Where Troy Once Stood

Wilkens, identified only as a scholar living in Paris, claims that Homer's Iliad and Odyssey do not describe Greek civilization at all. According to his fanciful reading of these texts and of history, the Trojan War was fought between Bronze Age Celts; Troy was in East Anglia, England, not in Asia Minor; and Odysseus plied the Atlantic, with stops in Senegal (Land of the Lotus-Eaters) and Havana, Cuba. Homer, it is claimed here, was a poet from Holland who lived in Spain and France. Maps, photos, tables and comparisons of place names, tides, vegetation, etc., support a flimsy argument. Although at least some elements of his thesis have been advanced as early as 1790, Wilkens plays fast and loose with the evidence. (July)