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| OMHROS, ODUSSEIAS, 20, 350
"Toisi de kai meteeipe QeoklumenoV qeoeidhV: "a deiloi, ti kakon tode pasxete; nukti men umewn eiluatai kefalai te proswpa te nerqe te gouna, oimwgh de dedhe, dedakruntai de pareiai, aimati d' erradatai toixoi kalai te mesodmai: eidwlwn de pleon proquron, pleih de kai aulh, iemenwn Erebosde upo zofon: helioV de ouranou ecapolwle, kakh d' epidedromen axluV."" |
Homer,
"Odyssey", 20, 355
Theoclymenus saw this and said, "Unhappy men, what is it that ails you? There is a shroud of darkness drawn over you from head to foot, your cheeks are wet with tears; the air is alive with wailing voices; the walls and roof-beams drip blood; the gate of the cloisters and the court beyond them are full of ghosts trooping down into the night of hell; the sun is blotted out of heaven, and a blighting gloom is over allthe land." Thus did he speak, and they all of them laughed heartily. Eurymachus then said, "This stranger who has lately come here has lost his senses. Servants, turn him out into the streets, since he finds it so dark here."" [It is unlikely that this prophecy is the description of the eclipse] |
| PLOUTARCOU, BIOI PARALLHLOI, RWMULOS,
12, 27, 29
12. "Oti men oun h ktisiV hmera genoito th pro endeka kalandwn Maiwn, omologeitai, kai thn hmeran tauthn eortazousi Rwmaioi, geneqlion thV patridoV onomazonteV. en arxh d' wV fasin ouden emyuxon equon, alla kaqaran kai anaimakton wonto dein th patridi thn epwnumon thV genesewV eorthn fulattein. ou mhn alla kai pro thV ktisewV bothrikh tiV hn autoiV eorth kata tauthn thn hmeran, kai Parilia proshgoreuon authn. nun men oun ouden ai Rwmaikai noumhniai proV taV EllhnikaV omologoumenon exousin: ekeinhn de thn hmeran, h thn polin o RwmuloV ektizen, atrekh triakada tuxein legousi, kai sunodon ekleiptikhn en auth genesqai selhnhV proV hlion, hn eidenai kai Antimaxon oiontai ton Thion epopoion, etei tritw thV ekthV olumpiadoV sumpesousan. en de toiV kata Barrwna ton filosofon xronoiV, andra
Rwmaiwn en istoria bubliakwtaton, hn TaroutioV etairoV autou, filosofoV
men allwV kai maqhmatikoV, aptomenoV de thV peri ton pinaka meqodou qewriaV
eneka kai dokwn en auth perittoV einai. toutw proubalen o Barrwn anagagein
thn Rwmulou genesin eiV hmeran kai wran, ek twn legomenwn apotelesmatwn
peri ton andra poihsamenon ton sullogismon, wsper ai twn gewmetrikwn ufhgountai
problhmatwn analuseiV: thV gar authV qewriaV einai, xronon te labontaV
anqrwpou genesewV bion proeipein, kai biw doqenti qhreusai xronon. epoihsen
oun to prostaxqen o TaroutioV, kai ta te paqh kai ta erga tou androV epidwn,
kai xronon zwhV kai tropon teleuthV kai panta ta toiauta sunqeiV, eu mala
teqarrhkotwV kai andreiwV apefhnato, thn men en th mhtri tou Rwmulou gegonenai
sullhyin etei prwtw thV deuteraV olumpiadoV en mhni kat' AiguptiouV Xoiak
trith kai eikadi trithV wraV, kaq' hn o hlioV ecelipe pantelwV, thn d'
emfanh gennhsin en mhni Qwuq hmera prwth met' eikada peri hliou anatolaV:
ktisqhnai de thn Rwmhn up' autou th enath Farmouqi mhnoV istamenou metacu
deuteraV wraV kai trithV. epei kai polewV tuxhn wsper anqrwpou kurion exein
oiontai xronon, ek thV prwthV genesewV proV taV twn asterwn epoxaV qewroumenon.
alla tauta men iswV kai ta toiauta tw cenw kai perittw prosacetai mallon
h dia to muqwdeV enoxlhsei touV entugxanontaV autoiV."
|
Plutarch,
Romulus, 12, 27, 29
12. "As for the day they began to build the city, it is universally agreed to have been the twenty-first of April, and that day the Romans annually keep holy, calling it their country's birthday. At first, they say, they sacrificed no living creature on this day, thinking it fit to preserve the feast of their country's birthday pure and without stain of blood. Yet before ever the city was built, there was a feast of herdsmen and shepherds kept on this day, which went by the name of Palilia. The Roman and Greek months have now little or no agreement; they say, however, the day on which Romulus began to build was quite certainly the thirtieth of the month, at which time there was an eclipse of the sun which they conceived to be that seen by Antimachus, the Teian poet, in the third year of the sixth Olympiad. In the times of Varro the philosopher, a man deeply read in Roman history, lived one Tarrutius, his familiar acquaintance, a good philosopher and mathematician, and one, too, that out of curiosity had studied the way of drawing schemes and tables, and was thought to be a proficient in the art; to him Varro propounded to cast Romulus's nativity, even to the first day and hour, making his deductions from the several events of the man's life which he should be informed of, exactly as in working back a geometrical problem; for it belonged, he said, to the same science both to foretell a man's life by knowing the time of his birth, and also to find out his birth by the knowledge of his life. This task Tarrutius undertook, and first looking into the actions and casualties of the man, together with the time of his life and manner of his death, and then comparing all these remarks together, he very confidently and positively pronounced that Romulus was conceived in his mother's womb the first year of the second Olympiad, the twenty-third day of the month the Aegyptians call Choeac, and the third hour after sunset, at which time there was a total eclipse of the sun; that he was born the twenty-first day of the month Thoth, about sunrising; and that the first stone of Rome was laid by him the ninth day of the month Pharmuthi, between the second and third hour. For the fortunes of cities as well as of men, they think, have their certain periods of time prefixed, which may be collected and foreknown from the position of the stars at their first foundation. But these and the like relations may perhaps not so much take and delight the reader with their novelty and curiosity, as offend him by their extravagance. " 27. "He disappeared on the Nones of July, as they now call the month which was then Quintilis, leaving nothing of certainty to be related of his death; only the time, as just mentioned, for on that day many ceremonies are sill performed in representation of what happened. Neither is this uncertainty to be thought strange, seeing the manner of the death of Scipio Africanus, who died at his own home after supper, has been found capable neither of proof or disproof; for some say he died a natural death, being of a sickly habit; others that he poisoned himself; others again, that his enemies, breaking in upon him in the night stifled him. Yet Scipio's dead body lay open to be seen of all, and any one, from his own observation, might form his suspicions and conjectures, whereas Romulus, when he vanished, left neither the least part of his body, nor any remnant of his clothes to be seen. So that some fancied the senators, having fallen upon him in the temple of Vulcan, cut his body into pieces, and took each a part away in his bosom; others think his disappearance was neither in the temple of Vulcan, nor with the senators only by, but that it came to pass that, as he was haranguing the people without the city, near a place called the Goat's Marsh, on a sudden strange and unaccountable disorders and alterations took place in the air; the face of the sun was darkened, and the day turned into night, and that, too, no quiet, peaceable night, but with terrible thunderings, and boisterous winds from all quarters; during which the common people dispersed and fled, but the senators kept close together. The tempest being over and the light breaking out, when the people gathered again, they missed and inquired for their king; the senators suffered them not to search, or busy themselves about the matter, but commanded them to honour and worship Romulus as one taken up to the gods, and about to be to them, in the place of a good prince, now a propitious god." 29. "It was in the fifty-fourth year of his age and the thirty-eighth of his reign that Romulus, they tell us, left the world." |
| Titus Livius, Ab urbe condita, I, 16
"His immortalibus editis operibus cum ad exercitum recensendum contionem in campo ad Caprae paludem haberet, subito coorta tempestas cum magno fragore tonitribusque tam denso regem operuit nimbo ut conspectum eius contioni abstulerit; nec deinde in terris Romulus fuit. Romana pubes sedato tandem pauore postquam ex tam turbido die serena et tranquilla lux rediit, ubi uacuam sedem regiam uidit, etsi satis credebat patribus qui proximi steterant sublimem raptum procella,tamen uelut orbitatis metu icta maestum aliquamdiu silentium obtinuit." |
Titus
Livius, The History of Rome, I, 16
"After these immortal achievements, Romulus held a review of his army at the "Caprae Palus" in the Campus Martius. A violent thunderstorm suddenly arose and enveloped the king in so dense a cloud that he was quite invisible to the assembly. From that hour Romulus was no longer seen on earth. When the fears of the Roman youth were allayed by the return of bright, calm sunshine after such fearful weather, they saw that the royal seat was vacant. Whilst they fully believed the assertion of the senators, who had been standing close to him, that he had been snatched away to heaven by a whirlwind, still, like men suddenly bereaved, fear and grief kept them for some time speechless. |
| 1. Archilochus: Fragmenta 122 (frg. 74 Bergk):
"crhmatwn aelpton ouden estin oud apwmoton oude qaumasion, epeidh ZeuV pathr Olumpion ek meshmbrihV eqhke nukt, apokruyaV faoV hliou lampontoV lugron d hkq ep anqrwpouV deoV. ek de tou kai pista panta kapielpta ginetai andrasin. mhdeiV eq umewn eisorewn qaumazetw med ean delfisi qhreV antameiywntai nomon enalion, kai sfin qaladdhV hceenta kumata filter hpeirou genhtai, toisi d uleein oroV. " |
Archilochus
"Nothing can be surprising any more or impossible or miraculous, now that Zeus, father of the Olympians has made night out of noonday, hiding the bright sunlight, and . . . fear has come upon mankind. After this, men can believe anything, expect anything. Don't any of you be surprised in future if land beasts change places with dolphins and go to live in their salty pastures, and get to like the sounding waves of the sea more than the land, while the dolphins prefer the mountains." (F.R.Stephenson, 338; Fotheringham; Newton, 1979 p. 190 |
| 2a. HRODOTOU, ISTORIWN,
I, 74; I, 103
"diaferousi de sfi epi ishV ton polemon tw ektw etei sumbolhV genomenhV sunhneike wste thV machV sunestewshV thn hmerhn exapinhV nukta genesqai thn de metallagen tauthn thV hmerhV QalhV o MilhsioV toisi Iwsi prohgoreuse esesqai, ouron proqemenoV eniauton touton, en tw dh kai egeneto h metabolh." "OutoV o toisi Ludoisi esti maxesamenoV ote nuV h hmerh egeneto sfi maxomenoisi, kai o thn AluoV potamou anw Asihn pasan susthsaV ewutw." |
Herodotus,
History, I, 74; I, 103
"Afterwards, on the refusal of Alyattes to give up his suppliants when Cyaxares sent to demand them of him, war broke out between the Lydians and the Medes, and continued for five years, with various success. In the course of it the Medes gained many victories over the Lydians, and the Lydians also gained many victories over the Medes. Among their other battles there was one night engagement. As, however, the balance had not inclined in favour of either nation, another combat took place in the sixth year, in the course of which, just as the battle was growing warm, day was on a sudden changed into night. This event had been foretold by Thales, the Milesian, who forewarned the Ionians of it, fixing for it the very year in which it actually took place. The Medes and Lydians, when they observed the change, ceased fighting, and were alike anxious to have terms of peace agreed on. Syennesis of Cilicia, and Labynetus of Babylon, were the persons who mediated between the parties, who hastened the taking of the oaths, and brought about the exchange of espousals. It was they who advised that Alyattes should give his daughter Aryenis in marriage to Astyages, the son of Cyaxares, knowing, as they did, that without some sure bond of strong necessity, there is wont to be but little security in men's covenants. Oaths are taken by these people in the same way as by the Greeks, except that they make a slight flesh wound in their arms, from which each sucks a portion of the other's blood." "On the death of Phraortes his son Cyaxares ascended the throne. Of him it is reported that he was still more war-like than any of his ancestors, and that he was the first who gave organisation to an Asiatic army, dividing the troops into companies, and forming distinct bodies of the spea-rmen, the archers, and the cavalry, who before his time had been mingled in one mass, and confused together. He it was who fought against the Lydians on the occasion when the day was changed suddenly into night, and who brought under his dominion the whole of Asia beyond the Halys. This prince, collecting together all the nations which owned his sway, marched against Nineveh, resolved to avenge his father, and cherishing a hope that he might succeed in taking the town. A battle was fought, in which the Assyrians suffered a defeat, and Cyaxares had already begun the siege of the place, when a numerous horde of Scyths, under their king Madyes, son of Prtotohyes, burst into Asia in pursuit of the Cimmerians whom they had driven out of Europe, and entered the Median territory." |
| 2b, 27g. Pliny,
"Naturalis historia", II, 53
"Et rationem quidem defectus utriusque primus Romani generis in vulgum extulit Sulpicius Gallus, qui consul cum M. Marcello fuit, sed tum tribunus militum, sollicitudine exercitu liberato pridie quam Perses rex superatus a Paulo est in concionem ab imperatore productus ad praedicendam eclipsim, mos et composito volumine. apud Graecos autem investigavit primus omnium Thales Milesius Olympiadis XLVIII anno quarto praedicto solis defectu, qui Alyatte rege factus est urbisconditae anno CLXX. post eos utriusque sideris cursum in sexcentos annos praececinit Hipparchus, menses gentium diesque et horas ac situs locorum et visus populorum complexus, aevo teste haut alio modo quam consiliorum naturae particeps." |
Pliny,
"Natural history", II, 53
"Sulpicius Gallus - who was consul with Marcus Marcellus, but a millitary tribune at the time - was the first Roman to make public the explanation of each [kind of] eclipse when, on the day before King Perses was defeated by Paulus , he was brought before the assemly of troops by the commander-in-chief in order to explain an eclipse (ad praedicendam eclipsim), and freed the army from anxiety, and a little later when he wrote a book. Among the Greeks, Thales of Miletus, who explained the eclipse of the Sun which occured in the 4th year of the 48th Olympiad when Alyattes was king, that is, in the 170th year from the founding of Rome [-583], was the very first to make inquiry [about eclipses]. After them, Hipparchus proclaimed the daily progress (cursum) of each star for 600 years, [Hipparchus] who understood the months and days of the nations, the longest daytimes and geographical locations of places, and the appearances of the peoples, and who, as time has shown unequivocally, was partner in the plans of nature." (B.R.Goldstein, A.C.Bowen, JHA, XXVI, 155 (1995)) |
| 2c. Cicero, "De Divinatione", I, 111
"non plus quam Milesium Thalem, qui, ut obiurgatores suos convinceret ostenderetque etiam philosophum, si ei commodum esset, pecuniam facere posse, omnem oleam, ante quam florere coepisset, in agro Milesio coemisse dicitur. Animadverterat fortasse quadam scientia olearum ubertatem fore. Et quidem idem primus defectionem solis, quae Astyage regnante facta est, praedixisse fertur." |
Cicero, "De Divinatione", I, 111, Loeb Classical Library, v.154.
