The original meaning of the word "Homer" in Greek is diverse, and there is no conclusion yet.
Basic introduction Chinese name: Homer mbth:? μηρο? /Homer Nationality: Ancient Greece Date of birth: 9th century AD Date of death: 8th century AD Occupation: The poet's major achievements: Homer's epic, the representative work of the ancestor of western literature-two important events: The Iliad and Odyssey: textual research on characters named after Homer's era, major works, evaluation of characters and textual research on characters. Is there Homer in history? Did he really write these two epics? These issues have been debated for a long time in western academic circles. As early as ancient Greece, famous historians Herodotus, Thucydides, philosophers Plato and Aristotle all affirmed that Homer was the author of two epics. Until the beginning of18th century, Europeans still believed that Homer was a great ancient poet in history. Portrait of Homer/KLOC-In the early 8th century, French monks Zheng Dobi Yong and Vico took the lead. They believe that Homer, which people have always believed before, does not exist. He is only the general representative of Greek rap artists of all ethnic groups, not a person. The two epics are separated by hundreds of years, so it is impossible for one person to write a work. This ground-breaking new viewpoint quickly caused a sensation in western academic circles, and the "Homer problem" sprang up suddenly. 1795, the German scholar Wolff made a detailed study of the epic along this line of thought, thus asserting that every part of the epic was sung by the singer as an independent poem, and after many times of sorting and processing, it became what we see today. Later, Wolff's compatriot Rahman expounded his views more clearly, thus forming the "short song theory". In contrast, it is the "unification theory" represented by German scholar Nicky. This theory is essentially the resurrection of the traditional Homer view. He believed that Homer did exist, and he lived no later than the ninth century BC. He believes that Homer used the materials of ancient folk poems, and re-processed and reorganized them to form a complete artistic structure. Homer's portrait on Greek coins was handed down with Homer's Biography in ancient times, which was fabricated by people around that time according to legends and could not be regarded as reliable historical materials. Homer's earliest records can be found in the existing satirical poems of Xeno Finney in the 6th century BC. However, according to the records of Bossanias, a local Greek chronicler, Homer was recorded in the poems of the poet Kalinos in the early 7th century BC, so the name Homer was widely known as early as the 8th and 7th centuries BC. The Greek historian Theopompus said that Homer was born in 686 BC, which seems a little late. Another ancient legend is that Homer was born in 1 159 BC, that is, in the middle of12nd century BC, which seems a little too early. There may have been this poet in ancient times, and his time was about 10 century BC to the 9th and 8th centuries BC. According to the language and description of the epic, western scholars generally believe that he may have been born in the 9th-8th century BC. There are also different opinions about Homer's birthplace; There are more than a dozen places that are said to be his birthplace in ancient times. Some people say that he is from Athens, others say that he is from northern Greece, and others say that he is near Asia Minor in eastern Greece. These statements are more common and credible in the East. Most ancient records say that he was born in Theos or Smyrna in Asia Minor, both of which are in the eastern part of the Aegean Sea. Western scholars have done a lot of research on the name Homer: some people say that this word means "hostage", which means that Homer is probably born a prisoner; Some people say that the name means "together", which means that the name Homer is incidental, because the epic is originally composed of many scattered legends. In fact, these are all guesses. It is quite possible that ancient legends say that Homer is a blind musician. Ancient professional musicians were often blind, and Homer may be such a professional artist. According to legend, Homer wrote the famous ancient Greek epic Homer, which is divided into two parts: Iliad and Odyssey. Herodotus in the 5th century BC, Thucydides later, Plato and Aristotle in the 4th century BC all affirmed that these two epics were Homer's works. In addition, many ancient epics have been lost, and some people say that they are his works, but those are probably drafts of future generations. There is a lost satirical poem and an existing book, The Battle of Frogs and Rats, which is said to have been written by Homer, but the former is only based on Aristotle's words, and the latter has been proved to be a draft in the 4th century BC. There are also some carols dedicated to the gods, and the legend was written by Homer. In fact, it was the introduction of professional musicians who recited epic poems in ancient times, and it was written by other poets in later generations. Homer's epic is the social history and custom history of the transition from clan society to slavery in ancient Greece, which has high historical, geographical, archaeological and folklore values. This epic also shows humanism and affirms human dignity, value and strength. This is the artistic creation of human childhood, which inevitably has ideological and artistic limitations. The character evaluation puts aside the controversy about whether Homer is true or not. From the point of view that Homer's epic initiated western literature, Homer can be regarded as the ancestor of western literature, and the war and life scenes shown in his poetic narrative are still talked about by people. At the same time, Homer's epics are also valuable materials for studying ancient Greek customs. Homer, a blind poet, is singing a poem.