In the 12th century BC, the civilization of the Mycenaeans collapsed and Greece entered a dark age. In this era, stories of the great Mycenaean age were handed down from one generation to another in the form of poems.
Only two of these poems have survived - the Iliad and the Odyssey - and they are perhaps the most famous examples of literature that have come down to us from antiquity. The epics were written down in the 8th century BC and their authorship is usually ascribed to the Greek poet Homer.
Some scholars think, however, that the poems were written by a number of authors. The Iliad describes the conflict between the Trojans and the Greeks over possession of the beautiful Spartan princess, Helen. It describes the heroic deeds of Greek and Trojan soldiers alike, and its climax is the slaying of the Trojan hero Hector by Achilles.
The Odyssey concerns the return of the Greek warrior Odysseus from the same conflict to his homeland. It took him ten years to complete the journey and he had many breathtaking and dangerous adventures, including an encounter with a dreaded one-eyed Cyclops called Polyphemus whom he blinded.
These Homeric stories are thought to have been based on an actual conflict between the Greeks and Trojans in the Mycenaean era, though many details of the Iliad and Odyssey relate to a later age.
