Eclipses- Historical Harbingers
If you’ve been anywhere near the news, you would have seen that a solar eclipse happened in the continental United States yesterday. I have to admit it was a pretty amazing experience as I was lucky enough to be in the path of totality. As the sky went dark and the crickets started chirping, I thought about what it must have been like for those in the past. They didn’t have the benefit of NASA and other scientists telling us that this was normal, the Sun would come back and to wear protective glasses. How did people through the ages deal with eclipses?
One of the first references we have of an eclipse is from a series of circular and spiral shaped petroglyphs at the Loughcrew Megalithic Monument in County Meath, Ireland. This is near the passage tomb of New Grange, which is also from around the same time. (For more on New Grange, please see this post http://www.historynaked.com/new-grange/ ) These date back to around 3340 BCE, and scientists have calculated that a solar eclipse occurred on November 30, 3340 BCE. According to Irish archaeoastronomer Paul Griffin, the monument was in the path of totality, meaning the entire solar disc was obscured. Decoding the carvings on the rock, Griffin was able to deduce they were recording the eclipse, making it one of the first records of such an event. Inside the monument, the charred remains of 48 humans were found. It has been hypothesized this was a human sacrifice to “bring back” the Sun from the underworld.
The Chinese and Babylonian cultures began to predict eclipses with high accuracy. The Babylonians believed an eclipse was an evil omen for the ruler. The Chinese believed the Sun was being eaten by a large dragon during an eclipse. An ancient book of documents called the Shu Ching, described the eclipse in October 22, 2134 BCE. The emperor charged two astronomers, Hsi and Ho, to predict the eclipse so archers could be stationed to defend the Sun from the dragon. Unfortunately for Hsi and Ho, they got massively drunk and failed to alert the warriors and were beheaded for dereliction of duty. Similar mythology describing the Sun as being stolen is found around the world, but it was not always a dragon to blame. The Vietnamese people believed the Sun was being eaten by a giant frog, and the Norse people blamed a wolf. In Korea, they believed dogs were stealing the Sun. Because of this, many cultures gathered together to bang drums or even pots and pans to scare away whatever was trying to steal or eat the Sun.
On the other side of the world, the Inuits believed the Sun goddess Malina walked away after a fight with her brother Anningan, the Moon god. An eclipse happened when Annigan caught up with his sister. The Pomo, another Native American tribe, believed a bear got into a fight with the Sun and took a bite out of it. The bear was apparently hungry and went on to take a bite out of the moon two weeks later, explaining why there is a lunar eclipse usually two weeks after a solar one. In the Africa, the Batammaliba tribe in Benin and Togo, believed the Sun and the moon were at war and the only way to keep them from permanently damaging each other was to end human conflicts.
The ancient Greeks also believed that an eclipse was an omen of evil tidings. Historian Herodotus tells of an eclipse on May 28, 585 BCE that prompted a cease fire between the Lydians and the Medes. In the middle of the Battle of Halys, the sky turned dark and the battling armies took this as a sign the gods wanted them to stop. A truce was negotiated and the battle was renamed the Battle of the Eclipse. Another eclipse changed the course of Greek history. At the height of the Peloponnesian War between Athens and Sparta, and eclipse occurred on August 27, 413 BCE. At that time, the Athenians were attempting to dislodge the Syracusans from Sicily. Their commander, Nicias, was extremely superstitious and postponed the fleet’s departure because of the eclipse. This gave the Syracusans enough time to stage another attack in which the Athenians were defeated. This marks the beginning of the decline of Athenian dominance in the region.
The Christian gospels tell of the sky darkening during the day at the time of Jesus’ crucifixion. Some archaeoastronomers believe that Jesus’ death coincided with a solar eclipse and have tried to use this to pinpoint the exact date. There are historical records of solar eclipses in the year 29 and 32, but no one has proof of which date is correct. Following along with the bad omen belief, another solar eclipse affected the life of Louis the Pious. He was the third son of Charlemagne and inherited the Holy Roman Empire. It is reported he witnessed the eclipse on May 5, 840 and was convinced it was a warning of impending punishment from God and died of fright soon after. This plunged the kingdom into civil war for three years. There was also said to be an eclipse right before the death of Henry I of England on August 2, 1133, which reinforced the superstition that eclipses were bad omens for rulers. The solar eclipses on January 8, 1777 and again on June 24, 1778 was bad news for George III. The one in 1777 proceeded the American victories at Trenton and Princeton, and the one in 1778 proceeded the victory of the Americans at the Battle of Monmouth.
Despite the beliefs and myths, the ancients were able to use information about eclipses to further scientific knowledge. Aristotle observed the shadow of the Earth on the moon was curved and hypothesized the Earth was round. Another Greek astronomer named Aristarchus used a lunar eclipse to estimate the distance of the Moon and Sun from the Earth. Yet other astronomers observed the existence of the Sun’s corona during a total solar eclipse. Astronomers Liu Hsiang, Plutarch and Leo Diaconus were pioneers in eclipse data. However, it was not until 1605 that Johannes Kepler gave a scientific description of a total solar eclipse. The first In modern times, Sir Arthur Eddington tested Albert Einstein’s theory of general relativity. During the May 29, 19191 solar eclipse he confirmed that starlight bent around the Sun by measuring the position of certain stars. This was predicted by Einstein’s theory that massive objects caused distortions in space and time.
We no longer have the same superstitions about eclipses, but it is thought to be a time of change. A nice way to put it is ending patterns that do not serve and beginning new healthy ones. Enjoy the skies in good health and good spirits!
ER
