Homer's Secret Odyssey

Homer is renowned as the finest of the storytellers who for countless generations passed down by word of mouth the myths and legends of Ancient Greece. Yet, for some 2500 years there have been persistent folk memories that his genius extended far beyond literature and that scientific knowledge was hidden in his stories of heroes and villains, gods and ghosts, monsters and witches. Research now reveals that at a time when the Greeks did not have a written script, Homer concealed an astonishing range of learning about calendar making and cycles of the sun, moon and planet Venus in the Odyssey, his epic of the Fall of Troy and the adventures of the warrior-king Odysseus.

KENNETH WOOD was both an Assistant Editor and Features Editor of the Manchester Evening News. Florence Wood graduated in mathematics, has a Diploma in Statistics and worked in education. They have worked together on four published books with historical themes. In researching their previous book they took Classics courses at Manchester University, travelled in Greece with an Open University tutor, studied astronomy for several years with a physicist/astronomer, and have been members of the Classical Association for many years. In April 2010, they gave a poster presentation on Myths, Codes and Calendars of Ancient Greece at the Classical Association annual meeting in Cardiff. They have also given presentations on Homer's Secret Iliad (previous book) and Myths, Codes and Calendars of Ancient Greece to academics at the University of Texas in Austin.