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Homer remains one of the most renowned poets from ancient Greece. However, despite
his works being famous, it also remains a pity that very little is known of the life of brains behind
the widely read and epic stories of “The Iliad” and “The Odyssey” just to mention but a few of
his great works. These are epic poems thought to have not only revolutionized world poetry in
general but also impacted a great deal on the western culture (Graziosi and Graziosi).
As has been alluded to in the previous paragraph, the life of Homer is one among the
many mysteries that continue to exist in the world today. The life of Homer is so mysterious to
the extent that even something as simple as the year in which he was born is not clear. However,
there appears consensus among historians that he was born somewhere in between the 12th and
8th Centuries B.C. However, some historians still question whether that is the correct period in
which he was born with quite a number doubting the veracity of that estimation. This is well
captured by some of them expressing their discontent with the estimation and even question his
most notable accounts of events such as the Trojan War which took place around the twelfth or
thirteenth century. This has led others to question whether he did witness to the Trojan War
directly or the accounts of the war in his poems are but recollections from a remote past
(Graziosi and Graziosi). However, the two most notable epics by Homer were created in oral
tradition rather than through written scripts as was common of the Greeks. This can be
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conclusive evidence of the period of his birth being between the 12th and 8th Century because this
was the period during which history records that the Greeks did not have any scripts as they had
Just as mysterious as his year of birth, Homer’s place of birth is also another mystery and
confusion abound on the subject of his place of birth in almost equal measure. This has always
been spiced up by the fact that several accounts of different inhabitants of the several ancient
Greek City States all claim that he was born in one of their cities. It is satisfying enough to know
that such accounts have never been substantiated and as such remain nothing more than rumors
What appears to have no controversy or mystery around it is the fact that he was born in
Eastern Greece, also known as Asia Minor. All the attempts that have been made at trying to
locate the exact place of birth in Eastern Greece have come up with irrefutable evidence pointing
to at least three places in Eastern Greece: the island of Chios, Ionia and Smyrna. Much of this
evidence is based on his works which pointed towards his place of residence during his lifetime.
For example, the dialect used in his works is associated mainly with Ionia. However, bits and
parts of dialect from Smyrna and island of Chios serve as evidence of the possibility that Homer
might have actually been born in either of these places (Graziosi and Graziosi).
Additionally, there is a group of individuals from the island of Chios who claim that they
are entrusted with keeping the works of Homer. The group has memorized the works and even
recite them with a gusto only religious fanaticism can match. This has also served to persuade
others that he may have been born in the island of Chios after all (Dyer).
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Nothing about Homer is without controversy. This could be due to the limited
information on his very existence. Much of what is known about him is therefore as a result of
his works. This draws us to the subject of yet another controversy. Was Homer blind or not?
Whereas the several existing works of Homer written in Greek should provide enough evidence
to settle this matter, there has been an overwhelming tendency by sculptors to represent Homer
as a person deprived of sight. This has led both historians and other scholars interested in Homer
to develop their depictions of this great poet. Others have even gone ahead to conclude that
Homer being blind was a doing of the gods and that his poetic abilities that have received praise
from virtually every quarter of the world was an act by the gods to compensate him for the
However, a keen look at his work, The Odyssey, may be the source of the rumored or
otherwise blindness. The Odyssey has a character, Demodocus, who is a blind poet and singer.
Demodocus astounds the audience with his ability to sing songs that are relatable to the crowds.
It is through the character of Demodocus that people have though Homer used to showcase his
own life to the world. However, even to any Tom, Dick and Harry, this claim is ridiculous. It,
therefore, is my humble supposition that the blindness should only be interpreted in literary
Homer won the hearts of many both in Greece and beyond. Great Greeks such as Plato
viewed him a teacher of all Greece and the whole world because of the magnitude of influence
his works had on the readers. The Iliad and The Odyssey are among his most celebrated works
due to the way in which it describes the rich culture of Greece. The overall receptiveness,
imagination and sensitivity inspired in readers of the works of Homer remain something
commendable about just how good he was (Susanna). Save for the overly controversial and
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mysterious nature of the stories around Homer, he highly distinguished and if he were alive in
this modern day and age, he would definitely win the Noble Prize for Literature as a testament of
his ingenuity.
Works Cited
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Classical Quarterly, vol. 61, no. 1, May 2011, pp. 1–18. Cambridge Core, doi:
10.1017/S0009838810000352.
Dyer. “The Blind Bard of Chios (Hymn. Hom. Ap. 171-76).” CPh, no. 70, 1975, pp. 119–21.
Graziosi, Barbara, and Senior Lecturer in Classics Barbara Graziosi. Inventing Homer: The
Plutarch, et al., editors. Essay on the Life and Poetry of Homer. Oxford University Press, 1996.
Susanna Phillippo. The Legacy of Homer : The Iliad Annotations of Jean Racine. 1996, pp. 1–29.