In the eighth cenury B.C. a poet was born in a place of the Aegean Sea. He composed the earliest and greatest works of Greek literature, the Iliad and the Odyssey. His name was Homer and he lived in a time of widespead enthusiasm for the heroes of the past. Tales were woven into the Homeric epics. They tell of a golden age long before the poet’s time and of heroes who fought in the legendary Trojan war. The Iliad is as much a tale of love and personal revenge as it is of military exploits. The Odyssey is a maritime epic detailing the adventures of Odysseus, king of Ithaca on his homeward journey after the fall of Troy. Homer described not only what happened but he liked to describe how something happened. Homer loves to imitate voices, create direct speech and empathize with his characters. When tales were told in this manner, artists were eager to bring them to life and make them as realistic and convincing as possible.

Travel back to the Ancient Greece of Odysseus, to Mycenae, the land where the leader of the Greeks in the Trojan War lived, to Ithaca, the birthplace of Odysseus, to Pylos, where the wise king Nestor had his palace and see the creations of that Age of the Heroes that have come to us in Athens.