"Such men we may call 'foresighten' - that is, 'able to forsee the future'; but we can no more apply the term 'divine' to them than we can apply it to Thales of Miletus who, as the story goes, in order to confound his critics and thereby show that even a philosopher, if he sees fit, can make money bought up the entire olive crop in the district of Miletus before it had begun to bloom. Perhaps he had observed, from some special knowledge he had on the subject, that the crop would be abundant. And, by the way, he is said to have been the first man to predict the solar eclipse which took place in the reign of Astyages." |
| 2d,6c,12. Cicero,
"De Republica", I, 25
"(25) Atque eius modi quiddam etiam bello illo maximo quod Athenienses et Lacedaemonii summa inter se contentione gesserunt, Pericles ille et auctoritate et eloquentia et consilio princeps civitatis suae, cum obscurato sole tenebrae factae essent repente, Atheniensiumque animos summus timor occupavisset, docuisse civis suos dicitur, id quod ipse ab Anaxagora cuius auditor fuerat acceperat, certo illud tempore fieri et necessario, cum tota se luna sub orbem solis subiecisset; itaque etsi non omni intermenstruo, tamen id fieri non posse nisi intermenstruo tempore. quod cum disputando rationibusque docuisset, populum liberavit metu; erat enim tum haec nova et ignota ratio, solem lunae oppositu solere deficere, quod Thaletem Milesium primum vidisse dicunt. id autem postea ne nostrum quidem Ennium fugit; qui ut scribit, anno trecentesimo quinquagesimo fere post Romam conditam 'Nonis Iunis soli luna obstitit et nox.' atque hac in re tanta inest ratio atque sollertia, ut ex hoc die quem apud Ennium et in maximis annalibus consignatum videmus, superiores solis defectiones reputatae sint usque ad illam quae Nonis Quinctilibus fuit regnante Romulo; quibus quidem Romulum tenebris etiamsi natura ad humanum exitum abripuit, virtus tamen in caelum dicitur sustulisse." [II, 17: "Roma condita est secundo anno Olympiadis septumae, in id saeculum Romuli cecidit aetas ..."] |
Cicero, "De Republica", I, (XVI, 25) Loeb Classical Library, v.213.
(XVI, 25) Something of that kind also happened in that great war which was fought with such ferocity between Athens and Sparta. When an eclipse of the sun brought sudden darkness and the Athenians' minds were in the grip of panic, the great Pericles is said to have told his fellow-citizens a fact which he had heard from from his former tutor Anaxagoras, namely that this thing invariably happened at fixed intervals when the entire moon passed in front of the sun's orb; and so, while it did not occur at every new moon, it could not occur except in that situation. By pointing out this fact and backing it up with an explanation he released the people from their fear. At that time it was new and unfamiliar idea that the sun was regularly eclipsed when the moon came between it and the earth - a fact which was reputedly discovered by Thales of Miletus. On a later occasion the point was also noted that by our own Ennius. He writes that about three hundred and fifty years after the foundation of Rome on June the fifth the moon and night blocked out the sun. In this area there is so much scientific sophistication that earlier solar eclipses are calculated from this day (recorded by Ennius and the Major Annales) right back to the one which occured on July the seventh in the reign of Romulus. In that darkness nature carried Romulus off to a normal death; yet we are told that on account of his valour he was raised to heaven." |
| 2e. | Diogenes Laertius I.23
"[Thales] seems by some accounts to have been the first to study astronomy, the first to predict eclipses of the sun, and to fix the solstices; so Eudemus in his History of Astronomy. It was this which gained for him the admiration of Xenophanes and Herodotus and the notice of Heraclitus and Democritus" Aetius II.28, The Oxyrhynchus Papyri, 3710 "[Thales] says that eclipses of the sun take place when the moon passes across it in a direct line, since the moon is earthy in character; and it seems to the eye to be laid on the disc of the sun". |
| Pappus
en gar tw prwtw peri megeqwn kai aposthmatwn lambanei [IpparcoV] fainomenon touto ekleiyin hliou en men toiV peri ton Ellhsponton topoiV olou tou hliou akribwV gegenhmenhn wste mhden autou parafainesqai, en Alexandreia de th kat Aigupton ta d malista pempthmoria thV diametrou ekleloipota. |
Pappus, Commentary on the Almagest
"So Hipparchus, being uncertain concerning the Sun, not only how great a parallax it has but whether it has any parallax at all, assumed in his first book of "On Sizes and Distances" that the Earth has the ratio of a point and centre to the Sun [...]. For in Book 1 of "On Sizes and Distances" he takes the following observation : an eclipse of the Sun, which in the Hellespontine region was an exact eclipse of the whole Sun, such that no part of it was visible, but at Alexandria by Egypt approximately four-fifths of the diameter was eclipsed. By means of the above he shows in Book 1 that, in units of which the radius of the Earth is one, the least distance of the Moon is 71, and the greatest 83. Hence the mean is 77 [...]. Then again he himself in Book 2 [...] shows from many considerations that, in units of which the radius of the Earth is one, the least distance of the Moon is 62, the mean 67 1/3 and the Sun s distance 490. It is clear that the greatest distance of the Moon will be 72 2/3" (Fotheringham, Newton, 1970, p. 104, 110; Stephenson, p.351-359) |
| KLEOMHDOUS, KUKLIKHS QEWRIAS
METEWRWN PRWTON
"Gegone de kai toiade tiV thrhsiV epi thV kata ton hlion ekleiyewV. OloV pote en Ellhspontw ekleipwn ethrhqh en Alexandreia para to pempton thV idiaV ekleipwn diametrou, oper esti kata thn fantasian para daktulouV duo kai bracu dokei gar dwdekadaktulon einai proV fantasian to megeqoV tou hliou kai thV selhnhV omoiwV." |
Cleomedes, De Motu Circulari Corporum Caelestium
"Moreover, such an observation has been made in the case of an eclipse of the Sun. Once when the Sun was wholly eclipsed in the Hellespont, it was observed in Alexandria to be eclipsed except for the fifth part of its diameter, which is according to the sight, except for digits and a little more." (Fotheringham, Stephenson) |
| 3. "tauthn de polin (Larissan) basileuV o Perswn, ote para Mhdwn thn archv elambanon Persai, poliorkwn oudeni tropw eduvato elein hlion de nefelh prokaluyasa hfanise mexri exelipon oi anqrwpoi, kai outwV ealw" | Xenophon,
"Anabasis", III, 4
"[3.4.6] After faring thus badly the enemy departed, while the Greeks continued their march unmolested through the remainder of the day and arrived at the Tigris river. [3.4.7] Here was a large deserted its name was Larisa, and it was inhabited in ancient times by the Medes. Its wall was twenty-five feet in breadth and a hundred in height, and the whole circuit of the wall was two parasangs. It was built of clay bricks, and rested upon a stone foundation twenty feet high. [3.4.8] This city was besieged by the king of the Persians at the time when the Persians were seeking to wrest from the Medes their empire, but he could in no way capture it. A cloud, however, overspread the sun and hid it from sight until the inhabitants abandoned their city; and thus it was taken." (Newton, 1979 p. 195) |
| 4. HRODOTOU, ISTORIWN,
IX, 10
"aphge de thn stratihn o KleombotoV ek tou Isqmou dia tode quomenw oi epi tv Persh o hlioV amaurwqh en ouranv." |
Herodotus,
History, IX, 10
"Such was the counsel which Chileus gave: and the Ephors, taking the advice into consideration, determined forthwith, without speaking a word to the ambassadors from the three cities, to despatch to the Isthmus a body of five thousand Spartans; and accordingly they sent them forth the same night, appointing to each Spartan a retinue of seven Helots, and giving the command of the expedition to Pausanias the son of Cleombrotus. The chief power belonged of right at this time to Pleistarchus, the son of Leonidas; but as he was still a child Pausanias, his cousin, was regent in his room. For the father of Pausanias, Cleombrotus, the son of Anaxandridas, no longer lived; he had died a short time after bringing back from the Isthmus the troops who had been employed in building the wall. A prodigy had caused him to bring his army home; for while he was offering sacrifice to know if he should march out against the Persian, the sun was suddenly darkened in mid sky. Pausanias took with him, as joint-leader of the army, Euryanax, the son of Dorieus, a member of his own family." |
| 5a. HRODOTOU, ISTORIWN,
VII, 37
"ama tw eari pareskeuasmenoV o stratoV ek twn Sardiwn wrmato elon eV Abudon ormhmenw de oi o hlioV eklipwn thn ek tou ouranou edrhn afanhV hn out epinefelwn eontwn aiqrihV te ta malista, anti hmerhV te nux egeneto." |
Herodotus,
History, VII, 37
"And now when all was prepared- the bridges, and the works at Athos, the breakwaters about the mouths of the cutting, which were made to hinder the surf from blocking up the entrances, and the cutting itself; and when the news came to Xerxes that this last was completely finished- then at length the host, having first wintered at Sardis, began its march towards Abydos, fully equipped, on the first approach of spring. At the moment of departure, the sun suddenly quitted his seat in the heavens, and disappeared, though there were no clouds in sight, but the sky was clear and serene. Day was thus turned into night; whereupon Xerxes, who saw and remarked the prodigy, was seized with alarm, and sending at once for the Magians, inquired of them the meaning of the portent. They replied - "God is foreshowing to the Greeks the destruction of their cities; for the sun foretells for them, and the moon for us." So Xerxes, thus instructed, proceeded on his way with great gladness of heart." |
| 5b. Aristides.
