Homer

Homer is a Greek epic poet, the author of the Iliad and the Odyssey. Ancient Greeks revered Homer and considered him the first and greatest of all epic poets.

We don’t know for sure when or where he lived (or if he existed at all for that matter). Herodotus tells us that Homer lived around 400 years before his own time, which would place Homer’s birth at around 850 BC.

The importance of Homer to the ancient Greeks is described in Plato’s Republic, which describes him as the protos didaskalos, “first teacher”, and the hegemon paideias, “leader of our culture”.

Homer’s works, which are about fifty percent speeches, provided models in persuasive speaking and writing that were emulated throughout the ancient and medieval worlds. Fragments of Homer account for nearly half of all identifiable Greek literary papyri finds in Egypt.

The Odyssey

The Odyssey is an epic poem describing Odysseus’ ten-year-long journey from Troy to Ithaca after the end of the Trojan War. The Odyssey also explains the events leading to the start and conclusion of the war in much detail.

In fact, the Odyssey doesn’t only recount Odysseus’ dangerous adventures on his journey back home, it also talks about the ordeals his family goes through in Ithaca in his absence. The poem is written in 12, 110 lines of dactylic hexameter. It has been translated into numerous modern languages of the world and continues to be read widely.

Although the Iliad and Odyssey are Homer’s best-known poems, more of his works, for instance, the Homeric Hymns have come to surface. Sadly a lot of his other works are believed to be lost in time.