| Is an eclipse described in the Odyssey? | |
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MedLine Citation:
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PMID: 18577587 Owner: NLM Status: PubMed-not-MEDLINE |
Abstract/OtherAbstract:
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Plutarch and Heraclitus believed a certain passage in the 20th book of the Odyssey ("Theoclymenus's prophecy") to be a poetic description of a total solar eclipse. In the late 1920s, Schoch and Neugebauer computed that the solar eclipse of 16 April 1178 B.C.E. was total over the Ionian Islands and was the only suitable eclipse in more than a century to agree with classical estimates of the decade-earlier sack of Troy around 1192-1184 B.C.E. However, much skepticism remains about whether the verses refer to this, or any, eclipse. To contribute to the issue independently of the disputed eclipse reference, we analyze other astronomical references in the Epic, without assuming the existence of an eclipse, and search for dates matching the astronomical phenomena we believe they describe. We use three overt astronomical references in the epic: to Boötes and the Pleiades, Venus, and the New Moon; we supplement them with a conjectural identification of Hermes's trip to Ogygia as relating to the motion of planet Mercury. Performing an exhaustive search of all possible dates in the span 1250-1115 B.C., we looked to match these phenomena in the order and manner that the text describes. In that period, a single date closely matches our references: 16 April 1178 B.C.E. We speculate that these references, plus the disputed eclipse reference, may refer to that specific eclipse. |
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Authors:
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Constantino Baikouzis; Marcelo O Magnasco |
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Publication Detail:
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Type: Journal Article Date: 2008-06-24 |
Journal Detail:
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Title: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America Volume: 105 ISSN: 1091-6490 ISO Abbreviation: Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. Publication Date: 2008 Jul |
Date Detail:
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Created Date: 2008-07-07 Completed Date: 2008-07-31 Revised Date: 2009-11-18 |
Medline Journal Info:
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Nlm Unique ID: 7505876 Medline TA: Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A Country: United States |
Other Details:
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Languages: eng Pagination: 8823-8 Citation Subset: - |
Affiliation:
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Laboratory of Mathematical Physics, The Rockefeller University, New York, NY 10065, USA. |
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