Homer was a Greek poet in the oral tradition who is the author of the first two great works of western literature, The Iliad and The Odyssey. The actual life of Homer is at best a mystery, owing to an almost total lack of information. Some believe the works were composed by a single person;  others believe they may the work of a group.  There is a general consensus, however, that he was born on the coast of Asia Minor or one of the nearby islands sometime between 750 BC and 1200 BC.  Some think he lived close to the time of the Trojan War; others believe he lived much later, based on the style of his poetry. Greek historian Herodotus put his birth at 850 BC.  He is thought to have been blind based on a likely similarity with the blind poet and minstrel Demodokos in The Odyssey.  Whatever the facts about Homer the person, The Iliad and The Odyssey, lengthy works composed and transmitted orally for hundreds of years, have served as both seed and fertilizer for much of the arts and sciences. That may be all we need to know.