Scholars know little about the ancient Greek poet Homer. He is believed to have written the Iliad, about the Trojan War, and the Odyssey, the sweeping adventures of Odysseus. These two timeless epics—long stories in verse—were composed between 800 and 700 B.C.

"From his tongue flowed speech sweeter than honey," he wrote.

As the creator of the heroic code, his sung oral narratives inspired Aristotle, Sophocles, and Euripides. Aristotle praised Homer’s artistic unity, calling him in Poetics “unequalled in diction and thought.”

Homer once said, "To him who hearkens to the gods, the gods give ear." Revered throughout Greece, he was often called the “holy poet.” Many believe he lived on the island of Chios in the eastern Aegean Sea.

"There is a fullness of all things," he said, "even of sleep and of love."

Homer’s epics became the bedrock of classical Greek civilization. He was the literary gardener who sowed the seeds of comedy, tragedy, and the Western storytelling tradition. Even Alexander the Great carried a copy of the Iliad into battle.

"Pray," advised Homer, "for all men need the aid of the gods."