Homerus is asteroid #5700 and also known as 5166 T-3. Homerus was discovered by the Palomar-Leiden Survey at the Palomar Observatory. Homerus’ orbit is characterized by a semi-major axis of 2.60 Astronomical Units, an eccentricity of 0.17, a period of revolution of 1 527 days, and an inclination of 12.9 degrees. Homerus belongs to the Hirayama-family Eunomia.

Homerus is named after Homér, the Greek epic poet and author of the Illiad, from which many minor-planet names are sourced. His work serving as the original source of minor-planet names is certainly a good reason for naming an asteroid after Homér. Also a good reason to have a look at this asteroid although hundreds or thousands of asteroids are named after writers. The asteroid number also reveals by ending on ~00 that the asteroid must be special. This refers to its name only. It looks a bit odd that the original source of the names taken from Greek mythology is an usual member of a Hirayama-family, that is named after a Greek deity. It is of course still much less odd than it would be if Homerus belonged to a Hirayama-family with a name from a different mythology.

The astrological forces named after characters from Greek mythology represent also the relationships, which the characters of Greek mythology have with each other. If such characters aren’t obviously connected by their tales, then Homerus can still serve as a substitute. Homerus connects characters of Greek mythology with each other. This is of course only true for the earliest characters found in Greek mythology, not those documented or invented by later authors only. Homerus doesn’t connect characters from Ovid’s tales with each other, but will rather segregate mythological characters from different sources.