Homer Historical Figure Nationality: Greece Religion: Polytheism Date of Birth: c.a. 8th century BC Cause of Death: Unknown Occupation: Poet, Story teller Turtledove Appearances: "Death in Vesunna" POD: Set in OTL Type of Appearance: Posthumous reference

Homer is the name given to the unitary author of the early Greek poems the Iliad and the Odyssey. It is now generally believed that they were composed by illiterate aoidoi (rhapsodes) in an oral tradition in the 8th or 7th century BC. Homer's works began the Western Canon and are universally praised for their poetic genius. By convention, the compositions are also often taken to initiate the period of Classical Antiquity.

Homer in "Death in Vesunna" Edit

During the early period of the Roman Empire, citizens were not considered educated unless they knew how to speak and read Greek as well as Latin. A common way to learn Greek, in all its complexities, was to study the works of Homer. Gaius Tero was in the midst of struggling through the Iliad with the assistance of Kleandros when Clodius Eprius was murdered.^[1]

Shortly after the murder, the two took their minds off the mysteries in Eprius' death to continue to work their way through the Iliad. After Tero's usual complaints about the poor tactical sense of the Akhaians and Trojans both, he wondered aloud what Hektor would have thought if a modern Roman legion surrounded the walls of Troy. Kleandros sarcastically replied that Hektor would have been like Larcius Afer, convinced that all the gods were angry with him. Tero found this strange, that Romans were just men with skills the ancients didn't have and not demigods.^[2]

Tero and Kleandros resumed their reading of the poetry but this thought led Tero to the eventual solution to the crime.^[3]

1. ↑ See, e.g.., Departures, pg. 44.
2. ↑ Ibid, pgs. 44-45.
3. ↑ Ibid, pg. 49.