Homer is the poet who wrote the Iliad and Odyssey. Homer is the most known Greek poet worldwide and his name in Greek is Omiros, a name still used in Greece today.
Biography of Homer or Omiros
Homer was probably born around the 8th or 9th century BC. It is not known where he was born, but many cities dispute over his origin.
There are not many details available about Homer – some historians even doubt his own existence. However, his two poems are written in the Ionian dialect, proving that he originates from a city in Ionia.
What we know is that Homer was a blind poet and the first thing that comes to our minds are his two masterpieces, the epic poems Iliad and Odyssey that describe the Trojan War and the adventure of Ulysses (Odysseas in Greek) once the Trojan war was over. These poems have been an important part of the Greek culture and are considered part of world’s classic literature.
The Greek name of the poet (Omiros) is the same with the Greek word for hostage (όμηρος); however, in some dialects it is interpreted as “the blind man”. This led people to think that he was either a blind man or a hostage. Traditionally, historians think that Homer was blind and that he did not write his poems, but dictated them to someone who knew how to write.
The Odyssey and the Iliad by Homer have been translated to most known languages of the world.