vol. III, 581, Leipzig, 1829
180,7 "htou hliou sumbasa ekleiyiV ouc h ex etouV, fhsi, ginomenh ekleiyiV tou hliou kai tote sunebh, alla xenh kai paralogoV upo tou pleqouV twn toxeumatwn tou Persikou. ercomenou gar tou basilewV epi thV ElladoV, kai genomenon para ton Ellhsponton, ekleiyiV egeneto hliou apo anatolwn. eita wV hrwthsen o basileuV touV manteiV to shmeion touto, apwleian eipein genesqai twn Ellhnikwn polewn. tounantion de hn, eshmarine gar autw thn httan, dioti apo anatolwn exelipen o hlioV, ei ge kai apo anatolwn hrceto o PershV. ercomenon tou basilewV epi thn Ellada, peri ton Ellhsponton ekleiyiV hliou egeneto, oper touV manteiV autou erwthsantoV, taV twn Ellhnwn poleiV efasan afanisqhnai. tounantion de sunebh, epei kai h ekleiyiV ek thV anatolhV." |
|
| Pindar
[QHBAIOIS EIS ISMHNION] {A} AktiV aeliou, ti pol skope mhseai, w mater ommatwn, astron upertaton en amera kleptomenon; [ti d]eqhkaV amacanon iscun [t]andasi kai sofiaV odon, episkoton atrapon essumena; elauneiV ti newteron h paroV; alla se proV DioV, ipposoa qoaV, ikete?w, aphmona eis olbon tina trapoio QhbaiV, w potnia, pagkoinon teraV [ra] [] [wnos], polemoio de sama fereiV tinoV, h karpou fqisin, h nifetou sqenoV uperfaton, h stasin oulomenan h pontou kenewsiaV am pedon, h pageton cqonos, h notion qeroV udati zakotw reon, h gaian kataklusaisa qhseiV andrwn neon ex arcaV genoV; olofu [romai ou]den, o ti pantwn meta peisomai (desunt vv. 22-33=ep.2-10, str. B 1-3) |
Pindar, To the Thebans "Beam of the Sun! O thou that seest from afar, what wilt thou be devising? O mother of mine eyes! O star supreme, reft from us in the daytime! Why has thou perplexed the power of man and the way of wisdom, by rushing forth on a darksome track? Art thou bringing on us some new and strange disaster? Yet by Zeus, I implore thee, thou swift driver of steeds! So thou, O queen! Change this world-wide portent into some painless blessing for Thebes ... But art thou bringing a sign of some war, or wasting of produce, or an unspeakably violent snow-storm, or fatal faction, or again, some overflowing of the sea on the plain, or frost to bind the earth, or heat of the south wind streaming with raging rain? Or wilt thou, by deluging the land, cause the race of men to begin anew? I in no wise lament whate'er I shall suffer with the rest!" [Pindar, Paean, IX, trans. Sandys] "God can cause unsullied light to spring out of black night. He can also shroud in a dark cloud of gloom the pure light of day" [Pindar, fragment 142, trans. Sandys] (Fotheringham, Stephenson) |
| ²╛╞╔╓╝╙╚ |
"The moon shuts off the beams of the sun as it passes across it, and darkens so much of the earth as the breadth of the blue-eyed moon amounts to." |
| 6a. QOUKUDIDOU, XUGGRAFH,II,
28
"Tou d autou qerouV noumhnia kata selhnhn, wsper kai monon dokei eivai gignesqai dunaton, o hlioV exelipe meta meshmbrias kai palin aneplhrwqh genomenoV mhnoeidhV kai asterwn tinwn ekfanentwn." |
Thucydides,
The History of the Peloponnesian War, II, 28
"The same summer, at the beginning of a new lunar month, the only time by the way at which it appears possible, the sun was eclipsed after noon. After it had assumed the form of a crescent and some of the stars had come out, it returned to its natural shape." |
| 6b. PLOUTARCOU,
BIOI PARALLHLOI, PERIKLHS, 35
"XXXV. tauta boulomenos iasthai kai ti paralupein tous polemious, hekaton kai pentekonta naus eplerou, kai pollous kai agathous hoplitas kai hippeas anabibasamenos emellen anagesthai, megalen elpida tois politais kai phobon ouk elatto tois polemiois apo tosautes ischuos paraschon. ede de pepleromenon ton neon kai tou Perikleous anabebekotos epi ten heautou triere ton men helion eklipein sunebe kai genesthai skotos, ekplagenai de pantas hos pros mega semeion. horon oun ho Perikles periphobon ton kuberneten kai dieporemenon, anesche ten chlamuda pro ton opseon autou, kai parakalupsas erotese me ti deinon e deinou tinos oietai semeion: hos d' ouk ephe, "ti oun," eipen, "ekeino toutou diapherei, plen hoti meizon ti tes chlamudos esti to pepoiekos ten episkotesin;" tauta men oun en tais scholais legetai ton philosophon." |
Plutarch,
Pericles
"With the design to remedy these evils, and do the enemy some inconvenience, Pericles got a hundred and fifty galleys ready, and having embarked many tried soldiers, both foot and horse, was about to sail out, giving great hope to his citizens, and no less alarm to his enemies, upon the sight of so great a force. And now the vessels having their complement of men, and Pericles being gone aboard his own galley, it happened that the sun was eclipsed, and it grew dark on a sudden, to the affright of all, for this was looked upon as extremely ominous. Pericles, therefore, perceiving the steersman seized with fear and at a loss what to do, took his cloak and held it up before the man's face, and screening him with it so that he could not see, asked him whether he imagined there was any great hurt, or the sign of any great hurt in this, and he answering No, "Why," said he, "and what does that differ from this, only that what has caused that darkness there, is something greater than a cloak?" This is a story which philosophers tell their scholars." |
| 6d, 16c, 27h. M. Fabius Quintilianus, "Institutionis
Oratoriae" I, 10, 47
"Quid quod se eadem geometria tollit ad rationem usque mundi? In qua, cum siderum certos constitutosque cursus numeris docet, discimus nihil esse inordinatum atque fortuitum: quod ipsum nonnumquam pertinere ad oratorem potest. An uero, cum Pericles Athenienses solis obscuratione territos redditis eius rei causis metu liberauit, aut cum Sulpicius ille Gallus in exercitu L. Pauli de lunae defectione disseruit, ne uelut prodigio diuinitus facto militum animi terrerentur, non uidetur esse usus oratoris officio? Quod si Nicias in Sicilia scisset, non eodem confusus metu pulcherrimum Atheniensium exercitum perdidisset: sicut Dion, cum ad destruendam Dionysi tyrannidem uenit, non est tali casu deterritus." |
|
| 6e. Valerius
Maximus, "Factorum et Dictorum Memorabilia", VIII, 11.ext.1
"Sed ut alienigena scrutemur, cum obscurato repente sole inusitatis perfusae tenebris Athenae solli<ci>tudine angerentur, interitum sibi caelesti denuntiatione portendi credentes, Pericles processit in medium et quae a praeceptore suo Anaxagora pertinentia ad solis et lunae cursum acceperat disseruit nec ulterius trepidare ciues suos uano metu passus est." |
|
| 7a. "h selhne d exeleipe
taV odouV o d hlioV
thn qruallid eiV eautov euqewV xunelkusaV ou fanein efasken umin, ei strathghsei Klewn" |
Aristophanes,
The Clouds
"When you chose that enemy of heaven, the Paphlagonian tanner, for a general, we knitted our brow, we caused our wrath to break out; the lightning shot forth, the thunder pealed, the moon deserted her course and the sun at once veiled his beam threatening, no longer to give you light, if Cleon became general." |
| 7b. Schol. gr. p. 109, 34 ed. Du"bner
"epeidh exleiyiV egeneto delhnhV tw proterw etei epi StratokleouV Bohdromiwni." |
|
| 8. QOUKUDIDOU, XUGGRAFH,IV,
52
"Tou d epigignomenou qerouV euquV tou te hliou eklipeV ti egeneto peri noumhnian kai tou autou mhnoV istamenou eseiden" |
Thucydides,
The History of the Peloponnesian War,
IV, 52, III, 116
"In first days of the next summer there was an eclipse of the sun at the time of new moon, and in the early part of the same month an earthquake." "In the first days of this spring, the stream of fire issued from Etna, as on former occasions, and destroyed some land of the Catanians, who live upon Mount Etna, which is the largest mountain in Sicily. Fifty years, it is said, had elapsed since the last eruption, there having been three in all since the Hellenes have inhabited Sicily. Such were the events of this winter; and with it ended the sixth year of this war, of which Thucydides was the historian." |
| 9a. QOUKUDIDOU, XUGGRAFH,VII,
50
"Kai mellontwn autwn, epeidh etoima hn, apoplein h selhnh ekleipei etugcane gar passelhnoV ousa." |
Thucydides,
The History of the Peloponnesian War, VII, 50
"All was at last ready, and they were on the point of sailing away, when an eclipse of the moon, which was then at the full, took place. Most of the Athenians, deeply impressed by this occurrence, now urged the generals to wait; and Nicias, who was somewhat over-addicted to divination and practices of that kind, refused from that moment even to take the question of departure into consideration, until they had waited the thrice nine days prescribed by the soothsayers." |
| 9b. PLOUTARCOU, BIOI PARALLHLOI,
NIKIAS, 22; 23; 28
"metopwrou gar hn arch, kai polloi men hsqenoun hdh, panteV d hqumoun" "WV d hn etoima tauta panta kai twn polemiwn oudeiV parefulatten, ate dh mh prosdokwntwn, exelipen h selhnh thV nuktoV, mega deoV tw Nikia kai twn allwn toiV up apeiriaV h deisidaimoniaV ekpeplhgmenoiV ta toiauta." "hmera (en h ton Nikian elabon) d hn tetraV fqinontoV tou Karneiou mhnoV, on Aqhnaioi Metageitniwna prosagoreuousi." |
Plutarch,
Nicias, 22; 23; 28
"It was the beginning of autumn, and many now lay sick, and all were out of heart." "And when all were in readiness, and none of the enemy had observed them, not expecting such a thing, the moon was eclipsed in the night, to the great fright of Nicias and others, who, for want of experience, or out of superstition, felt alarm at such appearances. That the sun might be darkened about the close of the month, this even ordinary people now understood pretty well to be the effect of the moon; but the moon itself to be darkened, how that could come about, and how, on the sudden, a broad full moon should lose her light, and show such various colours, was not easy to be comprehended; they concluded it to be ominous, and a divine intimation of some heavy calamities. For he who the first, and the most plainly of any, and with the greatest assurance committed to writing how the moon is enlightened and overshadowed, was Anaxagoras; and he was as yet but recent, nor was his argument much known, but was rather kept secret, passing only amongst a few, under some kind of caution and confidence." "And a general assembly of the people of Syracuse and their confederates sitting, Eurycles, the popular leader, moved, first, that the day on which they took Nicias should from thenceforward be kept holiday by sacrificing and forbearing all manner of work, and from the river he called the Asinarian Feast. This was the twenty-sixth day of the month Carneus, the Athenian Metagitnion." |
| 9c. POLUBIOU ISTORIWN PRWTH,
9, 19
"Kai mhn NikiaV o twn Aqhnaiwn strathgoV dunamenoV swzein to peri taV SurakousaV strateuma kai labwn thV nuktoV ton armozonta kairon eiV to laqein touV polemiouV apocwrhsaV eiV asfaleV kapeita thV selhnhV ekleipoushV deisidaimonhsaV wV ti deinon proshmainoushV epesce thn anazughn kai para touto sunebh kata thn epiousan autou nukta poihsamenou thn anazughn proaisqomenwn twn polemiwn kai to stratopedon kai touV hgemonaV upoceiriouV genesqai toiV SurakosioiV kaitoi ge para twn empeirwn istorhsaV monon peri toutwn dunatoV hn ouc oion paralipein dia ta toiauta touV idiouV kairouV alla kai sunergoiV crhsasqai dia thn twn upenantiwn agnoian h gar twn pelaV apeiria megiston efodion ginetai toiV empeiroiV proV katorqwsin. " |
|
| 10. "Tw d epionti etei (w h te selhnh exelipen esperaV kai o palaioV thV AqhnaV newV en AqhnaiV eneprhsqh, Pitia men eforeuontoV, arcontoV de Kalliou Aqhnhsin) oi Lakedaimonioi tw Lusandrw ... epemyan epi taV nauV Kallikratian." | Xenophon,
Hellenica, I, 6, 1
"In the ensuing year--the year in which there was an eclipse of the moon one evening, and the old temple of Athena at Athens was burned, Pityas being now ephor at Sparta and Callias archon at Athens--the Lacedaemonians sent Callicratidas to take command of the fleet, since Lysander's term of office had ended (and with it the twenty-fourth year of the war)." |
| 11a. "(kata de touton ton kairon peri hliou ekleiyin Lukofrwn o FeraioV ... touV enantioumenouV autw twn Qettalon, LarisaiouV te kai allouV, mach enikhsen kai pollouV apekteinen)." | Xenophon,
Hellenica, II, 3, 2
"In the following year--in which was celebrated an Olympiad, wherein Crocinas the Thessalian was victorious in the stadium, Endius being now ephor at Sparta and Pythodorus archon at Athens. Since, however, Pythodorus was chosen during the time of the oligarchy, the Athenians do not use his name to mark the year, but call it the archonless year. And this oligarchy came into being in the way hereafter described -- it was voted by the people to choose thirty men to frame the ancient laws into a constitution under which to conduct the government. And the following men were chosen: Polychares, Critias, Melobius, Hippolochus, Eucleides, Hieron, Mnesilochus, Chremon, Theramenes, Aresias, Diocles, Phaedrias, Chaereleos, Anaetius, Peison, Sophocles, Eratosthenes, Charicles, Onomacles, Theognis, Aeschines, Theogenes, Cleomedes, Erasistratus, Pheidon, Dracontides, Eumathes, Aristoteles, Hippomachus, Mnesitheides. When this had been done, Lysander sailed off to Samos, while Agis withdrew the land force from Decelea and dismissed the several contingents to their cities. It was near this date, and at about the time of an eclipse of the sun, that Lycophron of Pherae, who wanted to make himself ruler of all Thessaly, defeated in battle those among the Thessalians who opposed him, namely the Larisaeans and others, and slew many of them." |
| 11b. Seneca, de beneficiis. V, 6
"Archelaus rex ... "Si regem in luce media errantem ad rerum naturam admisisset usque eo eius ignarum, ut, quo die solis defectio fuit, regiam cluderet et filium, quod in luctu ac rebus adversis moris est, tonderet? Quantum fuisset beneficium, si timentem e latebris suis extraxisset et bonum animum habere iussisset dicens: "on est ista solis defectio, sed duorum siderum coitus, cum luna humiliore currens via infra ipsum solem orbem suum posuit et illum obiectu sui abscondit; quae modo partes eius exiguas, si in transcursu strinxit, obducit, modo plus tegit, si maiorem partem sui obiecit, modo excludit totius adspectum, si recto libramento inter solem terrasque media successit. Sed iam ista sidera hoc et illo diducet velocitas sua; iam recipient diem terrae, et hic ibit ordo per saecula dispositosque ac praedictos dies habet, quibus sol intercursu lunae vetetur omnes radios effundere. Paulum expecta; iam emerget, iam istam velut nubem relinquet, iam exolutus inpedimentis lucem suam libere mittet." " |
Seneca, De Beneficiis V,VI,2. Loeb Classical Library, 310.
"If he had admitted into the secrets of Nature one who even in broad daylight had lost his way - a king so ignorant of her ways that one day, when there was an eclipse of the sun, he shut up his palace, and, as is customary in times of grief and disaster, sheared his son's hair? How great a benefit it would have been if Socrates had dragged the frightened king from his hiding place, and bidden him to be of good sheer, saying: "This does not mean the disappearence of the sun, but that two heavenly bodies are in conjunction by reason of the fact that the moon, which travels by a lower path, has placed her disk exactly beneath the sun itself, and has hidden it by interposing her own body. Sometimes, if she just glares the sun in passing, she veils only a small portion of it; sometimes, if she thrusts the greater part of her body in front of it, she conceals a larger portion; sometimes if, being between the earth and the sun, she reaches the point where the three bodies are in straight line, she shuts off completely the sight of the sun. But soon their own speed will draw there heavenly bodies apart, one to this position, the other to that; soon the earth will recover the light of day. And this order will continue throughout the agesand has its appointed day, that are known beforehand, on which the sun is prevented from sending forth all his rays because of the intervention of the moon. Wait just a little while soon he will emerge, soon he will leave behind this seeming cloud, soon he will be rid of all obstructions, and will freely send forth his light." |
| 13a. "ontoV d outou (Aghsilaou) epi embolh (eiV ta Boiwtwn oria) o hlioV mhnoeideV edoxe fanhnai." | Xenophon,
Hellenica, IV,3,10
"When he was at the entrance to Boeotia, the sun seemed to appear crescent-shaped, and word was brought to him that the Lacedaemonians had been defeated in the naval battle and the admiral, Peisander, had been killed. It was also stated in what way the battle had been fought. For it was near Cnidos that the fleets sailed against one another, and Pharnabazus, who was admiral, was with the Phoenician ships, while Conon with the Greek fleet was posted in front of him." (Newton, 1970, p.102; Stephenson, p.366) (near Chaeroneia, Greece) |
| 13b. PLOUTARCOU, BIOI
PARALLHLOI, AGHSILAOS, 17
"O de AghsilaoV eisw Pulwn parelQwn kai diodeusaV Fwkida filhn ousan epei thV BoiwtiaV prwton epebh kai peri thn Cairwneian katestratopedeuden ama men ton hlion ekleiponta kai ginomenon mhnoeidh kateiden ama de hkouse teqnanai Peisandron htthmenon naumacia peri Knidon upo Farnabazou kai KonwnoV." |
Plutarch,
Agesilaus, 17
"Agesilaus having gained Thermopylae, and passed quietly through Phocis, as soon as he had entered Boeotia, and pitched his camp near Chaeronea, at once met with an eclipse of the sun, and with ill news from the navy, Pisander, the Spartan admiral, being beaten and slain at Cnidos by Pharnabazus and Conon." |
| 14a. Diodori Sicili Bibliothecae Historicae, XV,
80.
