Homer and the Dark Age of Greece

By 1200 BC, the Mycenaean realm had diminished, primarily due to Dorian invasion. The Dorians did not have the artistic abilities of the Mycenaean people, nor did they record any written information. As a result, we have little knowledge of that era in history, which we now call the Greek Dark Age. However, the Dorians preserved the stories of Mycenae through poetic sagas, which were extensive poetic tales of legend, myth, and battle. These sagas were recited by professional poets called bards, who were often hired by the richer class to entertain at parties. One particularly famous bard, Homer, wrote the two popular poems, The Iliad, and The Odyssey.

Homer lived around 900 BC and is believed to have been blind. Both of his poems focused on the time period of the Trojan War; the Iliad telling of the ten-year battle for Helen of the fair cheeks and the Odyssey of the war leader Odysseus and his adventures home from the war. Homer’s poems became a primary means of education in ancient Greece as well as ancient Rome. A man was not considered educated unless he knew Homer’s poems by heart.

But today there is conflict on the subject of Homer. Was it truly him who wrote the poems? Some believe that they might be a collection of works from various poets, combined into one story, although no one is absolutely positive. Was he actually blind? Truthfully, we do not know for sure. Whatever the case may be, Homer’s poems have been inspiration for poets, story-tellers, play-writers and authors ever since they were first told.

In 800BC, the art of writing returned to Greece. The country began to flourish and the culture became vivid once more as Greece entered the Archaic Period, soon to be followed by the Classical and Hellenistic periods. At the turn of each period, the arts and styles changed, but throughout the history of Greece, Homer’s poems were not forgotten, and they are still preserved to this day.

-Grayce, South Carolina