5.0 out of 5 stars The Voyage of Aeneas of Troy

Reviewed in the United States on October 15, 2023

To say that this book is a life changing book is not an overstatement. History's collective schema of the Iliad, the Odyssey, and the Aeneid as fictional blends of history and myth set in the Mediterranean, are about to be replaced with the brilliance of the truth behind the epic poem's words. 

In The Voyage of Aeneas of Troy, by author Bernard Jones, the exact wording of the Aeneid is used to geographically follow, step by step, Aeneas' Voyage in detail from beginning to end. I literally read a new translation of Vergil's The Aeneid, chapter by chapter, with Bernard Jones' The Voyage of Aeneas on one side and my laptop with Google Maps on the other side. The story of The Aeneid unfolded like a travelogue. 

The discovery that the three of most important works of western literature having their origin in Bronze Age Britain is truly monumental. Anyone wishing to experience the poetic mastery of the Iliad, Odyssey, or Aeneid for the first time or after many re-readings, will find the experience heightened by reading alongside Bernard Jones' work.

5.0 out of 5 stars Intriguing Read!

Reviewed in the United States on October 14, 2023

This was an excellent book with a lot of detail and support of the author's supposition. For anyone interested in valid, alternative viewpoints of history that have slipped through the cracks of academia, I highly recommend this book!

5.0 out of 5 stars Another triumph for Bernard Jones!

Reviewed in Canada on October 7, 2023

I also wrote a review for Bernard Jones' previous book, "The Discovery of Troy and Its Lost History". Mr. Jones was kind enough to send me a copy of his latest, "The Voyage of Aeneas of Troy". The review posted above is about all that can be said about this work. I found it as enthralling as the previous book, bringing what I once believed to be myth and fiction very much to life. Sail along with Aeneas and his people as they search for a new home and encounter amazing and wonderful things! Bernard Jones has done a magnificent job in researching every minute detail from ancient histories to assemble a remarkable tome that will keep you spellbound from beginning to end. Kudos to you again, Mr. Jones! 

5.0 out of 5 stars Informative read

Reviewed in Canada on November 9, 2023

I can tell a lot of time and effort and research went into this book.
I liked the writing style and enjoyed how everything was woven together.
It included maps and charts.
I was able to follow and understand almost everything (while I really enjoy the topic, sometimes I find things can go over my head. This book did not do that).
Should check it out.

In “The Voyage of Aeneas of Troy” author Bernard Jones delivers a fascinating sequel to his book, “The Discovery of Troy and Its Lost History.” In his first book, we were shown that the Trojan War was a very real thing and, in this book, we follow along as he proves that the voyage Aeneas took after the war was also very real. The book is based on so many historical facts it makes it very interesting as the reader is shown that this is real and not the legend that is portrayed in other books on these topics such as Virgil’s Aeneid. While Virgil’s stories are a fictional combination of some history and some myth, “The Voyage of Aeneas of Troy” is based in complete historical truth and laid out in such step-by-step detail by the author that you will be very hard-pressed to not be a true believer by the end. Every detail of Aeneas’ journey is brought forward through painstaking research by this author as we read about the Island of the Cyclopes, Charybdis, Scylla, and Aeneas’ encounter with Sibyl of Cumae. For those of you who believe that these places and people are just myths, I highly recommend reading this book and having your eyes opened to the truth. I, for one, believe that Mr. Jones delivers readers a very compelling argument on these pages that it is all real as he details Aeneas’s steps on land and across the seas.

“The Voyage of Aeneas of Troy” is an excellent book. I was impressed with the amount of deep research that the author obviously put into the book. I am sure it was a very long process to obtain so much information and then put it down on paper so that the average person who does not know very much about this time in history, like me, can understand and see the entire picture. By doing this, he made a definite believer out of me. I also felt that the illustrations, maps, and other references included in the text were a perfect addition, making the words on the pages all the more believable. We are shown the real geographical locations for so many things that have normally been presented as myths that it is hard to remain a doubter of the facts behind those myths. I was riveted by and very impressed with every part of “The Voyage of Aeneas of Troy” by Bernard Jones. I think that anyone out there who is interested in the real history behind things that we have been taught to believe are legends will love this book. I highly recommend it and would also say that anyone who has not read the first book by this author, and I include myself in this statement, should go out and find it immediately. I am sure that the author’s first book will be just as compelling as this one was.

Historical researcher and author, Bernard Jones, has dedicated much of his adult life challenging what we know about the Homeric epics and in turn, the events surrounding the Trojan War. According to Jones, at some point in history, these narratives moved Eastward and South, into the Mediterranean. Later historians, which include Herodotus, rewrote these stories and repositioned them into the world most familiar to them; that is, the Aegean.

