Homer's Influence In Ancient Greek Literature

In the early times of the Greek civilization, there were no written language, and no written history. However, this is the time where two of the most influential Greek stories were created. This was the birthplace of the greats, The Odyssey, and The Iliad, and the template of all Greek writings to come. The man said to write the epics stated above was ironically blind. Homer, the greatest epic poet, was also the first. He is arguably the most influential man in the history of western literature. Homer was born around 850 BC, and was the first to document the events of the war of Troy, which had occurred over 400 years before him. His account of the war was very important for both the people of his time, as well as modern peoples, as it was the first account of an influential war, as well as influencing every other writer of the time period. Homer was said to be blind, but this might not be true. The ancient Greek …show more content…
Homeric epics, as the type of poems he wrote were called, we said to also be a major influence in the literature that was produced in the Renaissance in Italy, as well as a base for most, if not all of ancient Greek writing. Of all of the scraps of ancient Greek writing, at least one half was presumed to be written by Homer. The two most well known of Homer’s works were The Iliad and The Odyssey. These two epic poems are two of the best known works of literature of ancient times, and have been a base for much of literature after them. The Iliad was the first known account of the Trojan War, and is well known for its style of epic poetry. Both The Iliad and The Odyssey were composed in this style. While both stories were composed in the same type, there is still conflict on who actually wrote both stories, if it was Homer, or some other