Homer
8 Jh. v. Chr.
unbekannt
Homer composed the Iliad and the Odyssee, the most important ancient Greek epics, and thereby founded the oldest literary genre. Long considered a fictional personality by philologists, he is now considered an historical figure. Linguistic and historical analyses now support the theory that both epic poems were composed in the same place around the same time, on the west coast of Asia Minor, which had been colonized by the Greeks, in the 8th century before Christ. The material which both epics deal with comes from the traditionally oral short epic, a form which goes back to the time of the early Greek tribes in the second millenium before Christ and was probably performed by traveling singers in the noble courts. Both works are composed in hexameters and contain many elements from both the Ionian and Aeolian languages. This formal artistic language, based on a long tradition of oral lore, can be seen especially in the decorative elements and the stereotypical uses and turns of phrase which show up again and again. Characteristic for these works are the liveliness of the figures, the naturalness of the descriptions. The choice of comparisons to nature and the contemporary world display an adroit talent for observation. Homer's epics have become our measure of the Greeks' images of the gods and humans, whereby Homer had an enormous impact on not only the tragedy, but also the writing of history and philosophy. In addition to the Ilaid and the Odyssee, a collection of stylistically similar poems are attributed to Homer, though this claim is not undisputed.