"tou de Pelopidou tacewV meta thV dunamewV exiontoV sunebh ton hlion eklipein." |
Diodorus,
Historical Library XV 80
"[15.80.1] About this time the Thessalians, who continued the war upon Alexander, tyrant of Pherae, and, suffering defeat in most of the battles, had lost large numbers of their fighting men, sent ambassadors to the Thebans with a request to assist them and to dispatch to them Pelopidas as general. For they knew that on account of his arrest by Alexander he was on very bad terms with the ruler, and besides, that he was a man of superior courage and widely renowned for his shrewdness in the art of war. [15.80.2] When the common council of the Boeotians convened and the envoys had explained the matters on which they had been instructed, the Boeotians concurred with the Thessalians in every matter, gave Pelopidas seven thousand men and ordered him speedily to assist as requested; but as Pelopidas was hastening to leave with his army, the sun, as it happened, was eclipsed. [15.80.3] Many were superstitious about the phenomenon, and some of the soothsayers declared that because of the withdrawal of the soldiers, the city's "sun" had been eclipsed. Although in this interpretation they were foretelling the death of Pelopidas, he notwithstanding set out for the campaign, drawn on by Fate." |
| 14b. PLOUTARCOU, BIOI
PARALLHLOI, PELOPIDAS, 31
"yhfisamenwn de twn Qhbaiwn proqumwV kai tacu pantwn etoimwn genomenwn kai tou strathgou peri exodon ontoV, o hlioV exelipe kai skotoV en hmera thn polin escen." |
Plutarch,
Pelopidas
"At this time, Alexander the Pheraean falling back to his old nature, and having seized many of the Thessalian cities, and put garrisons upon the Achaeans of Phthiotis, and the Magnesians, the cities, hearing that Pelopidas was returned, sent an embassy to Thebes requesting succours, and him for their leader. The Thebans willingly granted their desire; and now when all things were prepared, and the general beginning to march, the sun was eclipsed, and darkness spread over the city at noonday. Now when Pelopidas saw them startled at the prodigy, he did not think it fit to force on men who were afraid and out of heart, nor to hazard seven thousand of his citizens; and therefore with only three hundred horse volunteers, set forward himself to Thessaly, much against the will of the augurs and his fellow-citizens in general, who all imagined this marked portent to have reference to this great man." |
| 15. PLOUTARCOU, BIOI PARALLHLOI,
DION, 19
"outw de diakeimenwn proV allhlouV kai lanqanein pantaV oiomenwn Elikwn o KuzikhnoV, eiV twn PlatwnoV sunhqwn, hliou proeipen ekleiyin kai genomenhV, wV proeipn, qaumasqteiV upo tou turannou dwrean elaben arguriou talanton." |
Plutarch, Dion,
19
"After the first compliments of kindness were over, when Plato began to discourse of Dion, he was at first diverted by excuses for delay, followed soon after by complaints and disgusts, though not as yet observable to others, Dionysius endeavouring to conceal them, and, by other civilities and honourable usage, to draw him off from his affection to Dion. And for some time Plato himself was careful not to let anything of this dishonesty and breach of promise appear, but bore with it, and dissembled his annoyance. While matters stood thus between them, and, as they thought, they were unobserved and undiscovered, Helicon, the Cyzicenian, one of Plato's followers, foretold an eclipse of the sun, which happened according to his prediction; for which he was much admired by the tyrant, and rewarded with a talent of silver; ..." |
| 16a. PLOUTARCOU, BIOI
PARALLHLOI, NIKIAS, 23
"O goun etairoV (PlatwnoV) Diwn, kaq on cronon emellen araV ek Zakunqou plein epi Dionusion eklipoushV thV selhnhV, ouden diataracqeiV anhcqh kai katascwn en SurakousaiV exebale ton tirannon." |
Plutarch,
Nicias, 23
"People would not then tolerate natural philosophers, and theorists, as they then called them, about things above; as lessening the divine power, by explaining away its agency into the operation of irrational causes and senseless forces acting by necessity, without anything of Providence or a free agent. Hence it was that Protagoras was banished, and Anaxagoras cast in prison, so that Pericles had much difficulty to procure his liberty; and Socrates, though he had no concern whatever with this sort of learning, yet was put to death for philosophy. It was only afterwards that the reputation of Plato, shining forth by his life, and because he subjected natural necessity to divine and more excellent principles, took away the obloquy and scandal that had attached to such contemplations, and obtained these studies currency among all people. So his friend Dion, when the moon, at the time he was to embark from Zacynthus to go against Dionysius, was eclipsed, was not in the least disturbed, but went on, and arriving at Syracuse, expelled the tyrant. " |
| 16b. PLOUTARCOU, BIOI
PARALLHLOI, NIKIAS, 23; 24
"hn men oun qerouV akmh kai kateicon ethsiai to pelagoV ... " "meta de taV spondaV kai nenomismenaV kateucaV exelipen h selhnh." |
Plutarch, Dion,
23; 24
"It was now the middle of summer, and the Etesian winds blowing steadily on the seas the moon was at the full ..." "Just after the libations were made, and the accompanying prayers offered, the moon was eclipsed; which was no wonder to Dion, who understood the revolutions of eclipses, and the way in which the moon is overshadowed and the earth interposed between her and the sun." |
| 17. Titus Livius, Ab urbe condita, VII, 28
"(Marcio Rutilo tertium, T. Manlio Torquato iterum consulibus.) prodigium extemplo dedicationem (aedis Monetae) secutum, simile vetusto montis Albani prodigio; namque et lapidibus pluit et nox interdiu visa intendi ..." |
Titus
Livius, The History of Rome, VII, 28
"The temple of Moneta was dedicated in the following year, when C. Marcius Rutilus was consul for the third time and T. Manlius Torquatus for the second. A portent followed close on the dedication similar to the old portent on the Alban Mount; a shower of stones fell and night seemed to stretch its curtain over the day. The citizens were filled with dread at this supernatural occurrence, and after the Sibylline Books had been consulted the senate decided upon the appointment of a Dictator to arrange the ceremonial observances for the appointed days. P. Valerius Publicola was nominated and Q. Fabius Ambustus was appointed Master of the Horse." |
| 18a. PLOUTARCOU, BIOI
PARALLHLOI, ALEXANDROS, 19
"thn de megalhn machn proV Dareion ouk en ArbhloiV, wVper oi polloi grafousin all en GaugamhloiV genestai sunepese ... h men oun selhnh tou BohdromiwnoV exelipe peri thn twn musthriwn twn Aqhnhsin archn endekath d apo thV ekleiyewV nukti twn stratopedwn en oyei gegonotwn ... " |
Plutarch,
Alexander, 19
"But the great battle of all that was fought with Darius was not, as most writers tell us, at Arbela, but at Gaugamela, which, in their language, signifies the camel's house, forasmuch as one of their ancient kings having escaped the pursuit of his enemies on a swift camel, in gratitude to his beast, settled him at this place, with an allowance of certain villages and rents for his maintenance. It came to pass that in the month Boedromion, about the beginning of the feast of Mysteries at Athens, there was an eclipse of the moon, the eleventh night after which, the two armies being now in view of one another, Darius kept his men in arms, and by torchlight took a general review of them." |
| 18b. "entauqa anapauei
ton straton kai thV selhnhV to polu eklipeV egeneto."
"touto to teloV th mach tauth egeneto epi arcontoV AqhnaioiV Aristofanous mhnoV PuanoyioV." |
Arrian, Anabasis of Alexander, III,7.6. Loeb Classical Library,
v.236.
"There he gave his army a rest. There was an almost total eclipse of the moon, and Alexander sacrificed to the Moon, Sun and Earth, who are all said to cause an eclipse. Aristander thought that the eclipse was favourable to the Macedonians and Alexander, that the battle should take place that month, and that the sacrifices portented victory to the Alexander." |
| 18c. "wV thn en men ArbhloiV pempthV wraV faneisan, en de Karchdoni deuteraV, anagrafhV hxiwsqai." | Ptolemy, Geography, I, 4.
J.Lennart Berggren and A.Jones, Ptolemy's Geography, an annotated translation of the theoretical chapters. Princeton Univ. Press, Princeton, 2000. "Most intervals, however, and especially those to the east or west, have been reported in a cruder manner, not because those who undertook the researches were careless, but perhaps because it was not yet understood how useful the more mathematical mode of investigation is, and because no one bothered record more lunar eclipses that were observed simultaneously at different locations (such as the one that was seen at Arbela at the fifth hour and at Carthage at the second hour) from which it would have been clear how many equinoctial time units separated the localities to the east or west." |
| 18d, 39a. Pliny, "Naturalis historia", II,
180
"Ideo defectus solis ac lunae vespertinos orientis incolae non sentiunt, nec matutinos ad occasum habitantes, meridianos vero serius nobis illi. apud Arbilam Magni Alexandri victoria luna defecisse noctis secunda hora est prodita eademque in Sicilia exoriens. solis defectum Vipsano et Fonteio cos., qui fuere ante paucos annos, factum pridie kalendas Maias Campania hora diei inter septimam et octavam sensit, Corbulo dux in Armenia inter horam diei decimam et undecimam prodidit visum, circuiti globi alia aliis detegente et occultante. " |
Pliny, "Natural History", II, 180, Loeb Classical Library, v.330.
"Consequently inhabitants of the East do not perceive evening eclipses of the sun and moon, nor do those dwelling in the West see morning eclipses, while the latter see eclipses at midday later than we do. The victory of Alexander the Great is said to have caused an eclipse of the moon at Arbela at 8 p.m. while the same eclipse in Sicily was when the moon was just rising. An eclipse of the sun that occured on April 30 in the consulship of Vipstanus and Fonteius a few years ago was visible in Campania between 1 and 2 p.m. but was reported by Corbulo commanding in Armenia as observed between 4 and 5: this was because the curve of the globe discloses and hides different phenomena for different localities." |
| 18e. Curtius
IV 10 (39)
"Biduo ibi stativa rex habuit: in proximum deinde pronuntiari iter iussit. Sed prima fere vigilia luna deficiens primum nitorem sideris sui condidit, deinde sanguinis colore suffuso lumen omne foedavit, sollicitisque sub ipsum tanti discriminis casum ingens religio et ex ea formido quaedam incussa est" |
Quintus Curtius Rufus, The History of Alexander, IV, 10.
(tr. J. Yardley, Penguin Classics, 1984). "Alexander encamped there for two days and had marching orders proclaimed for the third, but at about the first watch there was an eclipse of the moon. First the moon lost its usual brightness, and then became suffused with a blood-red colour which caused a general dimness in the light it shed. Right in the brink of a decisive battle the men were already in a state of anxiety, and this now struck them with a deep religious awe which precipitated a kind of a panic. They complained that the gods opposed their being taken to the ends of the earth, that now rivers forbade them access, heavenly bodies did not mantain their erstwhile brightness, and they were met everywhere by desolation and desert. The blood of thousands was paying for the grandiose plans of one man who despised his country, disowned his father Philip, and had deluded ideas about aspiring to heaven. Mutiny was but a step away when, unperturbed by all this, Alexander summoned a full meeting of his generals and officers in his tentand ordered the Egyptian seers (whom he believered to possess expert knowledge of the sky and the stars) to give their opinion. They were well aware that the annual cycle follows a pattern of changes, that the moon is eclipsed when it passes behind the earth or is blocked by the sun, but they did not give this explanation, which they themselves knew, to the common soldiers. Instead, they declared that the sun represented the Greeks and the moon the Persians, and that an eclipse of the moon predicted disaster and slaughter for those nations. They then listed examples from history of of Persian kings whom a lunar eclipse had demonstrated to have fought without divine approval. Nothing exercises greater control over the masses than superstition. Usually ungovernable, cruel and capricious, when they are gripped by superstition they obey prophets more readily than their generals. Thus the dissemination of the Egyptians' responses restored hope and confidence to the didpirited soldiers. The king felt he should exploit this surge of confidence, and at the second watch he moved camp, keeping the Tigris on his right and the so-called Gordyaean Mountains on his left." |
| 19a. Diodori Sicili Bibliothecae Historicae, Lib.XX,Cap.V,
5
"th d i steraia thlikauthn ekleiyin hliou sunebh genesqai, wste oloscerwV fanhnai nukta qewroumenwn twn asterwV pantacoi." "[...] Agathocles etiam, quum jam ab hoste apprimeretur, nocte superveniente, quod minime sperasset, evadit. Postridie tantum fit solis eclipsis deliquum, ut stellis ubique apparentibus, omnio noctis instar esset. Quamobrem a naumine difficultatem sibi portendi Agathoclis milites rati, in majore super futuris anxietate erant." |
"[...] However, Agathocles, who was already at the point of being overtaken
and surrounded, gained unhoped for safety as night closed in. On the next
day there occurred such an eclipse of the sun that stars appeared everywhere,
it was like at a complete night. Agathocles soldiers, believing that
the prodigy portended misfortune for them, fell into even greater anxiety
about the future."
(Fotheringham; Newton, 1970, p.103-104; Stephenson, p.348-351) |
| 19b. "terrebat eos portenti religio, quod navigantibus sol defecerat." | |
| 19c. Frontinus,
Strategemata I, 12, 9
"Agathocles Syracusanus adversus Poenos, simili eiusdem sideris deminutionequia sub diem pugnae ut prodigio milites sui consternati erant, ratione qua id accideret exposita docuit, quidquid illud foret, ad rerum naturam, non ad ipsorum propositum pertinere." |
Sextus Julius Frontinus, The Stratagems, I,XII, 9. Loeb Classical
Library, v.174.
"When Agathocles, the Suracusan, was fighting against the Carthaginians, and his soldiers on the eve of battle were thrown into panic by a similar eclipse of the moon, which they interpreted as a prodigy, he explained the reason why this happened, and showed them that, whatever it was, it had to do with nature, and not with their own purposes." |
| 20a. Titus Livius, Ab urbe condita, X, 23, 1
"eo anno prodigia multa fuerunt, quorum averruncandorum causa supplicationes in biduum senatus decrevit." |
Titus
Livius, The History of Rome, X, 23, 1
"Several portents occurred this year and, with the view of averting them, the senate passed a decree that special intercessions should be offered for two days." |
| 21. POLUBIOU, ISTORIWN
TA SWZOMENA,
V, 78, 1
"Ou genomenhV ecleiyewV selhnhV palai duscerwV feronteV oi Galatai taV en taiV poreiaiV kakopaqeiaV ate poioumenoi thn strateian meta gunaikon kai teknwn, epomenwn aitoiV toutwn en taiV amaxaiV, tote shmeiwsamenoi to gegonoV ouk an efasan eti proelqein eiV to prosqen." |
Polibius, The Histories, V, 78, 1. Loeb Classical Library, 138.
