Bernard Jones’ first book, The Discovery of Troy and its Lost History, revealed his startling conclusion, after decades of research, that the fabulous city was neither myth nor located in the Mediterranean.
It’s no spoiler to now report that Mr Jones placed Troy in an area close to Cambridge. Yes, that’s Cambridge in England!
His second book, The Voyage of Aeneas of Troy, sees Mr Jones examine what happened next in the same micro-detailed fashion.
He has again employed his painstaking dissection of the ancient writings of Virgil’s Aeneid and applied them to historical, geographical and topographical tests to recreate the voyages of Aeneas after the fall of Troy.
Crucial to the study is an understanding that in the Bronze Age sea levels were between five and seven metres higher than they are now, so the British coastline had some significant differences. Aeneas’ epic voyage, leading his people to found a new Troy, begins in Lincolnshire.
As a reader I had to continuously remind myself of Mr Jones’ conclusion that Troy had been in Cambridgeshire, England, and not the Mediterranean, and the story of the Trojans was ancient British and not Greek, such is the power of centuries of classical teaching. And so he charts Aeneas’ journey around the coast of England in the main by unpicking the clues hidden in plain sight in Virgil’s epic poem, composed using ancient British language, parts using meanings of British words in place names.
Step by step he applies what Virgil wrote to the landscape as it appeared then and now, tracking the journey place by place according to sea currents, prevailing winds, tidal considerations and speed and distance possible by sail.
Mr Jones’ admits: “I couldn’t deny what had been found, but I certainly had difficulty believing it.”
Being in the correct geographical location is paramount, he said, reminding the reader that none of the places described by Virgil in the Aeneid can be found in the Mediterranean “because the voyage of Aeneas of Troy did not take place there”.
Aeneas completes his exodus when he founds a new city for his people more than 3,000 years ago, and more than 1,000 years before the Romans arrived in Britain - modern-day Faversham.
What of Aeneas then? He was the great grandfather of Brutus, who founded London, and from whom descended the British kings of record. Also descended from Aeneas was Romulus and the Romans.
Mr Jones’ dedication over decades in compiling this study is awesome, but he does face an uphill battle in convincing many of his peers that history should be turned on its head, despite the mass of evidence he has detected. After all, the Romans WERE in Britain, so why not the Trojans before them?
Whichever side you fall on, although in some respects his book is an academic publication, Mr Jones succeeds in driving the story forwards in digestible parts and even if readers resist re-education they will be entertained by a fascinating read.

The Voyage of Aeneas of Troy
By Bernard Jones

A much anticipated follow up from this author of his award winning The discovery of Troy and its lost history.

This book can stand alone though in the story it covers , that of the voyage of Aeneas as told by Virgil and Bernards interpretation of it
A voyage that was fleeing Troy in its destruction to eventually founding a new city for the royal heroic line to continue and the adventures and encounters that ensue on this journey.

As with his inaugural novel Bernard is dabbling with established classics but he respects the author as he did Homer before.
He dissects, analyses, and reconstructs a classic with passion and knowledge .
His length of time in research, collation of data and dedication to the subject shine through
The book therefore flows easily and each chapter flies by when reference and explanation are provided on the go, so no flipping to the back of the book to look up things
Etymology and British history are what gives the author Bernard his obvious joy in the research and unpacking of the tale and it is easy to get pulled along with his obvious enthusiasm and joy at each discovery , each box ticked along the way
For me a good read, an easy to follow history ( for which others often baffle)
The history of Britain for most , including academia often only starts with the Romans ,
Bernard Jones is opening the door, and perhaps inviting the wrath of academia , much like how Graham Hancock stirs the hornets nest, but we hunger for the truth.
To look at what our place names, river names , old Welsh, ancient British tell us about the Bronze age that has for so long been overlooked and share your knowledge is ground breaking
This then lifts the veil on what it was the druids actually did and were , that the Bronze age culture in Britain was the centre on trafe culture and learning that the Romans themselves revered still when they rose in power , to the degree they hunted down its academia ending in it being wiped out , but then surely a country that is absolutely covered in tumuli, barrows, standing stones, circles, temples, groves and the like is surely a clue that something was going on before the Romans .
Bravo Bernard Jones for carrying on the work that the likes of Felice Vinci, and Iman Wilkens among others touched upon over the last century in placing the Illiad, Odyssey in the north atlantic and now Aeneas
I for one hope Bernard has more up his sleeve
A must for lovers of Ancient Britain and piecing together our lost past.