Homer | Greek Mythology & History

Homer was an early Greek poet who lived around the Eigth Century BCE, or perhaps earlier. He is known for two poems, The Iliad and The Odyssey, which tell the stories of ancient Greek heroes that shaped much of that mythology.

There has been much dispute about the author of these poems. It was for a long time believed that the Iliad was composed by a number of different poets, although more recent evidence suggests that a single poet, generally agreed upon as Homer, penned the Iliad. The Odyssey was also written around the same era, though perhaps a few decades later, also presumably by a single poet. Both poems are attributed to Homer, though they may have been written by different people.

Even the ancient Greeks were not in agreement about Homer—although his works were studied by all Greek students, there were many inconsistencies in teachings of his life and his origins. Some of the legends say that Homer was blind.

The Homeric Hymns were once attributed to Homer, although that mistake was later corrected.

(Read the entire text of The Iliad and The Odyssey online!)