I.

Introduction

Homer, the name traditionally assigned to the reputed author of the Iliad and the Odyssey, the two major epics of Greek antiquity. Nothing is known of Homer the individual, and in fact the question of whether a single person can be said to be responsible for the creation of the two epics is highly controversial. Linguistic and historical evidence, however, allows the supposition that the poems were composed in the Greek settlements on the west coast of Asia Minor c. 8th century bc.