Homer

the greatest name in Greek literature. Whether Homer is to be regarded as a bard or a circle of minstrels is uncertain. Our actual knowledge is confined chiefly to the fact that the Greeks have two great epics of wondrous beauty, the Iliad and the Odyssey. These poems have from great antiquity been attributed to a blind poet named Homer. Seven Greek cities claim the honor of his birth. No less than eight fragmentary lives of Homer in the Greek language are extant. Critics are of the opinion that the epics named are the work of many minstrels, and that they were handed down from one generation to another as separate ballads, until in an early age of Greek literature, some editor, possibly a Homer, brought them together. One of the strongest arguments for this theory is that different portions of the poems are quite different in style. They were composed evidently long before the art of writing was known in Greece. They contain many thousand verses. Both epics deal with the capture of Asiatic Troy by the Greeks. The Iliad opens with a quarrel between the Greek leader, Achilles, and Agamemnon. The quarrel between these chiefs is described with minuteness. Hector, the hero of Troy, slays Patroclus, the bosom friend of Achilles. Achilles is aroused, patches up a truce with Agamemnon and rushes into battle. He kills Hector. The poem closes with an account of Hector's funeral.

The Odyssey relates the return of King Odysseus to Ithaca. During his absence numerous suitors for the hand of his wife Penelope have devoured his living and disgraced his household. Odysseus is delayed by various adventures, but finally comes home in the disguise of a beggar and takes vengeance on those who had invaded his home and annoyed his wife.

Memorizing selections from Homer is a regular part of the school work of modern Greece. The Athenian schoolboy recites Homer quite as the American boy recites passages from Longfellow or Lowell.

See Achilles; Agamemnon; Paris; Troy; Odysseus, etc.