"While he was here [Attalus], an eclipse of the moon took place, and the Gauls, who had all along been aggrieved by the hardships of the march - since they made the campaign accompanied by their wives and children, who followed them in wagons - considering this a bad omen, refused to advance further." |
| 22. Titus Livius, Ab urbe condita, XXII, 1, 8
"Augebant metum prodigia ex pluribus simul locis nuntiata: in Sardinia ... solis orbem minui visum ... et Arpis parmas in caelo visas pugnantemque cum luna solem ..." |
Titus
Livius, The History of Rome, XXII, 1, 4;8
"About the same time Cn. Servilius entered upon his consulship at Rome, on the 15th of March." "To add to the general feeling of apprehension, information was received of portents having occurred simultaneously in several places. In Sicily several of the soldiers' darts were covered with flames; in Sardinia the same thing happened to the staff in the hand of an officer who was going his rounds to inspect the sentinels on the wall; the shores had been lit up by numerous fires; a couple of shields had sweated blood; some soldiers had been struck by lightning; an eclipse of the sun had been observed; at Praeneste there had been a shower of red-hot stones; at Arpi shields had been seen in the sky and the sun had appeared to be fighting with the moon; at Capena two moons were visible in the daytime; ..." |
| 23. Titus Livius, Ab urbe condita, XXX, 38, 8
"Prodigia quoque nuntiata sub ipsam famam rebellionis terrorem attulerant: Cumis solis orbis minui visus et pluit lapideo imbri et in Veliterno agro terra ingentibus cavernis consedit arboresque in profundum haustae." |
Titus
Livius, The History of Rome, XXX, 38, 8
"The general alarm at the tidings from Africa was increased by rumours of various portents. At Cumae the sun's disk was seen to diminish in size and there was a shower of stones; in the district of Veliternum the ground subsided and immense caverns were formed in which trees were swallowed up; ..." |
| 24. ZONARAS,
IX, 14.
"O d AnnibaV sumbalein ouk hqelhse, stratopedeuomenoV d ekei kai frewrukwn etalaipwrhse dia pashV thV nuktoV. kai outwV kakwV autoiV ecovtaV ipo kamatou kai diyhV kathnagkase kai akovtaV o Skipiwn summixai autw. sunebalon oun oi men Rwmaioi suntetagmenoi kai proqumoi. AnnibaV de kai oi Karhdonioi aproqumoi te kai katapeplhgmenoi kai di etera kai oti o hlioV sumpaV exelipen." |
|
| 25. Titus Livius, Ab urbe condita, XXXVII, 4, 4
"Per eos dies, quibus est profectus ad bellum consul, ludis Apollinaribus ante diem quintum idus Quinctiles caelo sereno interdiu obscurata lux est, cum luna sub orbem solis subisset." |
Titus
Livius, The History of Rome, XXXVII, 4, 4
"At the time of the consul's departure, whilst the Games of Apollo were being celebrated, the daylight was obscured, though the sky was clear, by the moon passing under the orb of the sun." |
| 26. Titus Livius, Ab urbe condita, XXXVIII, 36,
4
"Priusquam in provincias novi magistratus proficiscernetur, supplicatio triduum pro collegio decemvirorum imperata fuit in omnibus compitis, quod luce inter horam tertiam ferme et quartam tenebrae obortae fuerunt. Et novemdiale sacrificium indictum est, quod in Aventino lapidibus pluvisset." |
Titus
Livius, The History of Rome, XXXVIII, 36, 4
"Before the new magistrates left for their provinces, special intercessions for three days were ordered on the authority of the Keepers of the Sacred Books to be offered at all the cross-roads owing to a darkness which came over in broad daylight between the third and fourth hours. Sacrifices were also enjoined for nine days in consequence of a shower of stones on the Aventine." (Stephenson, p.367) |
| 27a. Titus Livius, Ab urbe condita, XLIV,36,1;
37,8
"tempus anni post circumactum solstitium erat." "castris permunitis C. Sulpicius Gallus tribunus militium secundae legionis, qui praetor superiore anno fuerat, consulis permissu ad contionem militibus vocatis pronuntiavit nocte proxima, ne quis id pro portento acciperet, ab hora secunda usque ad quartam horam lunam defecturam esse: id quia naturali ordine statis temporibus fiat, et sciri ante et praedici posse ... nocte, quam pridie Nonas Septembres insecuta est dies, edita hora cum luna defecisset, Romanis militibus Galli sapientia prope divina videri ... " |
Titus
Livius, The History of Rome, XLIV,36,1; 37,8
"It was past the summer solstice and the time of day was approaching noon ..." "When the fortification of the camp was completed, C. Sulpicius Gallus, a military tribune attached to the second legion, who had been a praetor the year before, obtained the consul's permission to call the soldiers on parade. He then explained that on the following night the moon would lose her light from the second hour to the fourth, and no one must regard this as a portent, because this happened in the natural order of things at stated intervals, and could be known beforehand and predicted. Just in the same way, then, as they did not regard the regular rising and setting of the sun and moon or the changes in the light of the moon from full circle to a thin and waning crescent as a marvel, so they ought not to take its obscuration when it is hidden in the shadow of the earth for a supernatural portent. On the next night-September 4-the eclipse tookplace at the stated hour, and the Roman soldiers thought that Gallus possessed almost divine wisdom. It gave a shock to the Macedonians as portending the fall of their kingdom and the ruin of their nation, nor could their soothsayers give any other explanation. Shouts and howls went on in the Macedonian camp until the moon emerged and gave her light." |
| 27b. POLUBIOU, ISTORIWN
TA SWZOMENA, XXIX, 16
"oti thV selhnhV ekleipoushV epi PersewV tou MakedonoV ekrathsen h fhmh para toiV polloiV oti basilewV ekleiyin shmainei." |
|
| 27c. PLOUTARCOU, BIOI
PARALLHLOI, AIMILIOS, 16; 17
"qerouV gar hn wra fqinontoV" "Epei de nux gegonei kai meta deipnon etraponto pros ipnon kai anapausin, aifnidion h selhnh plhrhV ousa kai metewroV emelaineto kai tou fwtoV apolipontoV authn croaV ameiyasa pantodapaV hfanish" |
Plutarch,
Aemilius Paulus
"When it was night, and, supper being over, all were turning to sleep and rest, on a sudden the moon, which was then at full and high in the heavens, grew dark, and by degrees losing her light, passed through various colours, and at length was totally eclipsed. The Romans, according to their custom, clattering brass pans and lifting up fire-brands and torches into the air, invoked the return of her light; the Macedonians behaved far otherwise: terror and amazement seized their whole army, and a rumour crept by degrees into their camp that this eclipse portended even that of their king. Aemilius was no novice in these things, nor was ignorant of the nature of the seeming irregularities of eclipses- that in a certain revolution of time, the moon in her course enters the shadow of the earth and is there obscured, till, passing the region of darkness, she is again enlightened by the sun. Yet being a devout man, a religious observer of sacrifices and the art of divination, as soon as he perceived the moon beginning to regain her former lustre, he offered up to her eleven heifers." |
| 27d. Cicero,
"De Re Publica", I, 23.
"(23) (Scipio) 'fuit, quod et ipse hominem diligebam et in primis patri meo Paulo probatum et carum fuisse cognoveram. memini me admodum adulescentulo, cum pater in Macedonia consul esset et essemus in castris perturbari exercitum nostrum religione et metu, quod serena nocte subito candens et plena luna defecisset. tum ille cum legatus noster esset anno fere ante quam consul est declaratus, haud dubitavit postridie palam in castris docere nullum esse prodigium, idque et tum factum esse et certis temporibus esse semper futurum, cum sol ita locatus fuisset ut lunam suo lumine non posset attingere.' 'ain tandem?' inquit Tubero; 'docere hoc poterat ille homines paene agrestes, et apud imperitos audebat haec dicere?' (Scipio) 'ille vero, et magna quidem cum (24) (Scipio) <neque in>solens ostentatio neque oratio abhorrens a persona hominis gravissimi; rem enim magnam <erat> adsecutus, quod hominibus perturbatis inanem religionem timoremque deiecerat." |
Cicero, "De Republica", I, (XV, 23) Loeb Classical Library, v.213.
"Scipio ... for I myself loved the man, and I was aware that he was also greatly esteemed and beloved by my father Paulus. For in my early youth, when my father, then consul, was in Macedonia, and I was in camp with him, I recollect that our army was on one of occasion disturbed by superstitious fears because, on a cloudless night, a bright full moon was suddenly darkened. Gallus was at that time a lieutenant (it being then about a year before the election to the consulship), and on the next day he unhesitatingly made a public statement in the camp that this was no miracle, but that it had happened at that time, and would always happen at fixed times in the future, when the sun was in such a position that its light could not reach the moon. Tubero: Really? Did he manage to put this across to fellows who were virtually peasants? And did he risk saying such things at front of ignoramuses? Scipio: He did indeed, and with great [...] There was no arrogant display, nothing in his manner that was out of keeping with the character of a deeply serious man. He relieved those desparately worried soldiers from groundless superstition and fear. That was a highly important feat. |
| 27e. Valerius
Maximus, "Factorum et dictorum memorabilia", VIII, 11, 1
"Sulpicii Galli maximum in omni genere litterarum percipiendo studium plurimum rei publicae profuit: nam cum L. Pauli bellum aduersum regem Persen gerentis legatus esset, ac serena nocte subito luna defecisset, eoque uelut diro quodam monstro per<ter>ritus exercitus noster manus cum hoste conserendi fiduciam amisisset, de caeli ratione et siderum natura peritissime disputando alacrem eum in aciem misit. itaque inclytae illi Paulianae uictoriae liberales artes Galli aditum dederunt, quia, nisi ille metum nostrorum militum uicisset, imperator uincere hostes non potuisset." |
Valerius Maximus, Memorable Doings and Sayings, VIII,11,1. Loeb
Classical Library, v.493.
"The ardent zeal of Sulpicius Gallus in absorbing every sort of literary work was of the greatest benefit to the commonwealth. When he was Legate to L.Paullus, who was campaigning against king Perses, on a clear night the moon suddenly went into eclipse. Our army was terrified as by a dire prodigy and no longer had confidence to join battle with the enemy. But by discoursing expertly on the celestial system and the nature of the stars Gallus sent them eager into the fray. So the liberal arts of Galus gave access to that famous Paullian victory; for if he had not overcome our soldiers' fear, the general would not have been able to overcome the enemy." |
| 27f. Frontinus,
Strategemata I, 12, 8
"L. Sulpicius Gallus defectum lunae imminentem, ne pro ostento exciperent milites, praedixit futurum, additis rationibus causisque defectionis." |
Sextus Julius Frontinus, The Stratagems, I, XII, 8. Loeb Classical
Library, v.174.
"Gaius Sulpicius Gallus not only announced an approaching eclipse of the moon, in order to prevent the soldiers from taking it as a prodigy, but also gave the reasons and causes of the eclipse." |
| 27(*) Diogenes Laertius, Vitae Philosophorum,
IV, 64, KARNEADHS
"teleutwntoV d autou fasin ekleiyin genesqai selhnhV sumpaqeian wV an eipoi tiV ainittomenou tou meq hlion kallistou twn astrwn. Fhsi de ApollodwroV en CronikoiV apelqein auton ex anqrwpwn etei tetartw thV deuteraV kai exhkosthV kai ekatosthV OlumpiadoV biwsanta eth pente proV toiV ogdohkonta." |
Diogenes Laertius IV, Carneades, 64, Loeb Classical Library, v.184.
"At the time he died the moon is said to have been eclipsed, and one might well say that the brightest luminary in heaven next to the sun thereby gave token of her sympathy. According to Apollodorus in his chronology he departed his life in the fourth year of the 162-nd Olympiad at the age of eighty-five years." |
| 27(**) Iulii
Obsequentis, "Ab anno urbis conditae dv prodigiorum liber"
"Ti. Graccho M. Iuventino coss. [A.U.C. 591 / 163 B.C.] Capuae nocte sol visis. In agro Stellati fulgure vervecum de grege pars exanimata. Terracinae pueri trigemini nati. Formiis duo soles Interdiu visi. Caelum arsit. Antii homo ex speculo acie orta combustus. Gabiis lacte pluit. Fulmine pleraque decussa in Palatio. In templum Victoriae cygnus inlapsus per manus capientium effugit. Priverni puella sine manu nata. In Cephallenia tuba in caelo cantare visa. Terra pluit. Procellosa tempestate tecta diruta stragesque agrorum facta. Crebro fulminavit. Nocte spevies solis Pisauri adfulsit. Caere porcus humanis manibus et pedibus natus, et pueri quadrupes et quadrumanes nati. Ad forum Aesi bovem flamma ex ipsius ore nata non laesit." |
|
| 28. Iulii
Obsequentis, "Ab anno urbis conditae dv prodigiorum liber"
"C. Mario C. Flavio coss. [A.U.C. 650 / 104 B.C.] 43Bubo extra urbem visus. Bos locuta. Trebulae Mutuscae simulacrum in templo, quod capite adaperto fuit, opertum inventum. Nuceriae ulmus vento eversa sua sponte erecta in radicem convaluit. In Lucanis lacte, Lunae sanguine pluit. Arimini canis locutus. Arma caelestia tempore utroque ab ortu et occasu visa pugnare et ab occasu vinci. Aruspicum responso populus stipem Cereri et Proserpinae tulit. Virgines viginti septem dona canentes tulerunt. Luna interdiu cum stella ab hora tertia usque ad horam septinam apparuit. A fugitivis et desertoribus in Thurinis regiones vastatae. Cimbri Alpes transgressi post Hispaniam vastatam iunxerunt se Teutonis. Lupus urbem intravit. Fulminis ictu vultures super turrem exanimati. Hora diei tertia solis defectus lucem obscuravit. Examen apium ante aedem Salutis consedit. In comitio lacte pluit. In Piceno tres soles visi. In agro Vulsiniensi flamma e terra orta caelumque visa contingere. In Lucanis duo agni equinis pedibus nati, alter siminino capite. In Tarquinensi lactis rivi terra scaturienti exorti. Aruspicum responso signa oleaginea duo armata statuta supplicatumque. In Macedonia Thraces subacti." |
|
| 29. Iulii
Obsequentis, "Ab anno urbis conditae dv prodigiorum liber"
"C. Caelio L. Domitio coss. [A.U.C. 660 / 94 B.C.] 51 Novemdiale sacrum fuit quod Volsca gente lapidibus pluerat. Vulsiniis luna nova defecit et non nisi postero die hora tertia comparuit. Puella biceps, quadripes, quadrimana, gemina feminae natura mortua nata. Avis incendiaria visa occisaque. In Vestinis in villa lapidibus pluit. Fax in caelo apparuit et totum caelum ardere visum. Terra sanguine manavit et concrevit. Canes saxa tegulas vulgo roserunt. Faesulis ingens multitudo inter sepulcra lugubri veste, pallida facie interdiu ambulare gregatim visa. Per Nasicam Hispaniae principes qui rebellabant supplicio consumpti urbibus dirutis." ... Quinto Metello L. Afranio coss. [A.U.C. 694 / 60 B.C.] 62 Die toto ante sereno circa horam undecimam nox se intendit, deinde restitutus fulgor. Turbinis vi tecta deiecta. Ponte sublapso homines in Tiberim praecipitati. In agris pleraque arbores eversae radicibus. Lusitani Gallaeci devicti." |
|
| 30. Cicero, I, 18
"Tu quoque cum tumulos Albano in monte nivalis Lustrasti et laeto mactasti lacte Latinas, Vidisti et claro tremulos ardore cometas, Multaque misceri nocturna strage putasti: Quod ferme dirum in tempus cecidere Latinae, Cum claram speciem concreto lumine luna Abdidit et subito stellanti nocte perempta est." |
Cicero, "De Divinatione", I, XVIII, Loeb Classical Library, v.154.
