The preservation work coincided with release of Christopher Nolan's premiere of The Odyssey (2026), and as part of a collaboration between Universal Pictures and the University of Manchester, the codex's public display is set on 15 July 2026, two days before the world premiere of the film.[6][7]
References
edit- 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 "Papyri : Odyssey". Manchester Digital Collections. Retrieved 2026-07-14.
- 1 2 Homer, Christopher Pressler, Jeremy Penner, Kristian Scott, Hannah Goodwin, Andrew Ross. "The Manchester Odyssey". stories.manchester.ac.uk. Retrieved 2026-07-14.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) - ↑ "Home". oxyrhynchus.web.ox.ac.uk. Retrieved 2026-07-14.
- ↑ John Rylands Library; Roberts, Colin H. (Colin Henderson); Johnson, John de Monins; Hunt, Arthur S. (Arthur Surridge) (1911). Catalogue of the Greek papyri in the John Rylands library, Manchester . Robarts - University of Toronto. Manchester: University press; London: B. Quaritch; [etc., etc.]
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: date and year (link) - 1 2 3 4 5 6 John Rylands Library; Roberts, Colin H. (Colin Henderson); Johnson, John de Monins; Hunt, Arthur S. (Arthur Surridge) (1911). Catalogue of the Greek papyri in the John Rylands library, Manchester . Robarts - University of Toronto. Manchester, University press; London, B. Quaritch; [etc., etc.] p. 91-93.
- ↑ "From Homer to Hollywood: The Manchester Odyssey goes on public display as The John Rylands Library showcases its special collections on the global stage". From Homer to Hollywood: The Manchester Odyssey goes on public display as The John Rylands Library showcases its special collections on the global stage. Retrieved 2026-07-14.
- ↑ "Christopher Nolan's 'The Odyssey' Junket Just Featured a 1,700 Year Old Book, And It Perfectly Captures The Film's Ambition". 2026-07-06. Retrieved 2026-07-14.