Epic poems are so challenging, only true geeks can read them these days. Not me, I pretend to have a life. Homer (the Greek one) wrote the Iliad and the Odyssey back in the 9th or 8th century B.C. telling of the Trojan War and the hero Odysseus’ ten year journey home. Both legendary stories have helped define much of Greek mythology and influenced modern storytelling with its epic scale (a defining characteristic of epic poems). From the ancient Aeneid by Rome’s Virgil to the terrible Troy movie (oh Brad Pitt, how far you’ve fallen), Homer’s poems still resonate because people still like war and monsters. It’s truly timeless storytelling.