"You being consul, at once did observe the swift constellations; Then you beheld the tremulous sheen of the Northern aurora, When, on ascending the mountains heights of snowy Albanus, You offered joyful libations of milk at the Feast of the Latins; Ominous surely the time wherein fell that Feast of the Latins: Many a warning was given, it seemed, of slaughter nocturnal; Then, of a sudden, the moon at her full was blotted from heaven - Hidden her features resplendent, though night was bejewelled with planets." |
| 31a. Dio
Cassius, XLI, 14
"o te hlioV sumpaV exelipe" |
Cassius
Dio, Roman History, XLI, 14, Loeb Classical Library, Translation
by Earnest Cary
"Now at the very moment of coming to land at Dyrrachium he learned that he should not obtain a prosperous outcome. For thunderbolts destroyed some soldiers even as the ships were approaching; spiders occupied the army standards; and after he had left the vessel serpents followed and obliterated his footprints. These were the portents which came to him personally, but for the whole capital others had occurred both that year and a short time previously; for there is no doubt that in civil wars the state is injured by both parties. Hence many wolves and owls were seen in the city itself and continual earthquakes with bellowings took place, fire darted across from the west to the east, and another fire consumed the temple of Quirinus as well as of the buildings. The sun, too, suffered a total eclipse, and thunderbolts damaged a sceptre of Jupiter and a shield and a helmet of Mars that were votive offerings on the Capitol, and likewise the tables which contained the laws." |
| 31b. M.
ANNAEI LVCANI BELLI CIVILIS LIBER PRIMVS
"... nox una tuis non credita muris. 520 danda tamen uenia est tantorum danda pauorum: Pompeio fugiente timent. tum, nequa futuri spes saltem trepidas mentes leuet, addita fati peioris manifesta fides, superique minaces prodigiis terras inplerunt, aethera, pontum. 525 ignota obscurae uiderunt sidera noctes ardentemque polum flammis caeloque uolantes obliquas per inane faces crinemque timendi sideris et terris mutantem regna cometen. fulgura fallaci micuerunt crebra sereno, 530 et uarias ignis denso dedit aere formas, nunc iaculum longo, nunc sparso lumine lampas. emicuit caelo tacitum sine nubibus ullis fulmen et Arctois rapiens de partibus ignem percussit Latiare caput, stellaeque minores 535 per uacuum solitae noctis decurrere tempus in medium uenere diem, cornuque coacto iam Phoebe toto fratrem cum redderet orbe terrarum subita percussa expalluit umbra. ipse caput medio Titan cum ferret Olympo 540 condidit ardentis atra caligine currus inuoluitque orbem tenebris gentesque coegit desperare diem; qualem fugiente per ortus sole Thyesteae noctem duxere Mycenae. ora ferox Siculae laxauit Mulciber Aetnae, 545 nec tulit in caelum flammas sed uertice prono ignis in Hesperium cecidit latus. atra Charybdis sanguineum fundo torsit mare; flebile saeui latrauere canes." |
Lucan,
The Civil War
"They trust not for one night. Yet for their fear This one excuse was left; Pompeius fled. Nor found they room for hope; for nature gave Unerring portents of worse ills to come. The angry gods filled earth and air and sea With frequent prodigies; in darkest nights Strange constellations sparkled through the gloom: The pole was all afire, and torches flew Across the depths of heaven; with horrid hair A blazing comet stretched from east to west And threatened change to kingdoms. From the blue Pale lightning flashed, and in the murky air The fire took divers shapes; a lance afar Would seem to quiver or a misty torch; A noiseless thunderbolt from cloudless sky Rushed down, and drawing fire in northern parts Plunged on the summit of the Alban mount. The stars that run their courses in the night Shone in full daylight; and the orbed moon, Hid by the shade of earth, grew pale and wan. The sun himself, when poised in mid career, Shrouded his burning car in blackest gloom And plunged the world in darkness, so that men Despaired of day -- like as he veiled his light From that fell banquet which Mycenae saw . The jaws of Etna were agape with flame That rose not heavenwards, but headlong fell In smoking stream upon the Italian flank. Then black Charybdis, from her boundless depth, Threw up a gory sea. In piteous tones Howled the wild dogs;" |
| 31c. P. Vergilius Maro, Georgica, I, 463.
"... Solem quis dicere falsum
|
"The sun will give thee. Who dare charge the sun
With leasing? He it is who warneth oft Of hidden broils at hand and treachery, And secret swelling of the waves of war. He too it was, when Caesar's light was quenched, For Rome had pity, when his bright head he veiled In iron-hued darkness, till a godless age Trembled for night eternal; at that time Howbeit earth also, and the ocean-plains, And dogs obscene, and birds of evil bode Gave tokens. Yea, how often have we seen Etna, her furnace-walls asunder riven, In billowy floods boil o'er the Cyclops' fields, And roll down globes of fire and molten rocks!" |
| 31c'. Servius, Vergl., I, 466
"Constat autem occiso Caesare in senatu pridie iduum Maiarum (nach Thilo) solis fuisse defectum ab hora sexta usque ad noctem, quod quia multis tractum horis est, dicit 'aeternam timuerunt saecula noctem?' " |
|
| 31d. Publius Ovidius Naso, "Metamotphoses", XV,
785
"Arma ferunt inter nigras crepitantia nubes Terribilesque tubas auditaque cornua caelo Praemonuisse nefas; solis quoque tristis imago Lurida sollicitis praebebat lumina terris; Saepe faces visae mediis ardere sub astris, Saepe inter nimbos guttae cecidere cruentae; Caerulus et vultum ferrugine Lucifer atra Sparsus erat, sparsi lunares sanguine currus" |
Ovid,
"Metamorposes", XV, 785
"It is declared, resounding arms heard from the black clouds and unearthly trumpet blasts and clarions heard through all the highest heavens, forewarned men of the crime. The sad sun's face gave to the frightened world a livid light; and in the night-time torches seemed to burn amid the stars, and often drops of blood fell in rain-showers. Then Lucifer shone blue with all his visage stained by darksome rust. The chariot of the moon was sprinkled with red blood." |
| 31e. Tibullus, Elegiae, II, 5, 75
"Ipsum etiam solem defectum lumine vidit Iungere pallentes nubilus annos equos" |
|
| 31f. Sextus Aurelius Victor,
"cuius corpore pro rostris posito sol orbem suum celasse dicitur." |
|
| 31g. PLOUTARCOU, BIOI
PARALLHLOI, KAISAR, 69
"twn de qeiwn o te megaV komhthV (efanh gar epi nuktaV epta meta thn KaisaroV sfaghn diaprephV, eita hfanisqh) kai to peri ton hlion amaurwma thV aughV. Olon gar ekeinon ton eniauton wcroV men okukoV kai marmarugaV ouk ecwn anetellen, adraneV de kai lepton ap autou kathei to qermon, wste ton men aera dnoferon kai barun asqeneia thV diakrinoushV auton aleaV epiferesqai, tpuV de karpouV hmipeptouV kai ateleiV apanqhsai kai parakmasai dia thn yucrothta tou periecontoV." |
Plutarch,
Caesar
"The most remarkable of mere human coincidences was that which befell Cassius, who, when he was defeated at Philippi, killed himself with the same dagger which he had made use of against Caesar. The most signal preternatural appearances were the great comet, which shone very bright for seven nights after Caesar's death, and then disappeared, and the dimness of the sun, whose orb continued pale and dull for the whole of that year, never showing its ordinary radiance at its rising, and giving but a weak and feeble heat. The air consequently was damp and gross for want of stronger rays to open and rarefy it. The fruits, for that reason, never properly ripened, and began to wither and fall off for want of heat before they were fully formed." |
| 31h. Pliny,
"Naturalis Historia", II, 98
"Cernuntur et stellae cum sole totis diebus, plerumque et circa solis orbem ceu spiceae coronae et versicolores circuli, qualiter Augusto Caesare in prima iuventa urbem intrante post obitum patris ad nomen ingens cappesendum. existunt eaedem coronae circa lunam et circa nobilia astra caeloque inhaerentia." |
Pliny, "Natural history", II,98, Loeb Classical Library, v.330.
"Stars are also seen throughout the daytime in company with the sun, usually actually surrounding the sun's orb like wreaths made of ears of corn and rings of changing colour - for instance, when Augustus Caesar in early manhood entered the city after the death of his father to assume his mighty surname. Similar haloes occur round the moon and round the principal fixed starts. [See Peter J. Bicknell, Volcanic Veil of the 40s B.C., Ancient History Bulletin 7, 1993 on the cause of darkness in 44a.d. - there was no eclipse but mighty volcano eruption] |
| 32. Flavius Josephus, XVII, 6, 4
"HrwdhV de ton te Matqian epepaukei thV arcierwsunhV, kai ton eteron Matqian, oV eghgerkei thn stasin, kai andraV ek twn etairwn autou ekausen zwntaV, kai h selhnh de th auth nukti exelipen" |
Flavius Josephus, "Antiquities of the Jews", XVII, 6, 4
"But the people, on account of Herod's barbarous temper, and for fear he should be so cruel and to inflict punishment on them, said what was done was done without their approbation, and that it seemed to them that the actors might well be punished for what they had done. But as for Herod, he dealt more mildly with others [of the assembly] but he deprived Matthias of the high priesthood, as in part an occasion of this action, and made Joazar, who was Matthias's wife's brother, high priest in his stead. Now it happened, that during the time of the high priesthood of this Matthias, there was another person made high priest for a single day, that very day which the Jews observed as a fast. The occasion was this: This Matthias the high priest, on the night before that day when the fast was to be celebrated, seemed, in a dream, to have conversation with his wife; and because he could not officiate himself on that account, Joseph, the son of Ellemus, his kinsman, assisted him in that sacred office. But Herod deprived this Matthias of the high priesthood, and burnt the other Matthias, who had raised the sedition, with his companions, alive. And that very night there was an eclipse of the moon." |
| 33. Cassius Dio, LV, 22.
"tote d oun epi te tou Kornhliou kai epi Oualaeriou Messalou upatwn seismoi te exaisioi sunebhsan ... tou te hliou ti eklipeV egeneto." |
Cassius
Dio, Roman History, , LV, 22, Loeb Classical Library, Translation
by Earnest Cary
"At this time, in the consulship of Cornelius and Valerius Messalla, violent earthquakes occurred and the Tiber carried away the bridge and made the city navigable for seven days; there was also a partial eclipse of the sun, and famine set in. This same year Agrippa was enrolled among the youths of military age, but obtained none of the same privileges as his brothers. The senators witnessed the Circensian games separately and the knights also separately from the remainder of the populace, as is the case to-day also." |
| 34a. P.Cornelius Tacitus, Annales, I, 16; I, 28
"Hic rerum urbanarum status erat, cum Pannonicas legiones seditio incessit ... fine Augusti (+ 18 August) et initiis Tiberii auditis ... " "Noctem minacem et in scelus erupturam fors lenivit: nam luna claro repente caelo visa languescere. Id miles rationis ignarus omen praesentium accepit, suis laboribus defectionem sideris adsimulans ... prout splendidior obscuriorve, laetari aut maerere; et postquam ortae nubes offecere visui creditimque conditam tenebris ... sibi aeternum laborem portendi, sua facinora aversari deos lamentantur." |
P.
Cornelius Tacitus, "The Annals", I, 16; I, 28
"This was the state of affairs at Rome when a mutiny broke out in the legions of Pannonia, which could be traced to no fresh cause except the change of emperors and the prospect it held out of license in tumult and of profit from a civil war. In the summer camp three legions were quartered, under the command of Junius Blaesus, who on hearing of the death of Augustus and the accession of Tiberius, had allowed his men a rest from military duties, either for mourning or rejoicing." "That terrible night which threatened an explosion of crime was tranquillised by a mere accident. Suddenly in a clear sky the moon's radiance seemed to die away. This the soldiers in their ignorance of the cause regarded as an omen of their condition, comparing the failure of her light to their own efforts, and imagining that their attempts would end prosperously should her brightness and splendour be restored to the goddess. And so they raised a din with brazen instruments and the combined notes of trumpets and horns, with joy or sorrow, as she brightened or grew dark. When clouds arose and obstructed their sight, and it was thought she was buried in the gloom, with that proneness to superstition which steals over minds once thoroughly cowed, they lamented that this was a portent of never-ending hardship, and that heaven frowned on their deeds." |
| 34b.
