Homer is the name ascribed by the ancient Greeks to the author of the Iliad and the Odyssey, two epic poems which are the central works of ancient Greek literature. Regarded as the first, and best, of the epic poets, he is attributed with writing the first known literature of Europe. A widespread theory says that he was a blind bard from Ionia, or present-day Turkey. Current scholarship suggests that the Homeric poems are legends, and some suggest they had multiple authors. Scholars do not know his definite birth and death dates, but some speculate his writings go as far back as 850 BCE or later.
