Turmeric has been used for thousands of years as a medicinal preparation and a preservative and coloring agent in foods. Curcumin was isolated as the major yellow pigment in turmeric; chemically diferulomethane, and has a polyphenolic molecular structure similar to other plant pigments (eg.
The Odyssey by Homer Written 800 B.C.E. Context. NEARLY THREE THOUSAND YEARS after they were composed, the Iliad and theOdyssey remain two of the most celebrated and widely read stories ever told, yet next to nothing is known about their author.
Life and Background. Little can be said about Homer. Ancient Greek tradition, as well as a study of the language and style of the poems, indicates that he probably lived and wrote sometime in the eighth or ninth centuries B.C., but no more definite date can be determined.