"eqorubhsan men gar kai oi en th Pannonia stratiwtai, epeidh tacista thV tou Augoustou metallaghV hsqonto ... thV de dh selhnhV eklipoushV enqumhqenteV aphmblunqhsan, wVte kakon men mhden et autoiV poihsai, presbeiV d auqiV proV ton Tiberion aposteilai." |
Cassius
Dio, Roman History, LVII, 4, Loeb Classical Library, Translation
by Earnest Cary
"This rival, then, he got rid of at once, but of Germanicus he stood in great fear. For the troops in Pannonia had mutinied as soon as they learned of the death of Augustus, and coming together into one camp and strengthening it, they committed many rebellious acts. Among other things they attempted to kill their commander, Junius Blaesus, and arrested and tortured his slaves. Their demands were, in brief, that their term of service should be limited to sixteen years, that they should be paid a denarius per day, and that they should receive their prizes then and there in the camp; and they threatened, in case they did not obtain these demands, to cause the province to revolt and then to march upon Rome. However, they were at this time finally and with no little difficulty won over by Blaesus, and sent envoys to Tiberius at Rome in their behalf; for they hoped in connection with the change in the government to gain all their desires, either by frightening Tiberius or by giving the supreme power to another. Later, when Drusus came against them with the Pretorians, they fell to rioting when no definite answer was given them, and they wounded some of his followers and placed a guard round about him in the night to prevent his escape. But when the moon suffered eclipse, they took the omen to heart and their spirit abated, so that they did no further harm to this detachment and dispatched envoys again to Tiberius." |
| 35a.to
kata matqaion agion euaggelion
27:45 apo de ekthV wraV skotoV egeneto epi pasan thn ghn ewV wraV ennathV 27:46 peri de thn ennathn wran anebohsen o ihsouV fwnh megalh legwn hli hli lama sabacqani tout estin qee mou qee mou inati me egkatelipeV 27:47 tineV de twn ekei estwtwn akousanteV elegon oti hlian fwnei outoV 27:48 kai euqewV dramwn eiV ex autwn kai labwn spoggon plhsaV te oxouV kai periqeiV kalamw epotizen auton 27:49 oi de loipoi elegon afeV idwmen ei ercetai hliaV swswn auton 27:50 o de ihsouV palin kraxaV fwnh megalh afhken to pneuma 27:51 kai idou to katapetasma tou naou escisqh eiV duo apo anwqen ewV katw kai h gh eseisqh kai ai petrai escisqhsan 27:52 kai ta mnhmeia anewcqhsan kai polla swmata twn kekoimhmenwn agiwn hgerqh to kata markon agion euaggelion 15:33 genomenhV de wraV ekthV skotoV egeneto ef olhn thn ghn ewV wraV ennathV 15:34 kai th wra th ennath ebohsen o ihsouV fwnh megalh legwn elwi elwi lamma sabacqani o estin meqermhneuomenon o qeoV mou o qeoV mou eiV ti me egkatelipeV 15:35 kai tineV twn paresthkotwn akousanteV elegon idou hlian fwnei 15:36 dramwn de eiV kai gemisaV spoggon oxouV periqeiV te kalamw epotizen auton legwn afete idwmen ei ercetai hliaV kaqelein auton 15:37 o de ihsouV afeiV fwnhn megalhn exepneusen 15:38 kai to katapetasma tou naou escisqh eiV duo apo anwqen ewV katw to kata loukan agion euaggelion 22:44 kai genomenoV en agwnia ektenesteron proshuceto egeneto de o idrwV autou wsei qromboi aimatoV katabainonteV epi thn ghn 22:45 kai anastaV apo thV proseuchV elqwn proV touV maqhtaV euren autouV koimwmenouV apo thV luphV 22:46 kai eipen autoiV ti kaqeudete anastanteV proseucesqe ina mh eiselqhte eiV peirasmon |
New Testament
Matthew:
|
| 35b. Tertulliani
Apologeticus, XXI, 19
"Et tamen suffixus multa mortis illius propria ostendit insignia. Nam spiritum cum verbo sponte dimisit, praevento carnificis officio. Eodem momento dies medium orbem signante sole subducta est. Deliquium utique putaverunt qui id quoque super Christo praedicatum non scierunt. Et tamen eum mundi casum relatum in arcanis vestris habetis." |
Tertullian, "Apology"
"And yet, nailed upon the cross, He exhibited many notable signs, by which His death was distinguished from all others. At His own free-will, He with a word dismissed from Him His spirit, anticipating the executioner's work. In the same hour, too, the light of day was withdrawn, when the sun at the very time was in his meridian blaze. Those who were not aware that this had been predicted about Christ, no doubt thought it an eclipse. You yourselves have the account of the world-portent still in your archives." |
| 35c. | |
| 35d. | "Jesus Christ, the Son of God, in accordance with the prophecies made
about Him. went to His Passion in the 19th year of Tiberius; for this time
we find indeed in different Greek records the following related word for
word: the sun was extinguished, in Bythinia an earthquake happened, which
overturned the greater part of Nicaea, -- that agrees with what happened
at the Passion of our Lord. Thus Phlegon, who wrote the Olympiads, report
the following word for word in his thirteenth book: 'In the fourth year
of the 202nd Olympiad, there was an eclipse of the sun which was greater
than any known before and in the sixth hour of the day it became night,
so that stars appeared in the heaven; and a great eartquake that broke
out in Bithynia destroyed the greatest part of Nicaea.' "
(Fotheringham; Newton, 1970, p. 110-113.Stephenson, p.359-360) |
| 35e. Origen, "Contra Celsus" | Origen, "Contra Celsus"
"(33) And with regard to the eclipse in the time of Tiberius Caesar, in whose reign Jesus appears to have been crucified, and the great earthquakes hich then took place, Phlegon too, I think, has written in the thirteenth or fourteenth book of his Chronicles." |
| 35f. | |
| 35g. | |
| 35h. | |
| 35i.
Africanus (Synkellos) "Flegwn istorei epi Tiberiou KaisaroV en panselhnw eklei yin hliou gegonenai teleian apo wraV ekthV mecriV enathV dhloh wV tauthn ..." Eusebius (Synkellos)
|
|
| 35j. Cassiodorus, Chronicon (Patrologia Latina,
v.69)
"Tib. Caesar V [Cusp., et solus] coss. [Cusp., Domitius et Scribonianus.] His coss. Dominus noster Jesus Christus passus est 8 calend. Aprilis, et defectio solis facta est, qualis ante vel postmodum nunquam fuit." |
|
| 35k. | |
| 37. Dio
Cassius, LX, 26
"kai epeidh o hlioV en toiV genetlioiV aitoi (Klaudiou) ekleiyein emellen, efobhqh te mh tiV ek toutou tarach genhtai, epei alla atta terata sunebebhkei, kai proegrayen ou monon oti te ekleiyei kai opote kai ef oposon, alla kai taV aitiaV di aV anaykaiwV genhsesqai touto emellen." |
Cassius
Dio, Roman History , LX, 26, Loeb Classical Library, Translation by
Earnest Cary
"25. The next year Marcus Vinicius and Statilius Corvinus became consuls, the former for a second time ... 26. Since there was to be an eclipse of the sun on his birthday, he feared that there might be some disturbance in consequence, inasmuch as some other portents had already occured; he therefore issued a proclamation in which he stated not only the fact that there was to be an eclipse, and when, and for how long, but also the reasons for which this was bound to happen. These reasons I will now give. The moon, which revolves in its orbit (or so it is believed), either directly below it or perhaps with Mercury and Venus intervening, has a longitudinal motion, just as the sun has, and a vertical motion, as the other perhaps likewise has, but it has also a latitudinal motion such as the sun never shows under any conditions. When, therefore, the moon gets in a direct line with the sun over our heads and passes under its blazing orb, it obscures the rays from that body that extend toward the earth. To some of the earth's inhabitants this obscuration lasts for a longer and to others for a shorter time, whereas to still others it does not occur for even the briefest moment. For since the sun always has a light of its own, it is never deprived of it, and consequently to all those between whom and the sun the moon does not pass, so as to throw a shadow over it, it always appears entire. This, then, is what happens to the sun, and it was made public by Claudius at that time. But now that I have once touched upon this subject, it will not be out of place to give the explanation of a lunar eclipse also. Whenever, then, the moon gets directly opposite the sun (for it is eclipsed only at full moon, just as the sun is eclipsed at the time of new moon) and runs into the cone-shaped shadow of the earth, a thing that happens whenever it passes through the mean point in its latitudinal motion, it is then deprived of the sun's light and appears by itself as it really is. Such is the explanation of these phenomena. 27. At the close of that year Valerius Asiaticus and Marcus Silanus became consuls, the former for a second time. " [Suetonius says that the birthday of Claudius was August 1] |
| 38. Sextus Aurelius Victor, Caesars, IV,
12
Dio Cassius, LX, 29
L.Seneca, "Naturales quaestiones",
II, 26, 6; VI, 21, 1;
|
Sextus Aurelius Victor, Caesars, 4, 12
"On the 6-th year of his [Claudius] reign, from the total of 14, the 800th anniversary of the foundation of the city was celebrated in Rome [...] In the Aegean sea a large island suddenly appeared, during a night on which an eclipse of the moon had occured" (D.J.Schove, 9) |
| 39b. P.Cornelius Tacitus, Annales, ,
XIV, 12
"iam sol repente obscuratus et tactae de coclo XIV urbis regiones." P.Cornelius Tacitus, Annales, , XIII, 41 ? |
Tacitus,
"The Annals", XIV, 12
"There occurred too a thick succession of portents, which meant nothing. A woman gave birth to a snake, and another was killed by a thunderbolt in her husband's embrace. Then the sun was suddenly darkened and the fourteen districts of the city were struck by lightning. All this happened quite without any providential design; so much so, that for many subsequent years Nero prolonged his reign and his crimes." Tacitus,
"The Annals", XIII, 41
|
| 39c. Dio
Cassius, LXII, 16, 4
"o mentoi hlioV sumpaV en mesaiV taiV qusiaiV taiV epi th Agrippinh kata to yhfisma genomenaiV exelipen, wVte kai asteraV ekfhnai." |
Cassius
Dio, Roman History, LXII, 16, Loeb Classical Library, Translation
by Earnest Cary
"Nevertheless, in the midst of the sacrifices that were offered in Agrippina's honour in pursuance of a decree, the sun suffered a total eclipse and the stars could be seen. Also the elephants which drew the chariot of Augustus, when they had entered the Circus and proceeded as far as the senators' seats, stopped at that point and refused to go any farther. And there was another incident in which one might surely have recognized the hand of Heaven. I refer to the thunderbolt that descended upon Nero's dinner and consumed it all as it was being brought to him, like some harpy snatching away his food." |
| 39*. FILOSTRATOS, TA
ES TON TUANEA APOLLWNION, IV, 43
"genomenhV gar pote ekleiyewV hliou kai brovthV ekdoqeishV oper hkista en ekleiyei dokei xumbainein. anableyaV eV ton ouranon estai ti efh mega kai ouk estai xumbalein men dh to eirhmenon oupw eicon oi paratuconteV tw logw. trith d apo thV ekleiyewV hmera xunhkan tou logou panteV sitoumenou gar tou NerwnoV empeswn th trapezh skhptoV dihlase thV kulikoV en ceroin oushV kai ou polu apecoushV tou atomatoV to dh para todouton elqein tou blhqhnai auton pepraxesqai ti eipe kai mh pepraxestai." |
Flavius Philostratus, "Life of Apollonius of Tyana" |
| 39**. Dio Cassius, LXIV, 8; 11 (Xiphilinus, Zonaras) | Cassius
Dio, Roman History, LXIV, 8;11, Loeb Classical Library, v.176,
Translation by Earnest Cary.
"While he was behaving in this way, evil omens occurred. A comet was seen, and the moon, contrary to precedent, appeared to suffer two eclipses, being obscured on the fourth and on the seventh day. Also people saw two suns at once, one in the west weak and pale, and one in the east brilliant and powerful. On the Capitol many huge footprints were seen, presumably of some spirits that had descended from it. The soldiers who had slept there on the night in question said that the temple of Jupiter had opened of itself with great clangour and that some of the guards had been so terrified that they fainted." "The great confusion which under these conditions prevailed in the camp of Vitellius was increased that night by an eclipse of the moon. It was not so much its being obscured (though even such phenomena cause fear to men who are excited) as the fact that it appeared both blood-coloured and black and gave out still other terrifying colours. Not even for this, however, would the men change their mind or yield; but when they came to blows with each other, they fought most eagerly, although, as I said, the Vitellians were leaderless; for Alienus had been imprisoned at Cremona. " [5 "candidates" are possible 9.11.67, 5.05.68, 29.10.68, 25.04.69, 18.10.69. "Fourth" and "seventh" day may be explained if we note that 29.10.68 = 4 Kal. Nov and 25.04.69 = 7 Kal May, Schove] |
|
40. "oti men gar ouden outwV twn peri ton hlion genomenwn omoion estin wV ekleiyiV hliou dusei, dote moi, tauthV enagcoV thV sunodou mnhsqenteV, h polla men astra pollacoqen tou ouranou diefhnen, euquV ek meshmbriaV arxamenh. krasin de, oian to lukaugeV, tw aeri parescen." |
Plutarch, The Face of the Moon
"[...] Now grant me that nothing that happens to the Sun is so like its setting as a solar eclipse. You will if you call to mind this conjunction recently which, beginning just after noonday, made many stars shine out from many parts of the sky and tempered the air in the manner of twilight. If you have forgotten it ..." (Fotheringham; Newton, 1970, p. 114-117; Stephenson, p.360-364.) |
| 41. Pliny, "Naturalis historia", II, 56-57
"Defectus CCXXIII mensibus redire in suos orbes certum est, solis defectus non nisi novissima primare fieri luna, quod vocant coitum, lunae autem non nisi plena, semperque citra quam proxime fuerint; omnibus autem annis fieri utriusque sideris defectus statis diebus horisque sub terra nec tamen, cum superne fiant, ubique cerni, aliquando propter nubila, saepius globo terrae obstante convexitatibus mundi." |
Pliny, "Natural History", II, 56-57, Loeb Classical Library, v.330.
