Scientists used clues from star and sun positions mentioned by the ancient Greek poet Homer to determine the date when Odysseus returned from the Trojan war to Ithaca (not the town in New York) and killed the group of suitors trying to marry his wife as portrayed in The Odyssey.   According to researchers at the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science, the date was April 16, 1178 B.C. 

The Journey of Odyssius

Many critics argue that the books of Homer do not accuratly portray the actual history and aftermath of the Trojan War.   This study adds support to the accuracy of Homer’s writing.  “Under the assumption that our work turns out to be correct, it adds to the evidence that he knew what he was talking about,” Marcelo O. Magnasco of Rockefeller University in New York 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.”

Here are some of the clues from The Odyssey  that helped the researchers pinpoint the date. 

• The slaughter the sun is blotted from the sky, possibly a reference to an eclipse. 
• It is the time of a new moon, which is necessary for a total eclipse, the researchers say.
• 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.
• 33 days before, Mercury is high at dawn and near the western end of its trajectory. This is the researchers’ interpretation, anyway. Homer wrote that Hermes, the Greek name for Mercury, traveled far west to deliver a message.

Since the occurrence of eclipses and the various star positions repeat over periods of time, Magnasco and Baikouzis set out to calculate when they would all occur in the order mentioned in The Odyssey.  They claim it was April 16, 1178 B.C.