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Homer, author of the ancient Iliad and Odyssey, is revered as
one of the greatest of all poets. Those who have the knowledge
to read the original Greek lines find in them simple but elegant
beauty, strength and directness of style, lofty flight of musical
sound set forth in hexameter rhythm. Those who read the poems
in translation find in them compelling stories, imaginative poetry,
heroic character, stirring battle scenes and fanciful adventure.
They appeal to people of all ages. By tradition Homer is depicted
as a blind old man, a kind of minstrel who wandered from place
to place reciting his poems. That tradition is the basis for
his Roman copy of a marble Hellenistic portrait made centuries
after his lifetime. Who was the real Homer? His true identity
is lost in the mists of time. The ancient historian Herodotus
recorded that he was an Asiatic Greek who lived about 830 B.C.
Some say that he was an Ionian Greek who lived on the island
of Chios two centuries later. Still others believe that the writing
may not have been done by a single author but by a group of poets
and minstrels who composed and recorded legends of The Trojan
Wars. At least one thing seems certain, the poems were handed
down from memory and written at a much later date, since there
is little evidence that the Greek language was written at so
early a time. It is an intriguing mystery but it seems of little
importance compared with the magnificence of the poems themselves
which are among the greatest epics ever written. |
