Among the ancient Greek writers Homer occupies an outstanding position. His extraordinary fame is based on works of art that have been passed down from the ancient world, among them portrait busts or reliefs, which show Homer in an honorable manner. Additionally, it is known that Homer was one of the favorite poets of the famous Greek philosopher Plato.
Homer's importance for the history of ancient literature was founded by the epics "Iliad" and "Odyssey", even though it has not been entirely clarified whether Homer actually was the author of these epics and a collection of poems which resembles the epics formally.
It can only be assumed that Homer lived in the 8th century B.C. in Ionia, a region in the western part of Asia Minor, accordingly, it can be as well assumed that the "Iliad" and the "Odyssey" were also written there and then. The two epics, with verses in hexameter, cover, on the one hand, the adventures of Ulysses and, on the other hand, the ten-year lasting occupation of Troy.