Author

Books by Homer

Homer is the name the ancient Greeks gave to the poet — or the tradition of poets — behind the Iliad and the Odyssey, the two epics at the foundation of Western literature. Almost nothing about him is certain. He likely lived around the 8th century BCE in the Greek-speaking eastern Aegean, and the poems were composed and performed orally, sung by bards from memory long before they were ever written down. The "Homeric Question" — whether one poet or many shaped these works — has never been settled. What is beyond doubt is the reach: for nearly three thousand years, Homer has been the starting point of the storyteller's art.