Did the poet Homer actually exist?

Yes there is evidence he did exist and that he was the one who wrote the Odyssey and Iliad based on legends of siege of the city of Troy 400 years before He (Homer) was born. Homer lived a long time before it was possible to objectively trace evidence of authorship of the Iliad and the Odyssey so there is controversy that it was him. read more

“Homer, in this view, was the product of a new, dynamic, politically inventive and culturally burgeoning moment in Greek history,” writes historian Adam Nicolson in a new book on Homer. “Homer was the poet of a boom.” But this image of Homer, Nicolson said, is inaccurate. read more

The historical facts of Homer's life remain unknown and will most likely never be known. Consequently many scholars today doubt the existence of Homer the man. However, this was not always the case: it wasn't until the publication of Prolegomena ad Homerum (The Homeric Problem), that this whole question began to be considered in earnest. read more