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INTRODUCTION

The name “Homer” brings before the mind a definite picture of the blind minstrel, roaming from city to city and singing or chanting portions of the great poems that are traditionally ascribed to him. Such a type is splendidly represented by the bust of Homer in the Naples Museum The National Archaeological Museum in Naples holds a famous Roman marble copy of a Greek original, depicting Homer as an elderly, sightless man, which became the definitive "portrait" of the poet in antiquity., and almost all that tradition tells of the poet, save in so far as it is made up of statements regarding his date—which in turn rest upon combinations often demonstrably false—groups itself about such a typical figure, and is plainly without historic worth.

The ancient “lives” of Homer which have come down to us are all later than the beginning of the Christian era, and from them we can gather little that has any claim to attention except the two statements that Homer was an Ionian The Ionians were one of the major ancient Greek tribes; they inhabited the central coast of Asia Minor (modern-day Turkey) and the adjacent islands.—Chios and Smyrna being the cities most uniformly given as his birthplace; and that in Chios there was a guild or clan of Homeridae Homeridae translates to "Sons of Homer." These were originally descendants or followers of the poet who performed and preserved his works.—that is, “sons of Homer.” The first mention of the Chian Homeridae occurs in the geographer Strabo (writing about 18 original: "A.D." (Anno Domini), meaning "In the year of our Lord"). Pindar