Why was Homer traditionally portrayed as blind?

While Homer is traditionally portrayed as blind, there is no historical evidence to confirm whether he could see or not. The tradition appears to have originated early in Greek culture; for instance, the 7th-century BCE "Hymn to Apollo of Delos" describes its author as "a blind man who dwells in rugged Chios," which was widely interpreted as a reference to Homer.123

Scholars suggest several reasons for this enduring image:

• Literary Archetype: In the ancient world, blindness was often associated with the idea that a loss of physical sight was the price paid for gaining spiritual vision, insight, or prophetic wisdom.1
• Self-Portraiture: Homer’s own Odyssey features the character Demodocus, a blind poet who performs at the court of the Phaeacians. Many have viewed this character as a potential self-portrait of the poet.1
• Biographical Fiction: Because little to no objective information about Homer’s life survived, later generations filled the void with legends and pseudobiographies, of which his blindness became a prominent feature.3

Ultimately, the lack of hard facts about Homer’s life allowed these myths to persist as part of his cultural legacy.3