Odysseus' Homecoming On A Solar Eclipse?

Scholars have published a study pinpointing the return of the Homeric Hero Odysseus from the Trojan War and from his Travels. They say this could have happened during an Aries Solar Eclipse on Apr. 16, 1178 BC. (Day after Tax Day.)

From a New York Times article by John Noble Wilford "Homecoming of Odysseus May Have Been in Eclipse:"

Although an eclipse is not mentioned anywhere in the story, there are omens and what Plutarch inferred was a poetic description of a total solar eclipse. Odysseus has arrived home, disguised in beggar’s rags and in hiding before revealing himself. It happens that, when Penelope’s persistent suitors sit down for a noontime meal, they start laughing uncontrollably and see their food spattered with blood.

At this strange moment, the seer Theoclymenus foretells their death, ending with the sentence, “The Sun has been obliterated from the sky, and an unlucky darkness invades the world.”

There are reasons to think that the darkness of a total eclipse had just fallen on Ithaca. It was close to noon when the 1178 eclipse occurred over the Ionian Sea. It was, as mentioned several times in the story, at the time of a new moon, which the scientists point out is “a necessary condition for a solar eclipse.” And what better atmospherics to accompany a prophecy of doom than a total eclipse, which was considered an ill omen?

Experts on Homer have previously discounted such conjecture. For one thing, the earliest verified eclipse records are in the eighth century B.C., about the time Homer was writing but long after the action in what is known as the Trojan War, around the early 12th century B.C. Scholars say there is no evidence supporting a view at the time, widely quoted, that “a solar eclipse may mark the return of Odysseus.”

In their report, Dr. Baikouzis and Dr. Magnasco acknowledged the speculative nature of their study, several times throwing in their own caveats. “The notion that the passage could refer not just to an allegorical eclipse used by the poet for literary effect but actually to a specific historical one,” they agreed, “seems unlikely because it would entail the transmission through oral tradition of information about an eclipse occurring maybe five centuries before the poem was cast in the form we know today.”

The two scientists derived a possible chronology from astronomical references in the story, including the stars by which Odysseus navigated, the sighting of Venus just before dawn as he arrives at Ithaca, and the new moon on the night before the massacre of the suitors and the presumed eclipse.

On the basis of their analysis, the scientists said, these three “references ‘cohere,’ in the sense that the astronomical phenomena pinpoint the date of 16 April 1178 B.C.,” adding, “The odds that purely fictional references to these phenomena (so hard to satisfy simultaneously) would coincide by accident with the only eclipse of the century are minute.

Also interesting is that Odysseus was away from home for 19 years, that's an entire cycle of the Moon's Nodes.

Article is here: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/24/science/24home.html?em&ex=1214539200&en=3dfb00ec1ea79ecb&ei=5087%0A

Solar Fire is just so awesome:

Total Solar Eclipse
Apr. 16, 1178 BC 10:13 am Ancient Ithaca (I used Athens, Greece)

Sun 15 Aries; Moon 15 Aries; ASC 6 ASC; NN 9 Aries; MC 15 Pisces

The Sun-Moon-NN conjunction is in the 10th House. Guess that's a sign that the Lord of the Home has returned. They are squaring Pluto in the 7th House. Lord had to kill his Wife's suitors.

This is a really significant time for the Outer Planets. Jupiter and Saturn were in conjunction over the Taurus-Gemini cusp. I wonder if they were known at this point. I think this is the Star that led the Wisemen to Jesus a couple of millenia later. They were squaring Uranus. Uranus was also opposing Neptune in the 3d-9th House pretty close to the IC/MC.

Exciting part is that Pluto was in Capricorn so it is now about to have a return for that time. On this particular Eclipse it was at 10 Capricorn.

So the Trojan War may have started 19 years earlier than that. I counted back 19 years on SolarFire to 1197. Pluto was at 8 Sagittarius at that point and there was again a Jupiter-Saturn conjunction in Libra which was separating (Apr. 16).

Jupiter-Saturn conjunctions are said to show social upheaval so it would be really interesting to think that the Trojan War started during one of these conjunctions. It would also mean that the Trojan Horse was a terrorist contraption of a Pluto in Sagittarius transit. Now we know where to look for Osama. The symbolism is totally awesome as Sagittarius is half horse/half man.

Oh, and Odysseus' Loyal Dog who had waited all those years for his Master to return? He recognized Odysseus in his beggar's clothes and then died right after seeing him. The Dog is even indicated in this chart! Sagittarius is intercepted in the 6th House of pets so the House was very big. Scorpio is on the cusp and the ruler of the House is Pluto (Death) which was conjunct the Capricorn (Old) Descendant and squaring the Sun-Moon-Node!

There's no way this chart could be correct but it sure is fun to look at. I really have to figure how to add them to this blog.