HISTIRUS, his-tta "-us. n. Tyrant of Mi letus, was rewarded with a district in Thrace for guarding the bridge of boats when Darius invaded Scythia, 5T3 is.c.; Darius afterwards invited him to reside at Sum, really to watch him, as he suspected him of intending a revolt. Histimus incited his kinsman Aristagiiras to lead the lonie revolt, and Hictimus in duced Darius to send him to quell it ; Histimus then joined the insurgents, but was seized and killed by Artaphemes. 2. A historian of Miletus.
Homnaus, 125-na-rus, Homer, the cele brated Greek epic poet, was the earliest of all the classical writers ; his exact date is un known, being variously placed from 95o to 85o n.c., and no less than seven cities contended for the honour of being his birthplace — S myrnd, Chios, Ce545hon, Sdidrms, R adds , Argils, A them r, Orbis 'Atria certat, Hoslati, Of his life, as of Shakspeare's, little is known, and there is an absence of personality in his poems. There is a tradition that he was blind which may have arisen from his name i;nm,og blind), and that he kept a school at Chios in the latter part of his life. He was called
Alaon'idis vates, from the tradition that his father was called Moron. No doubt existed that Homer was the author of the Iliad and Odyssey until 5795, when Professor F. A. Wolf startled the literary world by declaring in his Prolegomena that these were not ori ginally two complete poems but separate epic songs, which were first put together as two long poems by Pisistra'tus, tyrant of Athens, who is commonly said to have collected and published the writings of Homer. The Iliad gives an account of the siege of Troy and the consequences of Athilles wrath ; the Odyssey, evidently of later date, as if written in old age, depicts the wanderings of Ulysses after the fall of Troy. An epic burlesque, Batnichom'Onthelera (Battle of Frogs and Mice), a satirical poem, Margrtes, and Hymns were also ascribed by the ancients to Homer. HOMOLE, I. A lofty mountain of Thessaly. 2. A town of Magnesia, in Thessaly.