Scholars think they have pinned down the date that King Odysseus returned home from the Trojan war to save his wife who was beset with suitors trying to win her hand. April 16, 1178 B.C. They are basing their findings on a number of assumptions about star positions described in Homer's epic poem.
Clues include:
- Six days before the slaughter, Venus is visible and high in the sky.
- Twenty-nine days before, two constellations -- the Pleiades and Bootes -- are simultaneously visible at sunset.
- Thirty-three days before, Mercury is high at dawn and near the western end of its trajectory.
There is also a total eclipse of the sun on the day.
The library has several copies of Homer's works - the Odyssey and the Iliad. We also have the DVD Troy. Nobody is really sure if the story that is being told accurately reflects what happened during and after the Trojan war. One of the scholars involved says "What we'd like to achieve is to get the reader to pick up the 'Odyssey' and read it again, and ponder. 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."
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