Long before Christopher Nolan’s modern remake of The Odyssey took the world by storm, Greek poets like Homer were making history and making waves. There’s a reason why we’re still talking about these ancient legends today. Ancient Greeks shaped Western poetry as we know it. They influenced greats of the Romantic Hellenic movement like Byron, Keats and Shelley and established foundational rules for meter, voice and length that poets still recognize today. For the ancient Greeks, poetry was more than spoken-word history and storytelling. They elevated poetry to a true artform that we continue to celebrate today. Origins: Who Created Poetry? Poetry predates Ancient Greece by centuries. It actually originated as an oral tradition in early civilizations, such as the Sumerians. Traditionally, poetry has been used as a way to memorize and convey history and religious chants. And it was even used to recite laws while providing a mnemonic device that would be easy for people to remember. This is way before modern marketing phrases, like “click it, or ticket.” The world’s earliest recorded poet was Enheduanna, a Sumerian high priestess. Circa 2300 BCE, she used poetry to compose hymns to Inanna, the goddess of love and fertility. Ancient Egyptians