Homer and Historical Context

From Reinhold, Meyer, Greek and Roman Classics, 1971, New York.

Homer (ca 900-800 B.C.)

1. Western literature may be said to begin with Homer.  There are no versions of earlier literature, although there was probably a mass of “floating” literature long before him, especially epic lays composed and handed down orally by court minstrels.
2. Homer lived on the Ionian coast of Asia Minor, the birthplace of literature, most likely in Smyrna or Chios (note from Julie – other research shows Chios is more likely), a generation or two after the reigns of the biblical kings David and Solomon.  There is a persistent tradition in antiquity that Homer was blind (note from Julie – more current research casts doubt/debunks this theory).
3. Author of the Epic poems The Iliad and The Odyssey.