In the Western classical tradition, Homer (Ancient Greek: Ὅμηρος, Hómēros) is the author of the Iliad and the Odyssey, and is revered as the greatest of ancient Greek epic poets. These epics lie at the beginning of the Western canon of literature, and have had an enormous influence on the history of literature. When he lived is unknown. Herodotus estimates that Homer lived 400 years before his own time, which would place him at around 850 BC, while other ancient sources claim that he lived much nearer to the supposed time of the Trojan War, in the early 12th century BC. Modern researchers appear to place Homer in the 7th or 8th centuries BC.
Homeric Hymns, Epigrams, and The Battle of Frogs and Mice
Read by Arthur Krolman
Running Time:03:07:11 in 1 MP3 Audio CD
Homeric Hymns are thirty-three poems each paying homage to a certain Greek god. Only a few of the poems are more than 250 lines while the rest are about a dozen lines each. They are written in Homeric style and traditionally attributed to Homer but their true provenance is unknown. The Epigrams are a series of fragments on disparate topics including sailors, children and potters and are similarly attributed to Homer although it appears Hesiod and others wrote some of them. Finally, Battle of Frogs and Mice is a light-weight parody -- literally, at one-fiftieth the number of lines -- of Homer's famous battle of Greeks and Trojans epic, Illiad.
The Iliad of Homer
Read by Stephen Carney
Running Time:15:40:25 in 1 MP3 Audio CD
"The Iliad is an epic poem in dactylic hexameters, traditionally attributed to Homer. Set in the Trojan War, the ten-year siege of Ilium, by a coalition of Greek States, it tells of the battles and events during the weeks of a quarrel between King Agamemnon and the warrior Achilles. Although the story covers only a few weeks in the final year of the war, the Iliad mentions or alludes to many of the Greek legends about the siege"
The Odyssey
Read by Mark Nelson
Running Time:11:01:50 in 1 MP3 Audio CD
The Odyssey is one of two major ancient Greek epic poems attributed to Homer. It is, in part, a sequel to the Iliad, the other Homeric epic. The Odyssey is fundamental to the modern Western canon; it is the second-oldest extant work of Western literature, while the Iliad is the oldest. Scholars believe the Odyssey was composed near the end of the 8th century BC, somewhere in Ionia, the Greek coastal region of Anatolia. The poem mainly focuses on the Greek hero Odysseus (known as Ulysses in Roman myths), king of Ithaca, and his journey home after the fall of Troy. It takes Odysseus ten years to reach Ithaca after the ten-year Trojan War. In his absence, it is assumed Odysseus has died, and his wife Penelope and son Telemachus must deal with a group of unruly suitors, the Mnesteres or Proci, who compete for Penelope's hand in marriage.