For those of you who have been struggling with the question of the textualization of the Iliad and Odyssey, you can now relax.  A first edition of Homer has been discovered, which will of course settle all questions about the text, as we can now consult this lovely edition and find out the author’s truest intentions. Can’t wait to see if books 10 of the Iliad and 24 of the Odyssey are there!  We might see some careers ruined based on the outcome here.

The first edition’s existence came to light recently in the best of sources: a Hollywood film—J-Lo’s The Boy Next Door, to be exact. Apparently a teenage student gives this edition to her as a gift, claiming to have purchased it for a dollar at a garage sale. I assume this was a garage sale in Oxyrhyncus, where one can find the oddest things in the city dump. Anyway, you can read all about it in The Guardian.

The result is that there has been a spike in online traffic caused by people trying to get their own first-edition of Homer.  And here I thought only M. L. West had one…