History Fact Finder | Culture and Recreation - What Is Known About Homer?

What is known about Homer?

Most historians agree that Homer was a poet who lived before 700 B.C.in the area of Asia Minor (the western tip of Asia), most likely in Ios, Greece. He is considered to be the first true European poet and the author of the epic (long narrative) poems the Iliad and the Odyssey, both of which are considered literary masterpieces. They are the culmination of a long tradition of oral poetry that may date back as far as the thirteenth century B.C. There has been much debate and mystery surrounding Homer and his works. Some scholars claim he was blind and therefore a purely oral poet who told his epics to a scribe (copier of manuscripts) later in life. Others believe he is a mythological character and that the Iliad and the Odyssey are compilations of hundreds of years of oral tradition passed down through generations.

Questions surrounding the works of Homer have resulted...

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