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Odysseus' Return Dated

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Los Angeles Times

Published: June 24, 2008

Delving into a 3,000-year-old mystery using astronomical clues in Homer's "The Odyssey," researchers said Monday they have dated one of the most heralded events of Western literature: Odysseus' slaughter of the suitors upon returning from the Trojan War.

According to the study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the wily hero who devised the Trojan Horse hefted his mighty bow on April 16, 1178 B.C., and executed the unruly crowd that had taken over his home and were trying to force his wife into marriage.

The finding leaves many perennial questions unanswered, such as whether the events portrayed actually happened or whether the blind poet Homer was the author of the tale.

But the results cast a new sheen of veracity on a story that has existed in a hazy realm of fantasy and history since it was composed 400 years after the Trojan War.

"They make a wonderfully persuasive case," said Scott Huler, author of a book about his efforts to follow Odysseus' journey. "I do find myself convinced that some of these events Homer described" are based on actual history.

The "Odyssey" tells the story of the king's 10-year journey home after the capture of Troy.

When he finally arrived at Ithaca, he found 109 men urging his wife, Penelope, to accept that he was dead and marry one of them. Penelope declared an archery contest with Odysseus' bow, saying she would marry the winner.

Odysseus, in disguise, won the contest.

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