Homer: Birth of Western Mythology

Homer, the great author of the epics Iliad and Odyssey, was from İzmir, ancient Smyrna. He was referred to as “Melesigenes,” the “son of Meles” (Meles refers to the River Meles or more appropriately Meles Brook). The cave where he was to compose his epic poems was described as being near the source of the brook, which flows through the city of İzmir. A temple dedicated to the poet, the Homereion, stood on this river’s banks. Despite being one of the most famous poets in the world we know very little about him. A master storyteller himself, he is completely silent about his own life. In Troia, one can retrace almost the entire Iliad while along Türkiye’s Aegean coast one can follow in the footsteps of the protagonists of the Odyssey.

The ruins of the Sanctuary of Claros, the oracle center of antiquity, is located in the province of İzmir, near the coastal town of Özdere.

The religious center in Claros consisted of the temple and oracle of Apollo, revered locally as Apollo Clarius. In ancient times, the oracle was as significant as the ones in Delphi and Didyma. The earliest information about the oracle at Claros dates back to the 7th century BC in the form of Homeric Hymns. These were a collection of thirty-three anonymous poems attributed to Homer, who, according to some scholars, was born in nearby Colophon.