Famous for Iliad and Odyssey, Homer is the most mysterious and extraordinary of all the poets of ancient Greece. Nothing at all is known for certain about his life, and many scholars have argued that he never even existed.
Homer Profile
Homer may have lived c. 8th or 9th century BC. As no definite facts are known about him, by tradition he was blind, and that he wrote the Iliad and the Odyssey, c. 9th - 8th century BC. Seven towns claim to be his birthplace.
Admired by Aristotle for his writing, his two epic poems, Iliad and Odyssey, are regarded the finest ever written, with realistic and descriptive style. They tell the stories of heroes and the incredible deeds in a mythical past when gods and goddesses interfered directly in the lives of mortals.
Homer's Iliad and Odyssey
The Iliad and the Odyssey describe events during and soon after the Trojan War, a conflict between ancient Greeks and the Trojans, citizens of the city of Troy around 1250 BC. The works were probably written several hundred years after this time. Those who argue that Homer is a myth say that the poems are the work of several generations of poets combined into one long text at a much later date.
The Iliad tells of a brief spell during the war which resulted in the Greeks sacking the city of Troy. The theme is the wrath of Achilles. His bitterness and desire for revenge seem to obscure his human sense of compassion, but in conceding the mutilated body of his enemy to the family for burial, he shows heroism and dignity, positive traits that the narrative explores.
The Odyssey follows Odysseus home from the Trojan War. His ten-year passage, the lies which he survives and all other things show a search for self-definition. The goddess Athena assists him get his bearing, and so does his wife.
Homer Legacy
Whatever truth, Homer's name was revered in ancient Rome and Greece. The Iliad and the Odyssey were regarded in much the same way as the Christian Bible was later regarded in medieval Europe.
Characters and events from the Iliad and the Odyssey were often used by later Greek writers and are still referred to in European literature. James Joyce's novel Ulysses, written around 3,000 years later, is based on the adventures of Odysseus, hero of the Odyssey.
Quoted from Homer's Works
"Great Priam slipped by, took Achilles' hands, beseeched him, then he kissed those slaughtering hands, awful, which had cut down a city's sons." ~ Homer, Iliad
Sources:
- Goring, Rosemary, Ed. Larousse Dictionary of Writers. New York: Larousse, 1994.
- McGovern, Una, Ed. Chambers Biographical Dictionary. Edinburgh: Chambers / Harrap Publishers, 2002.
- Payne, Tom. The A-Z of Great Writers. London: Carlton, 1997.
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