Who was this mythical storyteller? A singing bard-poet, (aoidoi)-dramatically orating the epic tales for aristocratic banquets or bawdy taverns? A collective of poets-refining their work over generations? Was Homer a man or a woman? The unfortunate truth is, we just don’t know. Homer is thought to have existed around 800-700 B.C. and is credited as the creator and poet of the epics; “The Iliad” (15,693 lines) and “The Odyssey” (12,109 lines). Homer existed during a time when Linear B had been lost, or the Greek “dark ages.” So the poets of this time sung their tales in song-like structures, passing the oral art form down form generation to generation. Therefore, its unlikely Homer made up these tales, but inherited and refined them from older tales that had been passed down in the oral tradition. To complicate things further, Between the epics, there are variations in narrative style, vocabulary, and geographic expertise, which lead many scholars speculate that The Iliad and Odyssey were written by different authors. Unfortunately, there are no biographical details within the epics to give us insight into the author(s). However, In the Odyssey, there is a blind bard poet character, Demodocus, who recites his poetry to the royal court. Some have suggested that this character was created by Homer as a reflection of himself. This is a fun and tempting parallel to draw. Similar to how we might get the reflection of Shakespeare’s voice through Hamlet when the prince describes to his players the philosophies of theatre acting. The portrayal of a blind poet also creates a nice symbolic parallel to the Norse God Odin, who, sacrificed an eye in exchange for divine wisdom. Indeed, the Greek bards saw themselves as divinely inspired by “the Muses”; the inspirational goddesses of the creative arts. Through Homer, the elegant oral form crafted these classics, and, incredibly, we can still hear the song like syntax and repetitions in the texts. Museum-quality posters made on thick and durable matte paper. • Paper thickness: 10.3 mil • Paper weight: 5.57 oz/y² (189 g/m²) • Giclée printing quality • Opacity: 94% • ISO brightness: 104%