World Citizen Homer

Who was Homer's father, where was he born, where did he live? It is not easy to explain this. Because he himself gives us no information in this regard, and those who mention him have not reached a definite conclusion and have succumbed to a multitude of fantasies. Some say he was born in Colophon, some in Chios, some in Smyrna, some in Ios, and some in Cyme. In short, there is no city that has not adopted Homer as its own son. Therefore, it is appropriate to call Homer a citizen of the world. Proclus (AD 412–485) Oral culture, which laid the groundwork for written culture, continued, and still continues, to exist even after the invention of writing, despite writing itself. Anatolia, the cradle of all cultures and a crossroads from past to present, has been the homeland of countless poets whose voices reached across the world, such as Homer, and of works cherished by all humanity. For this reason, the spoken word, transmitted through songs, became the Anatolian epic tradition, and Homer, born in Anatolia, the cultural center of the world, became a “world citizen.”