Little is known about the poet Homer. Some say he lived c. 850 BCE; others that he lived earlier - around 1102 BCE. But he is considered to be the first and the greatest of the epic poets and in addition to The Odyssey is also thought to be the author of The Iliad. Plato's Republic describes his importance to the ancient Greeks, calling him "the first teacher" of tragedy and the leader of learning.
George Davidson studied languages and linguistics at the universities of Glasgow, Edinburgh and Strasbourg, and is a graduate of Edinburgh University. A former senior editor with Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, he is now a freelance compiler and editor of dictionaries and other reference books. He is an elder of the Church of Scotland, and lives in Edinburgh.
