Celestial clues in Odyssey

2008-06-24 14:03

Washington - Astronomical clues found in Homer's The Odyssey could help confirm a total solar eclipse when Odysseus returned home, providing a potentially accurate timeline for the fall of Troy, two scientists reported on Monday.

Historians and classicists for centuries have debated the eclipse hypothesis in the ancient Greek poet's epic work, concluding reluctantly that no such reference exists in either The Odyssey or its predecessor, The Iliad.

But a new study of The Odyssey by Marcelo Magnasco, of Rockefeller University, and Constantino Baikouzis of the Observatorio Astronomico in La Plata, Argentina, turned up four overlooked celestial clues that together could clear up the historical period, the scientists reported in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

The clues, they claim, provide corroborating evidence of a solar eclipse when Odysseus returned home to murder the suitors who had taken advantage of his long absence to court his wife.

The first clue is the description of a new moon on the day of Odysseus' return, which is a prerequisite for a total solar eclipse.

Six days before the massacre, Homer wrote, Venus shone brightly high in the sky; 29 days earlier, he said the Pleiades and Bootes constellations were both visible at sunset; and finally, 33 days before the massacre, he suggested Mercury was high at dawn and near the western end of its trajectory.

These four celestial indicators never occur in exactly the same timeframe, so the researchers looked for a period within 100 years of the fall of Troy that would fit the astronomical pattern they had discovered.

There was only one date: April 16, 1178 BC.

The date could potentially help historians date the fall of Troy, which was purported to occur around the time of the events described in The Iliad and The Odyssey.

"If we take it as a given that the death of the suitors happened on this particular eclipse date, then everything else described in The Odyssey happens exactly as is described," Magnasco said.

Nevertheless, he stressed the findings rely on a large assumption and the conclusions are very hypothetical.

- AFP