HOMER

greatest epic poet; b. between 1100-900 B. c., in Greece; exact birthplace uncertain, traditionally Chios; known by his poems, the Iliad and the Ody ey, which were originally ascribed to him but are almost certainly of different authorship. From internal evidence it is calculated that about a cen. tury separates the poems. They existed before the introduction of writing, and were handed down by word of mouth by the rhapsodists, who some times perverted the order of lines or interpolated pa ages of their own composition. Many poems are ascribed to H., the Homeric Hymns, the Thebaid, etc., but they are of different authorship though roughly contemporaneous. His writings correspond with the Mycenean and Cretan civilisations; his style is graphic and picturesque, abounding in similes; the vocabulary is large and contains many were recited at many Gk. festivals and were taught in schools; served as model for Vergil and A poll on i us of Rhodes. See also Grezcn (LITERATURE).