The Greeks thought that Homer was a blind poet who created the Iliad and the Odyssey as well as some other hymns. Several cities claimed him as a nitve son, and a group of individuals, called the Homeridai, sang and interpreted his work. Homer depicted the the Mycenanean world in which Mycenae and Pylos were pre-eminent. However, there are indications that the works attributed to Homer were not created by a single individual.
As early as the fifteenth century B.C., bards were performing in the Mycenanean world. These were probabbly handed done in an oral tradition for several centuries. At some point, a poet, who lived near the end of the oral tradition (about 800 B.C.) united various elements into the two epics.