'Mission Impossible' takes ancient Odyssey to stars - Published The task of taking parts of the oldest book copy of The Odyssey to the US for the stars of Christopher Nolan's cinematic retelling of the epic to view was "like being on the set of Mission Impossible", the librarian who took it has said. Part of a 1,700-year-old copy of Homer's poem, kept at Manchester's John Rylands Library, was taken to New York in a bespoke case for the viewing. Prof Christopher Pressler said it felt like a mission, as "we knew what was in this case but nobody else did", adding "It was a huge responsibility carrying something of global importance through JFK." He said it led to "some mind-blowing moments" for the cast, with Nolan being "very moved" by holding the fragments.

The fragments, written in ancient Greek by what was thought to be an Egyptian scribe and his teacher, are the oldest existing version of the poem arranged into a book. Nolan's film, which was adapted from Homer's epic, stars Matt Damon as Odysseus, with Tom Holland playing his son, Telemachus, and Anne Hathaway as his wife, Penelope. It also features Robert Pattinson as one of Penelope's suitors, Antinous, and Lupita Nyong'o as both Helen of Troy and her sister Clytemnestra.

Penner, the library's curator of African and Near Eastern Manuscripts, said the actors had been excited to see the text, with Holland being "super interested" in the artifact. "Encountering something that old, it's very hard to not have some kind of an emotional reaction," he said. "There were some mind-blowing moments for people realising that this document is almost 2,000 years-old and of course, the poem is 1,000 years older than that." Dr Jeremy Penner, who also travelled with the fragments, said the stars wanted to see where "the names of their characters were in the texts".

Pressler said Nolan and his family "were very moved" when they saw the pieces at the US premiere of the film. "We were able to let Christopher Nolan hold the object, which is entirely protected in its case," he said. Though used to travelling with high value items, Pressler said heading through the airport to the US was "a little like being on the set of Mission Impossible".

"We knew what was in this case but nobody else did. But it was a huge responsibility carrying something of global importance through JFK." Set in the late Bronze Age, in about the 13th Century BC, The Odyssey tells the story of the hero Odysseus and his quest to return from the Trojan War to his kingdom of Ithaca. The 24-book poem is attributed to the poet Homer and is thought to have been composed on mainland Greece between 850 and 750 BC.

It has been widely regarded as one of the greatest works of Western literature, has had various translations and is believed to have been translated into English more than 100 times. The earliest was a Latin translation by Livius Andronicus in the 3rd Century BC. It was translated into English for the first time by playwright George Chapman in the early 17th Century.

- The Odyssey film fans inspired to go back to the source - Published22 hours ago Older versions of the story exist on clay tablets, but the water-damaged sections of parchment kept at the Manchester library are the most ancient version of the epic in "book" form.