Homer was an ancient Greek poet believed to have lived around 750 BC who is credited with writing the epic poems The Iliad and The Odyssey. While no definitive facts are known about his life, he was thought to have been born in either Chios or Smyrna in modern-day Turkey and to have worked as a poet in Ionia. His poems, which told the stories of the Trojan War and the journey of Odysseus, came to form the basis of Greek education and culture and have remained hugely influential works in Western literature.