Andrew Yee[_1_]
June 26th 08, 01:05 AM
Rockefeller University
New York, New York
Contact:
Zach Veilleux, 212-327-8982
June 23, 2008
Celestial clues hint at eclipse in Homer's Odyssey
Among countless other debates about Homer's Odyssey -- not the least of
which is whether the entire poem can be attributed to Homer himself -- is
whether Odysseus returns home to experience a total solar eclipse. Total
eclipses, when the moon briefly but completely blocks the sun, happen pretty
rarely. In fact, they're so rare that if what Homer describes is truly an
eclipse, it 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. But after arguing about the point for hundreds of years,
historians, astronomers and classicists finally agreed that there was no
corroborating evidence and tabled the discussion. Now, Rockefeller
University scientists believe they have found some overlooked passages that,
taken together, may shed new light on the timing of an epic journey.
Marcelo O. Magnasco, head of the Laboratory of Mathematical Physics, and his
colleague Constantino Baikouzis of the Proyecto Observatorio at the
Observatorio Astronico in La Plata, Argentina, combed through The Odyssey to
find specific astronomical references that could be precisely identified as
occurring on specific days throughout Odysseus's journey. Then they aligned
each of those dates with the date of Odysseus's return, the same day he
murders the suitors who had taken advantage of his long absence to court his
wife.
In research published today in the Proceedings of the National Academy of
Sciences, the researchers describe four celestial events. 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 Boes -- 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. (Homer actually writes that
Hermes -- known to the Romans as Mercury -- traveled far west only to
deliver a message and fly all the way back east again; Magnasco and
Baikouzis interpret this as a reference to the planet).
Astronomically, these four phenomena recur at different intervals of time,
so together they never recur in exactly the same pattern. Therefore
Baikouzis and Magnasco looked to see whether there was any date within a
hundred years of the fall of Troy that would fit the pattern of the
astronomical timeline. There was only one: April 16, 1178 BCE, the same day
that astronomers had calculated the occurrence of a total solar eclipse.
"Not only is this corroborative evidence that this date might be something
important," Magnasco says, "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."
Magnasco acknowledges that their findings rely on a large assumption:
Although the association of planets with gods was a Babylonian invention
that dates back to around 1000 BCE, there's no evidence that those ideas had
reached Greece by the time Homer was writing, several hundred years later.
"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."
Ultimately, whether they're right or wrong, the researchers are interested
in reopening the debate. "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.
"Poor men, what terror is this that overwhelms you so? Night shrouds your
heads, your faces, down to your knees -- cries of mourning are bursting into
fire -- cheeks rivering tears -- the walls and the handsome crossbeams
dripping dank with blood! Ghosts, look, thronging the entrance, thronging
the court, go trooping down to the realm of death and darkness! The sun is
blotted out of the sky -- look there -- a lethal mist spreads all across the
earth!"
-- Homer (translation by Robert Fagles)
* Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences online: June 24, 2008
http://www.pnas.org/cgi/content/abstract/0803317105v1
IMAGE CAPTION:
[http://newswire.rockefeller.edu/upload/media/magnasco_inside.1214320178.jpg
(8KB)]
Ancient eclipse. A computer reconstruction shows what the sky would have
looked like at 12:02 p.m. on April 16, 1178 BCE over the Ionian Islands. In
addition to the eclipse (center), Venus, Jupiter, Mercury, Saturn and Mars
are all visible.
New York, New York
Contact:
Zach Veilleux, 212-327-8982
June 23, 2008
Celestial clues hint at eclipse in Homer's Odyssey
Among countless other debates about Homer's Odyssey -- not the least of
which is whether the entire poem can be attributed to Homer himself -- is
whether Odysseus returns home to experience a total solar eclipse. Total
eclipses, when the moon briefly but completely blocks the sun, happen pretty
rarely. In fact, they're so rare that if what Homer describes is truly an
eclipse, it 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. But after arguing about the point for hundreds of years,
historians, astronomers and classicists finally agreed that there was no
corroborating evidence and tabled the discussion. Now, Rockefeller
University scientists believe they have found some overlooked passages that,
taken together, may shed new light on the timing of an epic journey.
Marcelo O. Magnasco, head of the Laboratory of Mathematical Physics, and his
colleague Constantino Baikouzis of the Proyecto Observatorio at the
Observatorio Astronico in La Plata, Argentina, combed through The Odyssey to
find specific astronomical references that could be precisely identified as
occurring on specific days throughout Odysseus's journey. Then they aligned
each of those dates with the date of Odysseus's return, the same day he
murders the suitors who had taken advantage of his long absence to court his
wife.
In research published today in the Proceedings of the National Academy of
Sciences, the researchers describe four celestial events. 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 Boes -- 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. (Homer actually writes that
Hermes -- known to the Romans as Mercury -- traveled far west only to
deliver a message and fly all the way back east again; Magnasco and
Baikouzis interpret this as a reference to the planet).
Astronomically, these four phenomena recur at different intervals of time,
so together they never recur in exactly the same pattern. Therefore
Baikouzis and Magnasco looked to see whether there was any date within a
hundred years of the fall of Troy that would fit the pattern of the
astronomical timeline. There was only one: April 16, 1178 BCE, the same day
that astronomers had calculated the occurrence of a total solar eclipse.
"Not only is this corroborative evidence that this date might be something
important," Magnasco says, "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."
Magnasco acknowledges that their findings rely on a large assumption:
Although the association of planets with gods was a Babylonian invention
that dates back to around 1000 BCE, there's no evidence that those ideas had
reached Greece by the time Homer was writing, several hundred years later.
"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."
Ultimately, whether they're right or wrong, the researchers are interested
in reopening the debate. "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.
"Poor men, what terror is this that overwhelms you so? Night shrouds your
heads, your faces, down to your knees -- cries of mourning are bursting into
fire -- cheeks rivering tears -- the walls and the handsome crossbeams
dripping dank with blood! Ghosts, look, thronging the entrance, thronging
the court, go trooping down to the realm of death and darkness! The sun is
blotted out of the sky -- look there -- a lethal mist spreads all across the
earth!"
-- Homer (translation by Robert Fagles)
* Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences online: June 24, 2008
http://www.pnas.org/cgi/content/abstract/0803317105v1
IMAGE CAPTION:
[http://newswire.rockefeller.edu/upload/media/magnasco_inside.1214320178.jpg
(8KB)]
Ancient eclipse. A computer reconstruction shows what the sky would have
looked like at 12:02 p.m. on April 16, 1178 BCE over the Ionian Islands. In
addition to the eclipse (center), Venus, Jupiter, Mercury, Saturn and Mars
are all visible.