Traditionally, Homer was identified as a blind poet from the Greek island of Chios off the coast of modern-day Turkey somewhere between 750-700 BCE. His two poems, the Iliad and Odyssey, are some of the earliest works of literature in the world and are the foundation of western literature and western culture.Michael Heumann is a Professor of English at Imperial Valley College in California. He holds a PhD in English from the University of California, Riverside. This is his first translation.