Homer (-750 BC - -750 BC)

Principal figure of ancient Greek literature; the first European poet.

Works, Life, and Legends
Two epic poems are attributed to Homer, The Iliad and The Odyssey. They are composed in a literary type of Greek, Ionic in basis with Aeolic admixtures. Ranked among the great works of Western literature, these two poems together constitute the prototype for all subsequent Western epic poetry.

The "Homeric question" was the great dispute of scholarship in the 19th century. Scholars tried to analyze the two works by various tests, usually to show that they were strung together from older narrative poems. Recent evidence strongly suggests that the Iliad is the work of a single poet. Modern scholars are generally agreed that there was a poet named Homer who lived before 700 B.C., probably in Asia Minor, and that the Iliad and the Odyssey are each the product of one poet's work, developed out of older legendary matter. Some assign the Odyssey to a poet who lived slightly after the author of the Iliad.

Legends about Homer were numerous in ancient times. He was said to be blind. His birthplace has always been disputed, but Chios or Smyrna seem most likely. The study of Homer was required of all Greek students in antiquity, and his heroes were worshiped in many parts of Greece. The Iliad and the Odyssey are composed in dactylic hexameter and are of nearly the same length. The Homeric Hymns were falsely attributed to Homer.

The Iliad
Divided into 24 books, the Iliad tells of the wrath of Achilles and its tragic consequences, an episode in the Trojan War. The action is in several sections. Achilles quarrels with Agamemnon over possession of the captive woman Briseis, and Achilles retires from the war to sulk in his tent. The Greek position gradually weakens until Agamemnon offers amendment to Achilles (Books I-IX). Book X tells of an expedition by Odysseus and Diomedes leading to Greek reverses in the war. Thereupon Patroclus, Achilles' friend, is inspired to go into battle wearing Achilles' armor. He is killed by Hector (Books XI-XVII).

Book XVIII tells of the visit of Thetis, mother of Achilles, to comfort her grieving son and of the forging of new armor by Hephaestus for Achilles. Achilles then determines to avenge his friend, kills Hector, buries Patroclus, and finally, at the entreaty of Priam, gives Hector's body to the Trojan hero's aged father (Books XIX-XXIV). The Iliad is a highly unified work, splendid in its dramatic action. Written in a simple yet lofty style, it contains many perceptive characterizations that make exalted personages like Hector and Achilles believable as human beings.

The Odyssey
The Odyssey is written in 24 books and begins nearly ten years after the fall of Troy. In the first part, Telemachus, Odysseus' son, visits Nestor at Pylos and Menelaus at Sparta, seeking news of his absent father. He tells them of the troubles of his mother, Penelope, who is beset by mercenary suitors. Menelaus informs him that his father is with the nymph Calypso (Books I-IV). The scene then shifts to Mt. Olympus with an account of Zeus' order to Calypso to release Odysseus, who then builds a raft and sails to Phaeacia. There he is entertained by King Alcinoüs and his daughter Nausicaä; he relates to them the story of his wanderings in which he has encountered Polyphemus, Aeolus, Circe, Scylla and Charybdis, the Sirens, the Laestrygones, and the lotus-eaters (Books V-XII).

Dramatic tension mounts with the return of Odysseus and Telemachus to Ithaca; together they plan and execute the death of the suitors. Afterward Odysseus makes himself known to his wife and his father, with whose aid he repulses the suitors' angry kinsmen. Athena intervenes, peace is restored, and Odysseus once again rules his country (Books XIII-XXIV). The atmosphere of adventure and fate in the Odyssey contrasts with the heavier tone and tragic grandeur of the Iliad.

The poems are by default sorted according to volume, but you can also choose to sort them alphabetically or by page views.

First Line	Comments
And now as Dawn rose from her couch beside Tithonus, harbinger of
And now, as Dawn rose from her couch beside Tithonus- harbinger of
And Ulysses answered, "King Alcinous, it is a good thing to hear a
Brave Menelaus son of Atreus now came to know that Patroclus had
But as the sun was rising from the fair sea into the firmament of
But Minerva went to the fair city of Lacedaemon to tell Ulysses' son
But when their flight had taken them past the trench and the set
Euryclea now went upstairs laughing to tell her mistress that her
Meanwhile Ulysses and the swineherd had lit a fire in the hut and
Minerva now put it in Penelope's mind to make the suitors try
Nestor was sitting over his wine, but the cry of battle did not
Now the gods were sitting with Jove in council upon the golden floor
Now the other gods and the armed warriors on the plain slept
Now the other princes of the Achaeans slept soundly the whole
Now there came a certain common tramp who used to go begging all
Now when Dawn in robe of saffron was hasting from the streams of
Now when Jove had thus brought Hector and the Trojans to the
Now when Morning, clad in her robe of saffron, had begun to suffuse
Now when the child of morning, rosy-fingered Dawn, appeared,
Now when the child of morning, rosy-fingered Dawn, appeared,
Now when they came to the ford of the full-flowing river Xanthus,
Sing, O goddess, the anger of Achilles son of Peleus, that brought	1 Comment
So here Ulysses slept, overcome by sleep and toil; but Minerva
So the son of Menoetius was attending to the hurt of Eurypylus
Tell me, o muse, of that ingenious hero who travelled far and wide
The assembly now broke up and the people went their ways each to his
The fight between Trojans and Achaeans was now left to rage as it
Then Mercury of Cyllene summoned the ghosts of the suitors, and in
Then Pallas Minerva put valour into the heart of Diomed, son of
Then Ulysses tore off his rags, and sprang on to the broad
Then, when we had got down to the sea shore we drew our ship into
Thence we went on to the Aeoli island where lives Aeolus son of
They reached the low lying city of Lacedaemon them where they	1 Comment
Thus did he speak, and they all held their peace throughout the
Thus did the Trojans watch. But Panic, comrade of blood-stained
Thus did they fight about the ship of Protesilaus. Then Patroclus
Thus did they make their moan throughout the city, while the
Thus the Trojans in the city, scared like fawns, wiped the sweat
Thus then did they fight as it were a flaming fire. Meanwhile the
Thus, then, did the Achaeans arm by their ships round you, O son
Thus, then, did Ulysses wait and pray; but the girl drove on to
Ulysses now left the haven, and took the rough track up through
Ulysses slept in the cloister upon an undressed bullock's hide, on
Ulysses was left in the cloister, pondering on the means whereby
When the child of morning, rosy-fingered Dawn, appeared,
When the companies were thus arrayed, each under its own captain,
With these words Hector passed through the gates, and his brother
"After we were clear of the river Oceanus, and had got out into