Celestial Clues Support Story of Homer’s Odyssey

Much of ancient writing is clouded in mystery and fragments of faded papyrus. Whether it be who wrote it, whether the events that are recorded actually happened, or whether facts were manipulated for storytelling effect. One of the most contentious pieces of ancient literature is Homer’s Odyssey.

Most likely written towards the end of the eighth century, Odyssey is one of two major poems written by Homer, an ancient Greek epic poet (the other being the Iliad). The poem focuses on the Greek hero Odysseus (or Ulysses to the Romans) and the long journey he takes after the fall of Troy, following on from the story in the Iliad.

One particular mystery that has plagued historians and astronomers alike is whether there was in fact a lunar eclipse upon Odysseus’ return.

An event that, in and of itself, is relatively unusual, Marcelo O. Magnasco, head of the Laboratory of Mathematical Physics at Rockefeller, and Constantino Baikouzis of the Proyecto Observatorio at the Observatorio Astronómico in La Plata, Argentina, believed that it’s appearance in Homer’s work could possibly help date and confirm the work.

Throughout Homer’s work, Magnasco and Baikouzis identified four separate celestial events. From the press release:

The day of the slaughter is, as Homer writes more than once, also a new moon (something that's also a prerequisite for a total eclipse). Six days before the slaughter, Venus is visible and high in the sky. Twenty-nine days before, two constellations -- the Pleiades and Boötes -- are simultaneously visible at sunset. And 33 days before, Homer may be suggesting that Mercury is high at dawn and near the western end of its trajectory.

Now Magnasco and Baikouzis are assuming that the reference to Mercury is in fact a reference to the planet, and not the mythical god, who also went by the Greek name Hermes, which was who Homer would have written about. What they found was, when they limited their search to within a hundred years of the fall of Troy, there was only one point in time where all four celestial events lined up as described in the Odyseey: April 16, 1178 BC.

But in doing so, they take a leap in assuming that the idea of linking planets with deities had already reached Greece and Rome.

The association between gods and planets was a Babylonian idea that dates back to approximately 1000 BC. That Homer’s poems are supposed to have been written near the end of the eighth century BC, raises an important question: had the deifict association with planets made it from Babylon to Greece, where Homer would have been writing.

That small problem aside though, Magnasco and Baikouzis believe that the "not only is this corroborative evidence that this date might be something important.” Magnasco continues: "but 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."

As to their large assumption, Magnasco acknowledges the problem: "This is a risky step in our analysis," he says. "One may say that our interpretation of the phenomena is stretching it, but when you go back to the text you have to wonder."

The pair hopes that through their latest research, they might once again open up the debates emanating from Homer’s epics. "Even though there are historical arguments that say this is a ridiculous thing to think about, if we can get a few people to read The Odyssey differently, to look at it and ponder whether there was an actual date inscribed in it, we will be happy," Magnasco says.

Posted by Josh Hill.