The Blind Homer (like Demodocus) William-Adolphe Bouguereau

In Homer's Odyssey, Demodocus or Demodokos (Δημοδόκος) "received by the demos" is a storyteller at the court of Alcinous, king of the Phaeacians at Scheria. He sings the quarrel between Odysseus and Achilles, the episode of the Trojan horse and the loves of Ares and Aphrodite.

He is blind: "Meanwhile the herald was returning with the loyal singer, a man the Muse so loved above all others.  She'd given him both bad and good, for she'd destroyed his eyes, but had bestowed on him the gift of pleasing song." ( Odyssey VIII). From this excerpt, the Greeks concluded that Homer was blind as well.

Demodokos sings stories about Troy in front of Alcinous, right side Odysseus, John Flaxman

Odyssey Book 8:

The first song of Demodocus

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Demodocus is also a Trojan chief, who came with Aeneas into Italy, where he was killed ( Verg. Aen.x. 413).


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