Homer

About Homer

Homer, traditionally dated to the 9th-8th century BCE, is the ancient Greek poet credited with authoring the foundational works of Western literature: the Iliad and the Odyssey. These epic poems, chronicling the Trojan War and Odysseus’s perilous journey home, respectively, established narrative conventions and mythological archetypes that have influenced art, philosophy, and storytelling for nearly three millennia. This enduring cultural gravity is reflected in his commanding #18 rank on the Historical Popularity Index (HPI) among roughly 15,000 figures.

Despite this monumental historical importance, Homer's digital footprint in 2025-1.3 million Wikipedia views-suggests a significant attention gap relative to his standing. For comparison, figures like William Shakespeare (#48 HPI) captured 4.3M views, while the much lower-ranked Ernest Hemingway (#425 HPI) received 2.8M views. Homer’s attention level is roughly commensurate with his historical weight (a ~1x gap), but a stark contrast exists when viewed against figures like Ronald Reagan (#307 HPI) or John Lennon (#591 HPI), who both garnered 5.4M and 4.2M views respectively, indicating a preference for more recent or popular cultural touchstones in online searches.

The data does show a positive trajectory, however, with his Wikipedia readership growing by 8.9% year-over-year in 2025, suggesting a modest resurgence in modern interest, further supported by a small 2% gain in momentum between Q1 and Q3 of that year.