Homer

Homer is generally placed around the 8th century BC, a period when the Greek world was moving from the so-called “Dark Ages” into the Archaic period. The earlier Mycenaean palace societies had already collapsed by the 12th century BC, and for several centuries the Greek world was characterized by smaller communities, limited written culture and a gradual reorganization of social and political life.

During the 8th century BC, the Greek city-states began to take more stable form, while trade and maritime contacts expanded throughout the Mediterranean. At roughly the same time, the Greeks adopted and adapted the Phoenician alphabet, creating the Greek writing system. This development was of enormous importance for the preservation and recording of the oral poetic tradition.

The Iliad and the Odyssey draw their material from much older traditions connected with the Mycenaean world and the Trojan War, which, if it had a historical core, belongs to several centuries before Homer. The epics were initially preserved through generations of singers and rhapsodes, who transmitted stories of heroes, wars, gods and journeys.

The Homeric world therefore reflects a mixture of different periods: memories of Mycenaean aristocratic society, elements of the oral epic tradition, and features of 8th-century BC Greek society. Within this historical setting, the Homeric epics became a foundation of Greek education and profoundly influenced literature, religious imagination and the cultural identity of the ancient Greek world.