63-76

Articles

• Henriksson, G.

The Trojan War was very significant for the ancient Greeks and they dated historical events according to the number of years after the fall of Troy. However, there was already in antiquity no consensus as to the exact date of the war when compared with different epochs. Even after the modern discovery of the ancient city, there has been disagreement among different excavators as to which layer corresponds to the city mentioned in the Iliad attributed to Homer. In this paper an attempt is made to identify the strange obscuration of the sun that occurred during the final battle of the Iliad as a total solar eclipse close to the southern border of the zone of totality. There exists only one solar eclipse that corresponds to the description in the text and this is the total solar eclipse of June 11, in 1312 BC. When I first presented this date in 1986, there was a difference of about 60 years compared with the most common archaeological dating at that time. My date is now fully supported by the latest results from the German-American excavation that identifies the fall of Homer’s Troy with the destruction of the archaeological layer Troy VIh, dated to about 1300 BC. Further independent support is provided by another solar eclipse that dates the reign of the Hittite king Muwatalli II. This king wrote a letter to king Alaksandu in Wilusa, identified as the Hittite name for Ilios, the most frequently used name for Troy in the Iliad. Alexander was another name for Paris who abducted Helen, the crime that resulted in the war. Muwatalli II was king 1315-1297 BC, according to the chronology for the Hittite Kingdom based on a solar eclipse in 1335 BC, during the tenth year of King Mursili II (1345- 1315 BC), the father of Muwatalli II.

• History and Archaeology
• Languages and Literature

• Ιστορία

Iliad, Homer, Trojan War, Total Solar Eclipse, Achilles, Patroclus, Troy VI, Wilusa, Muwatalli II and Mursili II

Corresponding author:[email protected], I want to express my gratitude to Dr Johan Flemberg, Department of Classical Archaeology and Ancient History at Uppsala University, for his help in 1986 in finding Edwin Forrer’s handwritten German translation from Hittite of the annals by Mursili II in the great collection of books in Carolina Rediviva, the University Library in Uppsala. He also helped me with the reading of the original Greek text in book 17. Finally, I want to thank my research college associate professor Mary Blomberg, also of the Department of Classical Archaeology and Ancient History in Uppsala, for useful discussions and the correction of my English.

