offers the “much disputed” theory of widespread drought (17) but to his explanation adds a level of sensationalism not in keeping with the principles of scholarly writing. For the the decline and eventual disappearance of Mycenaean civilization J. He rightly attributes their eventual survival in the centuries following the disintegration of that culture to oral transmission, but generally mischaracterizes the post-Mycenaean “Dark Age” by referring to the period as one of catastrophic “cultural … devastation so complete that not even the memory of it survived” (16). presents a brief overview of the tradition of the Homeric epics and their historical origins in the Mycenaean Age. Despite its obvious shortcomings as an academic work about Homeric epic, however, the book does afford the general reader some practical information about astronomical principles and enhances a visual appreciation of the heavens. It is this long lost astronomical context, claims J., that must be reconstructed in order to fully understand the existing account of Odysseus’s adventures. also sometimes (and by his own admission) engages in elaborate speculation to support his thesis that the survival of an Indo-European oral tradition explaining the positions of the equinoxes and tracing the monthly lunar circuit through the zodiac is the key to unlock the origin and meaning of Homer’s Odyssey, particularly the adventures of its hero in Books Nine through Twelve. The work can hardly be regarded as scholarly since its author shows no real knowledge of ancient Greek, exhibits only a limited control of pertinent (and current) literature, and lacks a truly comprehensive critical approach to what material he does adduce for evidence. Johnson (hereafter J.) proved no easy task. Reviewing Shining in the Ancient Sea: The Astronomical Ancestry of Homer’s Odyssey by Laurin R. Many thanks also to George Thompson for assistance with appropriate Sanskrit reference material and to the anonymous BMCR referee for constructive comments.)

(The reviewer wishes to apologize for the lateness of this review.

Skychart iii