In his recently published book, The Voyage of Aeneas of Troy, Jones follows the journey of Aeneas (alongside his fellow Trojan refugees) fleeing from his homeland of Troy and eventually to his destination, in search of a new home. Here is the thing though and as mentioned earlier, according to the author’s research, the Trojan War and its locations did not take place in the Mediterranean, where it is traditionally placed but instead to the North and in and around the British islands.

Bernard Jones builds on the foundation he originally laid in his previous publication, The Discovery of Troy and its Lost History, but now, the story begins with Aeneas, as he flees Troy with his fellow Trojan refugees. As each chapter unfolds, the author retells Virgil’s epic tale and the journey of Aeneas but as we follow in the Trojan hero’s footsteps, key events and the locations in which they were set are redefined or remapped according to his research, which consists of ancient and medieval written evidence preserving place names, bloodlines, nautical facts and more.

From Troy to Thrace to Delos, coming across the Cyclopes, Scylla and Charybdis, venturing into the underworld to eventually landing in the proposed location of Latium, the book guides the reader to the point where we get to the Medieval tales of Brutus, as it was Aeneas’ bloodline that would lead to the infamous Brutus, founder of Britain.

Much like Jones’s previous publication, the reader will need to approach The Voyage of Aeneas of Troy  with an open mind. And if challenging the conventional wisdom surrounding the Trojan War and its aftermath is something of interest, then be sure to pick up a copy of this publication.

A Book Review by Petros Koutoupis

5.0 out of 5 stars Fascinating research

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 14 September 2023

Bernard Jones has spent decades of his life debunking the theory that Troy was not located in the Eastern Mediterranean but near Cambridge in the UK. His second book, 'The Voyage of Aeneas of Troy' makes some equally groundbreaking revelations, which make perfect sense if you can eliminate years of classical indoctrination to consider the possibility that 'the Aeneid' is not just an epic story, but in fact a very detailed guide to a real journey. This epic journey, as Bernard Jones sets out to prove, only makes sense if Troy is in England, and Aeneas' voyage is around the Kent coast of the UK.

The fact that the Aeneid provides a detailed and accurate guide around the British coastline is even more remarkable when we consider that it may have been written years after the voyage took place, handed down in the oral tradition before Virgil wrote it down.
Bernard Jones' detailed research and unravelling of the epic voyage will leave the reader stunned. Years of following tide tables and establishing geographical landmarks may not be enough to convince the reader, who has the classical image of Aeneas sailing around the Mediterranean Sea. To convince us further, the author has systematically traced the old British names of key landmarks and from there shows the reader how the Romans transposed the names that we find in the Aeneid, Anyone who loves language will be fascinated by these findings.

I cannot begin to imagine the amount of work that has gone into providing such scholarly research but it certainly makes fascinating reading. This work is totally enlightening and refreshing and deserves to be read with an open mind

5.0 out of 5 stars Insights into many diverse subjects.

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 5 October 2023

I must start by saying that the book was provided by the author. However, I would also like to emphasise that this review is a completely independent appraisal.

The passion, time and energy invested in this book is vividly clear. I came to it knowing little about ancient history; that of the Mediterranean world or of Britain. Similarly I have only a passing knowledge of nautical navigation. Through this book I have learnt a great deal on all these subjects. The depth of research the author has carried out to support his fascinating and radical basic premise, that Troy was in ancient Britain, is highly impressive. In this addition he has said that Virgil's Aeneid only makes sense once it has been carefully analysed with this fundamental shift from the Mediterranean to the countries of the North Sea. Into the mix of supporting subjects add linguistic evolution, celestial calculations, historical maritime technology and topographical differences down the ages due to climactic and geographical factors. This is the work of an academic polymath and is a great read for that reason alone.

5.0 out of 5 stars New Book Reveals The Aeneid Was Based on British Sources

Reviewed in the United States on August 6, 2023

Historian Bernard Jones has written a fascinating new book, The Voyage of Aeneas of Troy, which reveals that Virgil’s Aeneid was probably not original to Virgil but based on historical fact and a centuries-old poem he may have received orally or in written form that dated back a thousand years. In fact, Jones argues that every detail of the Aeneid can be traced as geographically accurate, which by extension strongly suggests it is not based on just a legend but a historical voyage. Most surprising of all, the events of the Aeneid did not take place in the Mediterranean as commonly believed and as the poem indicates; by analyzing the poem’s geographical references, Jones discovered it was originally set in ancient Britain and its surrounding seas. 

