Homer

Biography

Homer, hailed as the poet of ‘The Iliad’ and ‘The Odyssey’, the two great epics which laid the foundation of Greek literature, has unfortunately come down to us just as a name. In fact, many modern scholars are not convinced that there was actually a man named Homer. According them, these two epics were the works of a group of poet-singers, collectively known as Homer. Another group however, recognizes that there was indeed a poet named Homer, but he had only refined the stories and compiled them into the two epics. Contrarily, if we go by ancient Greek traditions, there was indeed a man called Homer, who composed the two great epics along with a number of verses collectively known as ‘Homeric Hymns.’ More importantly, inhabitants of several cities in the Asia Minor region, known as the “Homeridae” claimed that they were the direct descendents of the bard. Modern scholars have woven his life story as much from such ancient traditions as from certain elements in his works, and the little that we know about him is from their research.

Childhood
Much speculation surrounds when Homer was born, because of the dearth of real information about him. Guesses at his birth date range from 750 BC all the way back to 1200 BC, the latter because The Iliad encompasses the story of the Trojan War, so some scholars have thought it fit to put the poet and chronicler nearer to the time of that actual event. But others believe the poetic style of his work indicates a much later period. Greek historian Herodotus (c. 484–425 BC), often called the father of history, placed Homer several centuries before himself, around 850 BC.

There is some basis for some of these claims, however. The dialect that The Iliad and The Odyssey are written in is considered Asiatic Greek, specifically Ionic. That fact, paired with frequent mentions of local phenomena such as strong winds blowing from the northwest from the direction of Thrace, suggests, scholars feel, a familiarity with that region that could only mean Homer came from there.

The dialect helps narrow down his lifespan by coinciding it with the development and usage of language in general, but The Iliad and The Odyssey were so popular that this particular dialect became the norm for much of Greek literature going forward.

Major Works
Homer is no doubt best remembered for the two great epics, ‘Iliad’ and ‘Odyssey.’ However, because of the differences in their styles of composition many suspected that they were authored by two different persons. However, after further scrutiny, it was found that the author of the two epics was the same.
It was later assumed that Homer had composed ‘Iliad’ when he was still young while ‘Odyssey’ was composed in his old age. Most scholars also agree that, initially created orally, both the epics had undergone changes and refinement by subsequent bards and hence the differences.