I’ve read a few classics on celestial navigation. The Greeks, for instance, had the *Aristarchus* star map that tied the asterisms to sea routes, and the *Periplus of the Erythraean Sea* mentions using the Pleiades and Sirius as markers. In the East, Chinese astronomers like Liu Xin catalogued constellations in the *Treatise on Astrology of the Sun’s Discernment*, and they used the Milky Way’s bend as a directional guide. Polynesians, though not written, had oral star navigation that reliably steered them across the Pacific. All of these point to a real, systematic use of stars that could fit into your Iliad geometry.