I'm very aware of the discussion about Homer's existence and I myself am follower to the theory that the Iliad and the Odyssee were written/created by two different authors (if not more). I just stated that there is the theory that the poet of the Iliad (to be more correct this time
) could have been linked to Aineias family or their successors politically.
Also there is dispute about whether the Mycaenans (hope that's the right English spelling, but I spare you the Ancient Greek unicode
) were actually successors of the Minoans or if they were a complete different people from the mainland (the old established theory) who conquered Crete and the Minoan empire (which has been linked to the story about Perseus and Ariadne by many historians).
While I agree that the Iliad has probably been altered through the ages I don't believe that the Romans did so. For my part because I know of no Roman poet that had the quality of Greek epic poetry and could have copied Homer's style that perfectly but mainly because the myths of Aineias existed long before the Roman empire and were ground for the religion, (hi)stories and names of many cities in "magna graecia". It seems rather unlikely to me that the Romans would have renamed minor Greek cities just to make their argument stick. There's also archaeological evidence (coins and statues) from the Etruscans and early Romans (clearly pre-dating Oktavian) which indicates Aineias as a cult figure. It is assumed that he had been a river-god in Minor Asia before the myth developed to the point which culminated in the founding of Rome (named after the Trojan girl Rhome who incited the Trojan women to burn their ships so they would have to settle down in Italy instead of keep travelling on) and later on Vergil's Aeneis.