The Voyage of Aeneas of Troy is the sequel to Jones’ earlier book The Discovery of Troy and Its Lost History. In that book, he made a similar argument that Troy was actually in ancient Britain, even arguing that Homer was himself British. Here, he continues the argument, describing how Aeneas and his companions fled from Troy and traveled about Britain and the North Sea into areas like the modern-day Netherlands before returning to Britain and establishing a new Trojan civilization. In time, Aeneas’ descendants, including Brutus for whom Britain is named, also traveled and made new settlements. Over time, some of the descendants traveled to what are the modern-day Netherlands and Belgium and some of them became ancestors to the Franks. These groups, as they moved south through Europe, would have provided an opportunity for Virgil to hear the story of the Aeneid and record it in writing, perhaps for the first time. However, for whatever reason, Virgil chose to alter or slightly disguise place names to equate the British places in the original poem with those in the Mediterranean. Jones also notes that Virgil never finished the Aeneid but was revising it at the time of his death; he asked that it be destroyed, which might have happened if the Emperor Augustus had not decided it should be preserved. We may never know if Virgil wanted the poem destroyed to keep secret the actual locations mentioned in the poem, or if he just felt artistic angst over an incomplete work being read by the world. 

How Virgil might have gained access to the poem and why he decided to transfer the action to the Mediterranean may never be known. Jones argues that the poem intentionally contains a secret code that was intended to hide the geographical details of the poem but that also reveals the true map of Aeneas’ voyages. In fact, Jones goes to great lengths to determine the physical distances from one place to the next that Aeneas traveled. The Aeneid does not discuss miles or kilometers but it does give directions—east, west, two days’ journey, etc.—that do not match the distances from one place to another in the Mediterranean, but they do match the distances in Britain. 

As for place names, the similarities between many places in Britain and in the Mediterranean is astounding. For example, the Scilly Isles in Britain are disguised as Sicily in the Aeneid. The geographical features of specific parts of both areas are also similar. Jones discusses how Scotland, when turned upside down, resembles the Peloponnese and maps in the book show how the Bristol Channel is similar to the Adriatic Sea. Jones provides numerous maps throughout the book as well as charts showing place names and their meanings. Some of the places in the Aeneid, of course, seem to be mythical, but Jones provides geographical locations even for these. Charybdis, the famous whirlpool encountered by both Aeneas and Odysseus in the Odyssey, does not actually exist in the Mediterranean, but Jones makes a compelling argument for it existing at Mount’s Bay off Land’s End. The Cliffs of the Sirens turns out to be The Needles, off the Isle of Wight.

I will confess my knowledge of Mediterranean and even British geography leaves much to be desired, and I am sure this book will be controversial, but I cannot help admiring the years of in-depth research Jones invested to write this book. He takes into account everything from sea levels three thousand years ago to descriptions in the Aeneid that he followed almost religiously as a guide to try to create comparisons between them and the landscape of Britain. He was amazed himself by the similarities and revelations he discovered. 

Even if you end up being skeptical of Jones’ research, I think he makes a compelling argument. I also found it enjoyable to revisit the story of Aeneas and be reminded of his many adventures and how they might have taken place in Britain. Modern scholars tend to assume many of the genealogical claims of our ancestors, such as Brutus founding Britain, are fake and were created in the wake of Christianity to tie different peoples to a greater biblical narrative so everyone could be neatly shown to be descended from the sons of Noah, as argued in Anthony Adolph’s book Brutus of Troy and the Quest for the Ancestry of the British. However, archeologists have made surprising finds in the historical record based on paying closer attention to ancient works they assumed were only metaphorical. Furthermore, it can’t be denied that the Normans and Anglo-Saxon invasions led to the loss and repression of much that the ancient Britons knew and believed to the point where even speaking and reading Welsh was outlawed into the nineteenth century.

The jury may still be out on whether Aeneas’ journeys were in Britain rather than the Mediterranean, but I think The Voyage of Aeneas of Troy is a book that deserves to be read and discussed, and as Jones himself is the first to assert, much more research remains to be done to confirm many of his beliefs. We may never know the full truth, but just like with the legend of King Arthur, who is an alleged descendant of Aeneas, the possibilities are fascinating, and the more effort we make to learn the truth, the more we learn about the past, even if the truth itself remains elusive.

5.0 out of 5 stars Hard to put down

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 8 September 2023

In this meticulously researched book Bernard Jones makes sense of Virgil's Aenead which previously made no sense at all in the Mediterranean setting. It has long been asserted by various historians, both ancient and modern, that Troy was not in Turkey but in Cambridgeshire, England. This now perfectly aligns the writings of both Homer and Virgil making it the only logical conclusion despite what the classical scholars would have you believe. Mr. Jones takes you on a fascinating journey around Britain using the details below of direction, wind and tides described in the Aenead and using linguistics to identify the places passed and visited all in the correct order. Aeneas was a real person in the Bronze Age and grandfather of Brutus the Trojan the first king of England and after whom Britain is named. The amount of research that has gone into this book is incredible and I thoroughly recommend it.