Tiberiana 3: Odysseus at Rome – a Problem
The choice of a name is contingent on a number of factors or combination of factors, from individual taste to cultural influences, from liking the sound of it (forwhatever reason), to honoring relatives and friends, to expressing admiration for public figures past and present, real, fictional, or divine. Roman patterns of naming were also influenced by the involvement not just of family members but of slave-owners as choosers of names…and by the blending of very different systems of nomenclature in the great tapestry of cultures woven in the capital city.
THE ARCHAIC BIOGRAPHY OF HOMER
Thus the discussions about which of the epics might have been composed by Homer, as well as the considerations about his person and life seem to have taken place simultaneously, at the end of the 6th century. The increased interest in the person of the poet gives reason to assume that something in connection with those discussions might have also been put down at that time.