#38: The Unwritten Language of the Notes in Homer’s Odyssey
Whether you have read the story yourself, everyone has heard of the book Homer’s Odyssey. It is one of the oldest written manuscripts known to date, considering that it was written in 8 BCE. It is a poem that follows the story of King Ithaca, who is trying to get home after the Trojan War… But one particular copy in the world is written in an unknown language.

A particularly old copy of the book, 500 years old to be exact, has confused researchers for years, as it has notes written in the margins of an unwritten language. Through tireless efforts, historians have concluded that the notes are a type of French shorthand invented by Jean Coulon de Thevenot in the 1700s. Isn’t it amazing what some historians can uncover?