Papyrus Fragment Containing Parts of Homer's Iliad

A papyrus fragment from the Simile collection that contains parts of the Iliad by the Greek poet Homer.

The fragment consists of two columns of five stanzas of Book 16: the lines from 642 to 646; from 715 to 770; from 818 to 829; Book 17: lines 1 to 7, and from line 18 to line 23. The complete Simile collection was made for use in schools.

The Simile chapter was used by the Alexandrian critic, Aristarchus of Samothrace. Such papyrus fragments reveal that treatments and researches on the Similes of Homer, were made by the great Alexandrian critics.

This papyrus is part of the Oxyrhynchus collection, which was found in Al Bahnasa.