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(flourished 9th or 8th century BCE, Ionia?) Greek poet, one of the greatest and most influential writers of all time. Though almost nothing is known of his life, tradition holds that he was blind. The ancient Greeks attributed to him the great epic poems The Iliad and The Odyssey. Modern scholars generally agree that he composed (but probably did not literally write) The Iliad, most likely relying on oral traditions, and at least inspired the composition of The Odyssey. The Iliad, set during the Trojan War, tells the story of the wrath of Achilles; The Odyssey tells the story of Odysseus as he travels home from the war. The two epics provided the basis of Greek education and culture in the Classical age, and they have remained among the most significant poems of the European tradition.