Homer, Iliad - In Latin and Greek, 1477

This treasure, from the Vatican Library, is a volume of Homer's Iliad, written in Latin and Greek. We learn more information about this 15th-century work from the Exhibit's description:

Johannes Rossos wrote the Greek text and Bartolomeo San Vito the Latin of this codex of Homer's "Iliad" and a companion version of the "Odyssey." The illustrations, by a north Italian artist, draw on the archaeological scholarship of Paduan antiquaries to represent the Greek and Trojan heroes in convincingly rendered ancient armor and costumes (though the ship and tents in the middle of the Latin page are clearly modern).

Here we see the priest Chryses, rendered as an ancient pagan, spurned by Agamemnon and avenged by the god Apollo, who shoots down the Greeks. Sadly, time or funds ran out, and most later images in the series are either merely sketched in or entirely omitted.

The illustrations shown summarize Book I of the Iliad.

Click on the image for a much larger view.