Martin, Homer Dodge, 1836-97, American landscape painter, b. Albany, N.Y. His earlier works are in the style of the Hudson River school, but after his stay in France (1881-86) his work showed the influence of the Barbizon school, notably Corot; his style, however, retained its individuality. Martin's landscapes are melancholy, poetical interpretations of nature, subtle in coloring and in the treatment of light and atmosphere. Among his best-known works are Harp of the Winds (1895), Sand Dunes at Lake Ontario, White Mountains (all: Metropolitan Mus.), and Sea at Villerville (Kansas City Art Inst.). His last years were spent in St. Paul, Minn., where, nearly blind, he painted Adirondack Scenery from memory.

Homer, Winslow, 1836-1910, American landscape, marine, and genre painter. Homer was born in Boston, where he later worked as a lithographer and illustrator. In 1861 he was sent to the Civil War battlefront as correspondent for Harper's Weekly, his work winning international acclaim. Many of his studies of everyday life, such as Snap the Whip (1872, Metropolitan Mus.), date from the postwar period, during which he was a popular magazine illustrator. In 1876, Homer abandoned illustration to devote himself to painting. He found his inspiration in the American scene and, eventually, in the sea, which he painted at Prouts Neck, Maine, in the summer and in Key West, Fla., or the Bahamas in the winter. After 1884 he lived the life of a recluse.

Although Homer excelled above all as a watercolorist, his oils and watercolors alike are characterized by directness, realism, objectivity, and splendid color. His powerful and dramatic interpretations of the sea in watercolor have never been surpassed and hold a unique place in American art. They are in leading museums throughout the United States. Characteristic watercolors are Breaking Storm and Maine Coast (both: Art Inst. of Chicago) and The Hurricane (Metropolitan Mus.). Characteristic oils include The Gulf Stream (1899) and Moonlight—Wood's Island Light (both: Metropolitan Mus.) and Eight Bells (1886; Addison Gall., Andover, Mass.).

Homer, principal figure of ancient Greek literature; the first European poet.

Works, Life, and Legends

Two epic poems are attributed to Homer, the Iliad and the Odyssey. They are composed in a literary type of Greek, Ionic in basis with Aeolic admixtures. Ranked among the great works of Western literature, these two poems together constitute the prototype for all subsequent Western epic poetry.

The "Homeric question" was the great dispute of scholarship in the 19th cent. Scholars tried to analyze the two works by various tests, usually to show that they were strung together from older narrative poems. Recent evidence strongly suggests that the Iliad is the work of a single poet. Modern scholars are generally agreed that there was a poet named Homer who lived before 700 B.C., probably in Asia Minor, and that the Iliad and the Odyssey are each the product of one poet's work, developed out of older legendary matter. Some assign the Odyssey to a poet who lived slightly after the author of the Iliad.

Legends about Homer were numerous in ancient times. He was said to be blind. His birthplace has always been disputed, but Chios or Smyrna seem most likely. The study of Homer was required of all Greek students in antiquity, and his heroes were worshiped in many parts of Greece. The Iliad and the Odyssey are composed in dactylic hexameter and are of nearly the same length. The Homeric Hymns were falsely attributed to Homer.

The Iliad

Divided into 24 books, the Iliad tells of the wrath of Achilles and its tragic consequences, an episode in the Trojan War. The action is in several sections. Achilles quarrels with Agamemnon over possession of the captive woman Briseis, and Achilles retires from the war to sulk in his tent. The Greek position gradually weakens until Agamemnon offers amendment to Achilles (Books I-IX). Book X tells of an expedition by Odysseus and Diomedes leading to Greek reverses in the war. Thereupon Patroclus, Achilles' friend, is inspired to go into battle wearing Achilles' armor. He is killed by Hector (Books XI-XVII).

Book XVIII tells of the visit of Thetis, mother of Achilles, to comfort her grieving son and of the forging of new armor by Hephaestus for Achilles. Achilles then determines to avenge his friend, kills Hector, buries Patroclus, and finally, at the entreaty of Priam, gives Hector's body to the Trojan hero's aged father (Books XIX-XXIV). The Iliad is a highly unified work, splendid in its dramatic action. Written in a simple yet lofty style, it contains many perceptive characterizations that make exalted personages like Hector and Achilles believable as human beings.

