Homer

According to tradition, Homer was the earliest and greatest Greek poet. Two epic poems were attributed to him: the Iliad and the Odyssey, which present certain events of the mythical Trojan War and its aftermath. These two works, totaling about 27,800 lines in dactylic hexameter verse, were fundamental references for myth in ancient Greece.

David Sacks, Encyclopedia of the Ancient Greek World, rev. ed., rev. Lisa R. Brody (New York: Facts On File, 2005), 159.