Homer

Few names in ancient literature have carried as much weight as Homer's, yet very little is firmly known about the figure behind the Iliad and the Odyssey. Where he lived, when he composed, and even whether he existed at all remain open questions. Was he a historical individual, a legendary invention, or a name that people passed around and reshaped?

Porter sets aside the search for a definitive answer. He treats Homer as a construct whose significance rivals that of the epics attributed to him. Starting with the earliest references to Homer in ancient Greece, he examines where the aura surrounding the name came from and how it has shaped later thinking. The book is a cultural history of that idea and of the fixation that returns each time someone imagines Homer anew.

Drawing on both texts and material objects, Porter offers fresh interpretations and follows the idea of Homer through its many afterlives, from the earliest mentions to recent portrayals in literature, criticism, philosophy, visual art, and classical archaeology.