The legendary ancient Greek poet, author of the "Iliad" and "Odyssey" Homer Biographical information about Homer, given by ancient authors, contradictory and unlikely. "Seven cities, bickering are called Homer's homeland: Smyrna, Chios, Colophon, Pylos, Argos, Ithaca, Athens" is said in one Greek epigram (in fact, the list of these cities was more extensive). Regarding the time of Homer’s life, ancient scholars gave various dates, starting from the 12th century BC (after the Trojan War) and ending
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The legendary ancient Greek poet, author of the "Iliad" and "Odyssey" Homer Biographical information about Homer, given by ancient authors, contradictory and unlikely. "Seven cities, bickering are called Homer's homeland: Smyrna, Chios, Colophon, Pylos, Argos, Ithaca, Athens" is said in one Greek epigram (in fact, the list of these cities was more extensive). Regarding the time of Homer’s life, ancient scholars gave various dates, starting from the 12th century BC (after the Trojan War) and ending with the 7th century BC; there was a widespread legend about the poetic competition between Homer and Hesiod. According to most researchers, Homeric poems were created in Asia Minor, in Ionia in the 8th century BC on the basis of mythological tales about the Trojan War.
In medieval Europe, Homer was known only from quotations and references from Latin writers and Aristotle. The poetic glory of Homer was eclipsed by the glory of Virgil. It was only at the end of the 15th century that the first translations of Homer into Italian appeared. An event in the European culture of the 18th century were the translations of Homer into English by A. Pop and into German by I. G. Foss. For the first time fragments of the Iliad were translated into Russian by M.V. Lomonosov. The titanic work on the creation of the Russian hexameter and the adequate reproduction of the figurative system of Homer was done by N. I. Gnedich, whose translation of the Iliads (1829) is still growing unsurpassed in accuracy of philological reading and historical interpretation. The highest artistic skill is distinguished by the translation “Odyssey” by V. A. Zhukovsky. In the 20th century, the Iliad and the Odyssey were translated by V.V. Veresayev.