1. Astour M. C. (1989), Hittite History and Absolute Chronology of the Bronze Age, §10-12. Paul Åströms förlag. Partille.Blegen, C. W. (1964), Troy and the Trojans. New York.Dörpfeld, W. (1902), Troja und Ilion: Ergebnisse der Ausgrabungen in den vorhistorischen und historischen Schichten von Ilion, 1870-94. Athen.Edward, M. W. (1991), The Iliad: a commentary, vol. 5: books 17-20. Cambridge.Einstein, A. (1916), Die Grundlage der allgemeinen Relativitätstheorie, Annalen der Physik 49.Forrer, E. (1926/29), Forschungen. Vols. I.1 and II.1, 1-3. Berlin.Forrer, E. (1931), Apollon, Vulcanus, und die Kyklopen in den Boghazkoï-Texten, Revue hittite et asianique 5, pp.141-144.Furumark, A. (1941), The Mycenaean Pottery. Analysis and Classification. Stockholm.Hansen, P. A. (1857), Tables de la lune. Londres.Henriksson, G. (1999), Prehistoric constellations on Swedish Rock-carvings, In Actes de l Vème conférence de la SEAC, Gdańsk, 5-8 septembre 1997 (Światowit supplement series H: Anthropology, 2), ed. A. Le Beuf and M. Ziólkowski, 155-173. Warsaw.Henriksson, G. (2005), Solar eclipses, supernova and Encke's comet on Swedish rock Carvings, in Proceedings of the Fifth Oxford International Conference on Archaeo- astronomy, Santa Fe, August 1996, ed. Fountain, J. W. and Sinclair, R. M., Carolina Academic Press, Durham, North Carolina, pp. 475-485.Henriksson, G. (2006), A new Chronology of the Old Babylonian Kingdom and Ur I-II based on identification of solar and lunar eclipses, in Proceedings of the SEAC 2002 Conference in Tartu.Henriksson, G. (2007), Chronology for the Egyptian Pharaohs of the Amarna period and the Israeli leaders Moses and Joshua by correlation with eight solar eclipses, in Proceedings of the SEAC 2004 Conference in Kecskemet. BAR International Series 1647, 133-148.Henriksson, G. (2008), A new attempt to date the Xia, Shang and Zhou dynasties by solar eclipses, Proceedings of the Oxford 8 and SEAC 2007 Conference in Klaipeda, Astronomy and Cosmology in Folk Traditions and Cultural Heritage,Archaeologica Baltica 10, 105- 109. Klaipeda.Henriksson, G. (2009), A new test of Einstein’s theory of relativity by ancient solar eclipses Cosmology across Cultures, Astronomical Society of the Pacific Conference Series vol. 409, 166–171. Ed. J. A. Rubiño-Martín, J. A. Belmonte, F. Prada and A. Alberdi.Henriksson, G. (2010), Einstein’s Theory of Relativity confirmed by Ancient Solar Eclipses, Journal of Cosmology, 2010, Vol. 9, 2259-2270.Jacoby, F. (1929), Die Fragmente der griechischen Historiker 2B.Korfmann, M. (2001), A guide to TROIA, Istanbul.Korfmann, M. (2004), Die Arbeiten in Troia/Wilusa 2003 - Work at Troia/Wilusa, Studia Troica 14, 3–31.Latacz, J. (2001), Homers Troia/Ilios: Erfindung oder bewahrte Erinnerung? Ein überblick, in Troia, Traum und Wirklichkeit, Konrad Theiss Verlag GmbH. Stuttgart.Morrison, L. V. and Ward, C. G. (1975), An analysis of the transits of Mercury 1677-1973. Mon. Not. R. Astr. Soc. 173, 183-206.Morrison, L. V. and Stephenson, F. R. (2002), Ancient Eclipses and the Earth's Rotation, in Highlights of Astronomy, vol. 12, IAU, editor Rickman, H.Newing, G. (2001), The Parian Marble: Translation,University of Oxford, Ashmolean Museum.Nordtvedt, K. (1996), From Newton’s Moon to Einstein’s Moon, Physics Today, May 1996, Vol. 49:5, p. 29.Oppolzer, T. R. von (1887), Canon der Finsternisse.Wien.Parker, R.A., (1957) The lunar dates of Tuthmosis III and Ramesses II, Journal of Near Eastern Studies 16, 39-43.Parry, Milman. (1971), The making of Homeric verse; the collected papers of Milman Parry, ed. Adam Parry, Clarendon Press. Oxford.Schachermeyr, F. (1950), Poseidon und die Entstehung des griechischen Götterglaubens. Bern.Schachermeyr, F. (1983), Die griechische Rückerinnerung im Lichte neuer Forschungen. Wien.Schliemann, H. (1880), Ilios the City and the Country of the Trojans. London.Schliemann, H. (1884), Troja: Results of the Latest Researches and Discoveries on the Site of Homer’s Troy. London.Schoch, C. (1931), Die säkulare Accelaration des Mondes und der Sonne, Astronomische Abhandlungen, Ergänzungshefte zu den Astronomischen Nachrichten, Band 8, B2. Kiel.Starke, F. (2001), Troia im Machtfüge des zweiten Jahrtausends vor Christus, Die Geschichte des Landes Wilusa, in Troia, Traum und Wirklichkeit, Konrad Theiss Verlag GmbH. Stuttgart.Steele, J. M. (2000), Observations and Predictions of Eclipse Times by Early Astronomers Archimedes. Vol 4, pp. 37-41. Dordrecht (2000).Stephenson, F. R. (1982), Historical Eclipses, Scientific American, October, p 154-164.Stephenson, F. R. and Morrison, L. V. (1984), Long-term changes in the rotation of the Earth: 700 B.C. to A.D. 1980. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society. Vol. A 313, pp. 47-70.Wachter, R. (2001), Die Troia-Geschichte wird schriftlich, Homers Ilias wird zum Buch, in Troia, Traum und Wirklichkeit, Konrad Theiss Verlag GmbH. Stuttgart.Williams, J. G., Boggs, D. H. and Folkner, W. M. (2008), DE421 Lunar orbit, Physical Librations, and Surface Coordinates, IOM 335-JW,DB,WF-20080314-001, March 14, 2008.Wyatt, W. F. (1999), Iliad, by Homer, revised translation, LOEB Classical Library, LCL 171, Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts, London, England.