WASHINGTON, June 23, 2008
Scientists Date Events In "The Odyssey"
Discovery Lends Credence To Theory That Homer's Stories Contained Historical Truths
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It was on April 16, 1178 B.C. that the great warrior struck with arrows, swords and spears, killing those who sought to replace him, a pair of researchers say in Monday's online edition of Proceedings of the National Academy of Science.
Experts have long debated whether the books of Homer reflect the actual history of the Trojan War and its aftermath.
Marcelo O. Magnasco of Rockefeller University in New York and Constantino Baikouzis of the Astronomical Observatory in La Plata, Argentina, acknowledge they had to make some assumptions to determine the date Odysseus returned to his kingdom of Ithaca.
But interpreting clues in Homer's "Odyssey" as references to the positions of stars and a total eclipse of the sun allowed them to determine when a particular set of conditions would have occurred.
"What we'd like to achieve is to get the reader to pick up the "Odyssey," and read it again, and ponder," said Magnasco. "And to realize that our understanding of these texts is quite imperfect, and even when entire libraries have been written about Homeric studies, there is still room for further investigation."
Their study potentially adds support to the accuracy of Homer's writing.
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Rockefeller University
"Under the assumption that our work turns out to be correct, it adds to the evidence that he knew what he was talking about," Magnasco said. "It still does not prove the historicity of the return of Odysseus," he said. "It only proves that Homer knew about certain astronomical phenomena that happened much before his time."Under the assumption that our work turns out to be correct, it adds to the evidence that (Homer) knew what he was talking about.
Marcelo O. Magnasco,Rockefeller University
Homer reports that on the day of the slaughter the sun is blotted from the sky, possibly a reference to an eclipse. In addition, he mentions more than once that it is the time of a new moon, which is necessary for a total eclipse, the researchers say.
Other clues include:
"Of course we believe it's amply justified, otherwise we would not commit it to print. However we do recognize there's less ammunition to defend this interpretation than the others," Magnasco said.
"Even though the other astronomical references are much clearer, our interpretation of them as allusions to astronomical phenomena is an assumption," he added in an interview via e-mail.
For example, Magnasco said, Homer writes that as Odysseus spread his sails out of Ogygia, "sleep did not weigh on his eyelids as he watched the Pleiades, and late-setting Bootes, and the Bear."
"We assume he means that as Odysseus set sail shortly after sunset, at nautical twilight the Pleiades and Bootes were simultaneously visible, and that Bootes would be the later-setting of the two," Magnasco explained. "It is a good assumption because every member of his audience would know what was being discussed, as the Pleiades and Bootes were important to them to know the passage of the seasons and would be very familiar with which times of the year they were visible. Remember the only calendar they had was the sky."
Since the occurrence of an eclipse and the various star positions repeat over different periods of time, Magnasco and Baikouzis set out to calculate when they would all occur in the order mentioned in the "Odyssey."
And their result has Odysseus exacting his revenge on April 16, 1178 B.C.
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- june 24, 2008. the sun is out. the sky is blue. oh my.
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- Interesting! I think this time frame is around (afterwards?) the time of NASA''s "missing day". I wonder how this affects this articles accuracy. In the book of Joshua, chapter 10:12-15 it says......
Then Joshua spoke to the LORD in the day when the LORD delivered up the Amorites before the sons of Israel, and he said in the sight of Israel,
"O sun, stand still at Gibeon,
And O moon in the valley of Aijalon."
So the sun stood still, and the moon stopped,
Until the nation avenged themselves of their enemies.
Is it not written in the book of Jashar? And the sun stopped in the middle of the sky, and did not hasten to go down for about a whole day. And there was no day like that before it or after it, when the LORD listened to the voice of a man; for the LORD fought for Israel. Then Joshua and all Israel with him returned to the camp to Gilgal.
Notice how it says "about" a whole day. This has been calculated to be 23 hours and 20 minutes. The rest was found to make up for the missing time in 2 Kings 20:10 where the Sun went backwards 10 degrees which is 40 minutes of time........History is so cool! - Reply to this comment
- This is just fascinating! I''m glad to see Homer proving true. I''m not surprised--Schliemann believed Homer too and, using his works, he discovered the ruins of Troy!
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- That''s a pretty spectacular level of precision given that the Iliad studies have pegged that half of the story to around 1180 bce (archaeologists have dropped the "bc/ad=before Christ/anno domini [after Christ]" scheme in favor of ce="common era"); this would put the start of the events of the odyssey within 2 years after the fall of troy, a completely realistic time frame for an actual sorting out of troops, treasure, and disembarkations.
If you find this topic interesting by all means get hold of a copy of Michael Wood''s epic 1986 BBC documentary on the Trojan War, especially the chapter on the Hittites, whose royal archive contained a single clay tablet that seems to refer to the actual war:
http://www.amazon.com/Search-Trojan-War-Colin-Renfrew/dp/B0001KL5BW - Reply to this comment
- I beleive it so now lets move on I was not around back then so nothing I can do.
If you saw a UFO I believe you lets move on nothing I can do about it.
No don''t ask anyone to write something up do it your selves then we will look it over. - Reply to this comment
- Yes, and Beowulf blew his nose in his handkerchief at Hygelac''s funeral around 10 a.m. on June 24, 521.
Some matters in epic are historical, but most such things refer to culture, not to events. - Reply to this comment
- I just hope that some day in the future Star Trek''''s Spock will not be considered the new Jesus.
Posted by closethippy1 at 12:11 AM : Jun 24, 2008
We could do a lot worse. - Reply to this comment
- The editors of CBS must of been asleep during astronomy 101. The Pleiades is not a constellation, it is an open cluster also known as M45
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- If these people were Chistians, they would know how adulterous affairs can ruin lives.
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- What have I been fed all these years? They taught me Troy was a small place, was sacked at least six times and Homer wrote the fictional Iliad to flatter the Greek princes and their ''well-grieved'' men. Now this latest is that it is historically true. Shattered. (Still don''t believe in the Cyclopes though.)
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Author Thomas Friedman on Obama's Afghanistan plan and the war on terror.
