Homer

Reputed author of the Iliad and the Odyssey

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Lived -900–-800, aged 100

WritersWriter / Author

Wikipedia
198 languages
Cross-language footprint
Global rank
#86
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Era
-900–-800
Aged 100
Known for
The Odyssey
2026

Summary

Updated 2026-07-17

Two poems—the Iliad and the Odyssey—have shaped Western literature for nearly three millennia, and they're attributed to a poet about whom almost nothing is certain. Homer's authorship, life, even his existence remain contested, yet the epics carry his name into every generation.

Biography

About

Homer is thought to have composed his works around the late eighth or early seventh century BC, though scholars debate whether one person wrote both poems or if they came from separate hands. The Iliad follows a quarrel between Agamemnon and Achilles in the final year of the Trojan War; the Odyssey tracks Odysseus's ten-year struggle home after Troy's fall, navigating divine punishment and his own endurance. Written in Homeric Greek—a literary blend of Ionic and Aeolic dialects—the epics were likely transmitted orally before being set down. Ancient Greece treated them as foundational: Plato cr…

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