Homer

Greek poet, one of the greatest and most influential writers of all time. Though almost nothing is known of his life, tradition holds that he was blind. The ancient Greeks attributed to him the great epic poems The Iliad and The Odyssey. Modern scholars generally agree that he composed (but probably did not literally write) The Iliad, most likely relying on oral traditions, and at least inspired the composition of The Odyssey. When he lived is controversial. Herodotus estimates that Homer lived 400 years before Herodotus' own time, which would place him at around 850 BCE, while other ancient sources claim that he lived much nearer to the supposed time of the Trojan War, in the early 12th Century BCE.