Homer had not revealed, nor even indirectly mentioned in the Iliad and the Odyssey his place of descent – perhaps wishing only for his work to remain eternal. Seven cities are battling to claim the title of his birthplace: Chios, Athens, Smyrna, Pylos, Colophon, Argos and Ithaka. The nine biographies on Homer which have survived since antiquity may well contain numerous contradicting information on the poet’s life, however, they agree that he most likely originated from Chios or Smyrna.