Lives. The character of the wandering blind bard, Demodocus, in the Odyssey, fits the characterization of Homer in the Life. The appearance of these elements can be explained by back-formation; that is, the author manufactured stories to explain elements already known to his readers. This shows that the Life is drawn from traditional sources, not wholly fabricated. Scholars have therefore accepted elements from the Life, knowing that they may be fabrications, since at least the time of Guillaume Bude, who "accepted Pseudo-Herodotus' method and results" . The main problem with the Life is identifying elements to which limited credibility might be extended, how limited, and why. For example, one reason for some credibility is that all the Lives were "compiled from the Alexandrian period onward but sometimes incorporating stories from the classical age" . Content Ingeniously linking the famous poet with various places that figure prominently in his works and in well-known legends about him, the Life depicts Homer as the illegitimate son of Cretheis of Argos and his ward, who was the daughter of Melanopus of Cyme in Aeolis (Asia Minor). Homer, whose name at birth was Melesigenes, was born at neighbouring Smyrna. He went with his schoolteacher on a voyage to Ithaca, where he stayed with a certain Mentor; later he would include Mentor as a character in the Odyssey as acknowledgment to his host. Already a sufferer from eye disease, Homer became blind during the return journey from Ithaca, at Colophon. He then took up poetry in order to make a living. Having failed in a bid for municipal sponsorship at Cyme, he moved to Phocaea, where another schoolteacher, Thestorides, offered him food and lodging in exchange for the right to record his poetry in writing. Homer had little choice but to accept, and recited to Thestorides the Iliad and the Odyssey. Thestorides afterwards moved to Chios, where he performed Homer's poems as if they were his own and became famous. Homer heard rumours of this and eventually travelled to Chios also, where he found work as a tutor. Thestorides retreated hastily, and it was in Chios that Homer composed those of his supposed works that were meant for children, including the Batrachomyomachia or "Battle of the Frogs and Mice". At the end of his life Homer travelled to Samos; he died at Ios in the course of a voyage to Athens. Notable features The Pseudo-Herodotean Life