Christopher Nolan Moved by Oldest Surviving Homer Odyssey Manuscript

A rare 1,700‑year‑old codex of Homer's Odyssey, known as the “Manchester Odyssey,” was transported from the John Rylands Library in Manchester to New York for the press tour of Christopher Nolan’s film "The Odyssey." The manuscript, written in ancient Greek on parchment, was placed in a specially‑built protective case and flown to the United States.

Professor Christopher Presler, who accompanied the codex, said the operation felt like a scene from “Mission Impossible,” noting, “We knew what we were carrying in the case, but no one else knew… the responsibility was huge.” Nolan was “visibly moved” when he saw the artifact, and the film’s cast, including Tom Holland, examined it with great interest, trying to match the ancient characters to their roles.

The codex, the oldest known surviving book‑format copy of the epic dated to around 200–400 CE, originated from fragments found in Egypt and was acquired by British collector Lord Balcarres in 1900 before entering the university library’s collection.