Homer by Joshua PEMBERTON

Who are they?

pem00031 — 2014-07-25 02:09:10 UTC

Homer was an amazing but mysterious poet of Ancient Greece. He was the first to write down the epic poems of The Iliad and The Odysse. The impact of his tales continue to be told through Western culture. These two poems are how he become most famous.

What time period did they live in?

pem00031 — 2014-07-25 02:12:17 UTC

Homer lived in the period of time from 800BCE-701 BCE.

What did they achieve in this period?

pem00031 — 2014-07-25 02:13:00 UTC

Homer was the most important and earliest of the Greek and Roman writers. Greeks and Romans didn't count themselves educated unless they knew his poems. His influence was not only felt in his poetry, but on his beliefs via lessons from his masterpieces. He is the first source to look for information on Greek myths and religion. Yet, despite his prominence, we have no firm evidence that he ever lived.

What did they create, develop, invent, establish or achieve?

pem00031 — 2014-07-25 02:13:27 UTC

Homer was called by the Roman writer Quintilian "the river from which all literature flows." He created the Iliad and the Odyssey which are two of the most famous pieces of poetry in history. These were known to be his two most prized positions and greatest achievements of his life.

How has this changed in the future?

pem00031 — 2014-07-25 02:13:58 UTC

With such positive attention surrounding him, several important questions concerning Homer have naturally accrued over the years. Who was he? How could he be so good an author, living when he did?

The Iliad and the Odyssey

pem00031 — 2014-08-18 08:50:56 UTC

An epic is a long, narrative poem in which the central character, usually regarded as a hero of some sort, struggles against great odds, sometimes death to achieve a noble end.

In the iliad, the Greeks have sailed across the sea to besiege the Trojans in their walled fortress-city of Troy, also called Ilium (hence The Iliad). The story centres around Achilles, the greatest of the Greek warriors at Troy, but when Agamenan, the leader of the Greek expedition, insults and enrages him, he stops fighting, a devastating blow to the expedition. The theme of The Iliad is Achilles' anger at Agamemnon, a short but explosive outburst which nearly undermines the Greeks' efforts to bring down Troy.

The Odyssey, Homer's other surviving epic, takes place after the Trojan War, as the Greeks return home or try to actually very few make it back to Greece alive or, if they do, live very long after getting home. For instance, the commander Agamemnon returns safely to his hometown Mycenae, only to have his treacherous wife Clytemnestra murder him the very day of his homecoming while he's in his bath. This couple had marital difficulties prior to the war, and during the ten years he was off fighting at Troy, she took up with another man. So, before he can discover her infidelity, she kills him.