Homer:

The Trojan War ended on April the 24^th of 1184 BC and most probably began on October the 12^th of 1194 BC of which Homer's Iliad is of only 52 days, and ends before the fall of Troy, and was written in around 740 BC, a story that had happened nearly 1000 years before the birth of Christ.

Homer's birthdate is unknown, but it has been suggested by Herodotus the Father of History another great Greek writer that he had lived some 400 years before himself, yet another, a chronicler one Artemon of an Ionian town on the coast of, what today is Turkiye, called Clazomenae records one Arctinus of Miletus who was also an Epic Poet, but sadly none of his work has survived for us, that Arctinus was born in the year of 744 BC and that he was a pupil of Homer's.

So, to put it into perspective, that when the city of Rome was born Homer was writing and or, and I'll add, dictating to a scribe for the sticklers.

To have written about the Iliad and the Odyssey one would have had to have heard and listened to stories recited of the events that led to it and to them, and we can assume would have probably seen vases and pottery with images related to the Trojan War and of its Heroes, and of the Divinities.

Maybe if one had or chanced a 'pon the opportunity to visit Troy, and there not only walked a 'pon its ways but could have heard tales from their side. Alexander the Great had done so, and so too did the Romans who built anew upon the site.

Yes, there was a literate society at that time but not everyone was obviously, so story telling would have been the media heard by all, and it was handed down from one poet to another or as we say today in a tradition of oral poetry, in the case of the Iliad and Odyssey it would be of Epic Poetry. Thus, by this I believe that Homer was able to compile what he wanted, and I'll stress "What He Wanted," to create his two great epic poems.

Now another interesting thing it has been said that his father, for some reason, and I haven't fully researched it yet, was given to the Persians as a hostage by Cypriots, thus our Poet was Blinded, metaphorically as to not knowing his way in life, I guess by not having his father around, and hence the nickname "Homer", this could be true because to this day in Italy and in Greece, I know this first hand because it happened to me, nicknames are given to everyone example in my case Born in Italy, my family immigrated, when we returned or I returned I was labelled "Herc the American," another was "Peter the Painter," and a friend "Giovanni the Frenchman." Still others say, claim that he truly was blind and he being amongst Aeolians gained that nickname.

According to one account Homer and Hesiod, another great Greek Poet, flourished at the same time and the two even competed in a contest of skill at Chalcis in Euboea, for, they say, [who are they? I don't know just bear with me] after Homer had composed his "Margites." He went about from polis to polis [that's city in Greek] as a minstrel, and coming to Delphi, he may have been curious or superstitious, he went to see the Oracle there, and inquired to who he was and from what country? The Pythia [Oracle's name] answered:

'The Isle of Ios is your mother's country and it shall receive you dead; but beware of the riddle of the young children.'

It is said that a 'pon hearing this, he hesitated for some time before sailing to Ios, but Homer eventually sailed on to Ios, where he joined Creophylus, another Great Greek Poet and Steeled there and as time passed, he became an older man. And that prophesised day came, so it's said, as he was sitting by the sea, that a fishing boat came and docked near where he sat, and Homer asked the young fishermen:

'Sirs, hunters of deep-sea prey, have we caught anything?'

To this they replied:

'All that we caught, we've left behind, and carry away all that we did not catch.'

Homer did not understand this verbal puzzle of a reply and asked them what they meant. They then explained that they had caught nothing in fishing, but had been catching lice, and those lice which they caught; they left them behind; but carried away in their clothes those which they did not catch.

Homer recalled the oracle's words, and as he was returning to his home, he slipped a 'pon a clayey place and fell upon his side. Homer died on the third day after his fall. He is buried on Ios, and his epitaph says:

'Here the Earth Covers the Sacred Head of Divine Homer, the Glorifier of Hero Men.'

Homer is the author of the Iliad and the Odyssey but of course this has to be disputed, by whom you may ask? In my opinion by those seeking fame, and by those who have a severe case of The Greek Disease.

But this dismissive attitude towards Homer has been going on probably since or even before he died and by the Greeks no less. Plato, imagine if you can Plato saying yes well, he taught Greece Greek, One does not even have to venture far into the English literate world to come across the same bunch, those who claim that Shakespeare is not the author, nor did he author anything which has his name a 'pon it, for the Greek Disease has permeated even the minds of the Shakespeareans.

Sorry but I must venture off from the Homer question and go swiftly to Julius Caesar and his writing's, now here I find this interesting because does one really presume or think that Caesar wrote each and every word?

Or did he have a scribe who scribed his every word? Again, I personally don't care, but if he did, he set the precedent for all the other leaders who came after him, and obviously I don't have to name them, to do likewise.

A famous British Professor of Rome, of Roman History has said that if it were not for Rome's love of all things Greek, Greece's works of art, literature etc, it all may have not been saved, Rome Immortalized all things Greek, imagine that for a moment.

Now whether the authorship of the Iliad and Odyssey, is attributed to Homer or is not, to me, it matters not, what matters to me, and I hope to you also, is what Homer gave us or left for us, these two Epic Poems to read, and of course, let's not forget his Hymns, to enjoy and most importantly to learn from.

Dante, yes even Dante, in his Inferno, I believe it is in Canto IV, lines 85 - 88, where through Virgil, he names Homer as the sovereign poet,

Homer leads the three with a royal attitude and carries a Sword, symbol of the Iliad, or the "Armorum Probitas" or "Probity of Arms" the premise of tragedy, for which Homer is never credited. Why did I bring this up? Because even Virgil modelled his work "the Aeneid" after Homer.

Back to English and England again, since this site is in English, Alexander Pope who translated the Iliad into English in 1715 does acknowledge Homer as "The Greatest of Poets." And I do remember hearing but, when and where I cannot, that Winston Churchill said that Homer had written all or everything that had to be written or had left us with nothing left to write about, something to that effect and please if I have gotten it wrong have me stand corrected in the Agora.

And the Venetian of all Venetians, Giacomo Casanova wrote:

"The Iliad of Homer who from the time of my departure from England,
was my delight for an hour or two a day, in its original language, it had me wanting to translate it."

Was Giacomo Casanova seduced by the Iliad? Imagine that.

I'll end by saying that Homer's Epic Poems remain as gifts to Greece and to Greek culture and to Humanity itself.

Hercules Petti

P.S.
The word tragedy comes from the Greek word Tragoidia which means goat song, as when a goat is separated from its herd cries out and if lost is also a Tragedy to the Herder.