The Odyssey

The Odyssey is written in 24 books and begins nearly ten years after the fall of Troy. In the first part, Telemachus, Odysseus' son, visits Nestor at Pylos and Menelaus at Sparta, seeking news of his absent father. He tells them of the troubles of his mother, Penelope, who is beset by mercenary suitors. Menelaus informs him that his father is with the nymph Calypso (Books I-IV). The scene then shifts to Mt. Olympus with an account of Zeus' order to Calypso to release Odysseus, who then builds a raft and sails to Phaeacia. There he is entertained by King Alcinoüs and his daughter Nausicaä; he relates to them the story of his wanderings in which he has encountered Polyphemus, Aeolus, Circe, Scylla and Charybdis, the Sirens, the Laestrygones, and the lotus-eaters (Books V-XII).

Dramatic tension mounts with the return of Odysseus and Telemachus to Ithaca; together they plan and execute the death of the suitors. Afterward Odysseus makes himself known to his wife and his father, with whose aid he repulses the suitors' angry kinsmen. Athena intervenes, peace is restored, and Odysseus once again rules his country (Books XIII-XXIV). The atmosphere of adventure and fate in the Odyssey contrasts with the heavier tone and tragic grandeur of the Iliad.

Haskins, Charles Homer, 1870-1937, American historian, an authority on medieval history, b. Meadville, Pa. At Harvard (1902-31) he was professor and dean of graduate studies (1908-24); in the latter capacity he greatly influenced contemporary graduate training. He served (1918-19) on the American commission at the Paris Peace Conference. Chairman (1920-26) of the American Council of Learned Societies and president (1922) of the American Historical Association, he was also founder and president (1926-27) of the Medieval Academy of America. His work in medieval history stimulated an entire school of American medievalists. Among his works are The Normans in European History (1915, repr. 1959 and 1966) and Norman Institutions (1918, repr. 1960); cultural and intellectual works include The Rise of Universities (1923), Studies in the History of Medieval Science (2d ed. 1927, repr. 1960), and The Renaissance of the Twelfth Century (1927, repr. 1957).

Cummings, Homer Stillé, 1870-1956, American lawyer, U.S. Attorney General (1933-39), b. Chicago. He practiced law in Stamford, Conn., where he was mayor three times. He served as chairman of the Democratic National Committee (1919-20). In 1937 after the Supreme Court had overturned New Deal enabling legislation, Cummings drafted a proposal to give President Roosevelt the power to appoint a new justice to the Supreme Court to supplement any incumbent older than 70; this "court packing" plan was defeated by Congress.

(born Feb. 24, 1836, Boston, Mass., U.S.—died Sept. 29, 1910, Prouts Neck, Maine) U.S. painter. He served an apprenticeship with a Boston lithographer, then became a freelance illustrator in New York City. He exhibited at the National Academy of Design in 1860 and was elected a member in 1865. During a stay in France in 1866, he was attracted to French naturalism and Japanese prints, but they had little effect on his generally bright and happy work. He became a master of watercolour and his ability as an oil painter matured; he focused increasingly on solitary, withdrawn figures. He spent 1881–82 in the English village of Tynemouth, on the North Sea, where the coastal atmosphere, the sea, and the stoic people are the subjects of some of his most powerful images. In 1883 he moved permanently to Prouts Neck, and his dominant theme became the sea and the endless struggle against an uncaring nature. In his later years he continued to paint vigorously and in near-total isolation. Though he was recognized in his lifetime as a leading U.S. painter, appreciation of his enormous achievement came only after his death.

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(flourished 9th or 8th century BC, Ionia?) Greek poet, one of the greatest and most influential writers of all time. Though almost nothing is known of his life, tradition holds that he was blind. The ancient Greeks attributed to him the great epic poems The Iliad and The Odyssey. Modern scholars generally agree that he composed (but probably did not literally write) The Iliad, most likely relying on oral traditions, and at least inspired the composition of The Odyssey. The Iliad, set during the Trojan War, tells the story of the wrath of Achilles; The Odyssey tells the story of Odysseus as he travels home from the war. The two epics provided the basis of Greek education and culture in the Classical age, and they have remained among the most significant poems of the European tradition.

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