"It is certain that eclipses recur in cycles of 223 months - eclipses of the sun only when the moon is in her last or first phase (this is called their 'conjunction'), eclipses of the moon only at full moon - and always within the period of their last occurence; but that yearly at fixed days and hours eclipses of either star occur below the earth, and that even when they occur above the earth they are not visible everywhere, sometimes owing to clouds, more often because the earth's globe stands in the way of the world's curvature. Less than 200 years ago the penetration of Hipparchus discovered that an eclipse of the moon also sometimes occurs four monthes after the one before and an eclipse of the sun six months, and that the latter when above earth is hidden twice in thirty days, but that this eclipse is visible to different nations, and - the most remarkable features of this remarkable occurence - that when it comes about that the moon is obscured by the shadow of the earth, this sometimes happenes to it from the west side and sometimes from the east; and he also discovered for what exact reason, although the shadow causing the eclipse must from sunrise onward be below the earth, it happened once in the past that the moon was eclipsed in the west while both luminaries were visible above the earth. For the eclipse of both sun and moon within 15 days of each other has occured even in our time, in the yearof the third consulship of the elder Emperor Vespasian and the second consulship of the younger." |
| 41*a. FILOSTRATOS, TA ES
TON TUANEA APOLLWNION,
VIII, 23
"ton tou hliou kuklon perielqwn otefanoV eoikwV iridi thn aktina hmaurou" |
Flavius Philostratus, "Life of Apollonius of Tyana",
VIII, 23
" . . . about this time while he was pursuing his studies in Greece, such an omen was observable in the heavens. A crown resembling Iris surrounded the disc of the Sun and darkened its rays. " |
| 41*b. Sextus Aurelius Victor, "De vita et moribus
imperatorum Romanorum"
"eoque die, quo (Nerva 96-98 n. Chr.) interiit, solis defectis facta est." |
"On the day on which he [Nerva] died, the eclipse of the sun took place." |
| (*) Fasti Vindobonenses (Annals of Ravenna) [ca.
576], (Monum. Germ. Script, v.9)
"Hadriano et Salinatore. His coss. sol eclipsim passus est." |
"Hadrian and Salinator. Under these consuls an eclipse of the sun took place" (Newton, 1972) |
| 42. Aelius Lampridius, Commodus Antonius, XVI.
"Prodigia ... vestigia deorum in foro visa sunt exeuntia. et ante bellum desertorum caelum arsit. et repentina caligo ac tenebra in circo Kalendis Januariis oborta." |
Aelius Lampridius, Commodus Antonius, XVI. Scriptores Historiae
Augustae, Loeb Classical Library, v.139.
"The prodigies that occured in his reign, both those which concerned the state and those which affected Commodus personally, were as follows. A comet appeared. Footprints of the gods were seen in the forum departing from it. Before the war of the deserters the heavens were ablaze. On the Kalends of January a swift coming mist and darkness arose in the circle; and before dawn there had already been fire-birds and ill-boding portents." |
| 43. Tertullian, "Liber ad scapulam", III
"Nam et sol ille in conventu Uticensi, extincto plene lumine, adeo portentum fuit, ut non potuerit ex ordinario deliquio hoc pati, positus in suo hypsomate, et domicilio. Habetis astrologos." |
Tertullian,
"To Scapula", III
"That sun, too, in the metropolis of Utica, with light all but extinguished, was a portent which could not have occurred from an ordinary eclipse, situated as the lord of day was in his height and house. You have the astrologers, consult them about it." |
| 44. Dio Cassius, LXXIX,
30, 1
"hliou te gar ekleiyiV perifanestath upo taV hmeraV ekeinaV egeneto ..." |
Cassius
Dio, Roman History, LXIV, 8;11, Loeb Classical Library, Translation
by Earnest Cary.
"It seems to me that this also had been indicated in advance as clearly as any event that ever happened. For a very distinct eclipse of the sun occurred just before that time and the comet was seen for a considerable period; also another star, whose tail extended from the west to the east for several nights, caused us terrible alarm, so that this verse of Homer's was ever on our lips: 'Rang the vast welkin with clarion calls, and Zeus heard the tumult.' " |
| 45. Historiae Augustae, Gordiani tres Iuli
Capitolini, XXIII
"Dexippus quidem adseverat ex filio Gordiani tertium Gordianum esse natum. et posteaquam constitit apud veteranos quoque solum Gordianum imperare, inter populum et milites ac veteranos pax roborata est, et hic finis belli intestini fuit, cum esset delatus Gordiano puero consulatus. sed indicium non diu imperaturi Gordiani hoc fuit, quod eclipsis solis facta est, ut nox crederetur neque sine luminibus accensis quicquam agi posset. post haec tamen volupatibus et deliciis populus Romanus vacavit, ut ea, quae fuerant aspere gesta, mitigaret. Venusto et Sabino conss. inita est factio in Africa contra Gordianum tertium duce Sabiniano." |
|
| 46. Consularia Constantinopolitana
(Patr. Lat. v.51, Monum. Germ. Auct. Antiq. IX, 230)
"(Tiberiano et Dione). His conss. tenebrae fuerunt inter diem et eo anno levati sunt Constantius et Maximus Cesares die Kal. Mart." |
"Tiberianus an Dione consuls. Under these consuls there was a darkness in the middle of the day, and this year Constantius and Maximus were elevated to Caesars on the calends of March." |
| 47. Passio S. Felicis, episcopy Tubzacensis
"... Praefectus dixit: Felicem gladio interficite. Felix episcopus dixit voce clara: Gratias tibi, Domine, qui me dignatus es liberare. Et ductus est ad passionis locum - cum etiam ipsa luna in sanguinem conversa est, - die tertio Kalendas Septembris. Felix episcopus, elevans oculos in caelum, clara voce dixit: Deus gratia tibi ..." |
|
| 48. Sextus Aurelius Victor,
"Licinio ne insontium quidem ac nobilium philosophorum servili more cruciatus adhibiti modum fecere. Quo sane variis proeliis pulso, cum eum prorsus opprimere arduum videretur, simul affiniatis gratia refectum consortium, ascitique imperio Caesarum communes liberi Crispus Constantinusque Flavio geniti, Licinianus Licinio. (315 n. Chr.) Quod equidem vix diurturnum neque his, qui assumebantur, felix fore defectu solis foedato iisdem mensibus die patefactum." |
|
| 49. Consularia Constantinopolitana
(Patr. Lat. v.51, Monum. Germ. Auctor. Antiq. IX)
"(Licinio V et Crispo Caesare). His conss. tenebrae fuerunt inter diem hora IX." |
Consularia Constantinopolitana (Patr. Lat. v.51, Monum. Germ.
Auctor. Antiq. IX)
"Licinio V and Crispo Caes. Under these consuls there was a darkness at the 9th hour of the day." (Newton, 1972) |
| 50a. Georgios Hamartolos, Cronic. IV (Migne Patrol.
gr. lat. 110 p.611)
"Egeneto de kai seismoV en Kampania, kai katepesan poleiV ig. kai ekleiyiV hliou gegonen wra g thV hmeraV, wste kai asteraV en ouranw fanhnai." |
"An earthquake happened in Campania, and 13 cities were struck down; and an eclipse of the sun occured in the 3rd hour of the day, so that stars appeared in the sky." (Newton, 1972) |
| 50b. Kedrenos (Corpus script. hist. Byzant. ed.
J.Bekker, Bonn, vol. 1 pag. 499)
"kai hliou ekleiyiV toiauth wV asteraV fanhnai en hmera" |
Cedrenus (Corpus script. hist. Byzant. ed. J.Bekker, Bonn, vol. 1 pag. 499) |
| 51. Firmicus Maternus, "Mathesis", I 4,10
"Cum sol medio diei tempore lunae radiis quasi quibusdam obstaculis impeditus cunctis mortalibus fulgida splendoris sui denegat lumina, quod Optatii et Paulini consulatu, ut de recentioribus loquar, cunctis hominibus futurum Mathematicorum sagax praedixit intentio." |
|
| 52a,b,c. Theophanes, Chronographia
"Tw d autw etei ekleiyiV hliou egeneto, wste kai asteras fanhnai en tw ouranw en wra trith thV hmeraV, mhni Daisiw ekthV." |
"That same year an eclipse of the sun happened, so that stars appeared in the sky, at the 3rd hour of the day on the 6th day of Daisios" (Newton, 1972) |
| 52d. Mellicenses, Annales, (Monum. Germ. Script, v.3) |
"There was an eclipse of the sun, and an earthquake overthrew many cities" (Newton, 1972) |
| 53a. Theophanes, Chronographia
"Tw d autw etei o hlioV palin aucmhroteroV gegonen, en wra deutera thV KuriakhV hmeraV." |
"That same year the sun again became obscured at the 2nd hour of the Lord's Day (kuriakhiV hmeraV)." (Newton, 1972) |
| 53b. Interpretatio Chronicae Eusebii Pamphili,
auctore Hieronymo
"ad. a. abrah. 2362 (=348 n. Chr.) Solis facta defectio." |
"Year 2362 of Abraham. An eclipse of the sun happened." (Newton, 1972) |
| 53c. Cassiodori Chronica (Patrologia Latina
v.69)
"Philippus et Sallia. His coss. solis facta defectio." |
(Patrologia Latina, v.69) |
| 54.XX,
3,1Ammianus
Marcellinus
"Eodem tempore per eoos tractus caelum subtextum caligine cernebatur obscura, et a primo aurorae exortu ad usque meridiem intermicabant iugiter stellae hisque terroribus accedebat, quod, cum lux caelestis operiretur, e mundi conspectu penitus lance abrepta defecisse diutius solem pavidae mentes hominum aestimabant: primo adtenuatum in lunae corniculantis effigiem, deinde in speciem auctum semenstrem posteaque in integrum restitutum." |
"That year throughout the East a darkness was seen, and stars shone out together from morning until middya." (Newton, 1972) |
| 55. QEWNOS ALECANDREWS, UPOMNHMA
"... ton proV ta kairika nucqhmera kai wraV ishmerinaV cronon thV proekteqeimenhV hmin akribwV ekleiptikhV suzugiaV gegenhmenhV kat AiguptiouV tw arib' etei apo Nabonassarou basileiaV meta bVg' wraV ishmerinaV thV en th kd' tou qwq meshmbriaV, kata de AlexandreaV proV ta kairika kai aplwV lambanomena nucqhmera arib' thV authV basileiaV meta taV isaV apo meshmbriaV wraV ishmerinaV bVg' thV en th kb' tou Pauni meshmbriaV kai ton men thV archV thV emptwsewV cronon asfalestata ethrhsamen gegenhmenon proV ton kairikon kai fainomenon cronon meta bVg' wraV ishmerinaV thV meshmbriaV, ton de tou mesou thV ekleiyewV meta wraV gVdk', ton de tou telouV thV anakaqarsewV meta wraV dV' eggista thV eirhmenhV kata thn kb' tou Pauni meshmbrian." |
55. Theon's commentary
to the Ptolemy's "Almagest"
"[...] the time reckoned by civil days and equinoctal hours of the exact ecliptic conjunction which have discussed, and which took place according to the Egyptian calendar in the 1112th year from the reign of Nabonassar, 2 5/6 equal or equinoctial hours after midday on the 24th of Toth, and according to the Alexandrian calendar reckoned by simple civil days in the 1112th year of the same reign, 2 5/6 equal or equinoctial hours after midday on the 22nd of Payni [...]. And moreover we observed with the greatest certainty the time of the beginning of contact, reckoned by civil and apparent time, as 2 5/6 equinoctial hours after midday, and the time of the middle of the eclipse as 3 4/5 hours, and the time of complete restoration as 4 1/2 hours approximately after the said midday on the 22nd of Payni." (Newton, 1970, p.152,154; Stephenson, p.364-365) |
| 56a Fasti Vindobonenses [ca. 576], (Monum. Germ.
Script, v.9)
"Theodosio III [VI] et Abundantio. His coss. tenebrae factae sunt die solis hora III [II], VI Kal. Nov. et levatus est Honorius imp. Constantinopoli in miliario IV a Theodosio patre suo X Kal. Febr." |
"Theodosius III and Abundantius. Under these consuls was darkness on the day of the Sun at the 3rd [2nd] hour on the 6th calends November (=27 Oct)." (Newton, 1972) |
| 56b. Marcellini:
"Comitic V.C. Chronicon" (Monum. Germ. Auctor. antiq. XI)
"(A. C. 393.) Ind. VI, Theodosio III et Abundantio coss. Honorium pater suus Theodosius in eodem loco quo fratrem ejus Archadium, Caesarem fecit, id est septimo ab urbe regia milliario. Tunc quippe hora diei tertia tenebrae factae sunt." |
"At that time indeed there was darkness at the third hour of the day." (Newton, 1972) |
| 57. Hieronymi presbyteri contra Joannem Hierosolymitanum
ad Pammachium liber unus (Migne, Patr. L. v. XXIII 411)
"Quis scindit ecclesiam? nos, quorum omnis domus Bethleem in ecclesia communicat? an tu qui aut bene credis, et superbe de fide taces: aut male, et vere scindis ecclesiam? nos scindimus ecclesiam, qui ante paucos menses circa dies Pentecostes cum obscurato sole, omnis mundus jamjamque venturum judicem formidaret, quadraginta diversae aetatis et sexus, presbyteris tuis obtulimus baptizandos?" |
|
| 58. Claudian de bello Pollentino sive Gothico,
v. 233 (Mon. Germ. Auct. antiq. X 268)
"Terridat assiduus Lunae labor atraque Phoebe noctibus aerisonas crebris ululata per urbes. nec credunt vetito fraudatam Sole sororem telluris subeunte globo, sed castra secutas barbara Thessalidas patriis lunae venenis incestare iubar. tunc anni signa prioris et si quod fortasse quies neglexerat omen, addit cura novis; lapidosos grandinis ictus molitasque examen apes passimque crematas perbacchata domos nullis incendia causis et numquam caelo spectatum impune cometem." |
|
| 59a. Idatii [Hydatii]
episcopi chronicon, (Patr. Lat. 51; Monum. Germ. Auctor. Antiq. IX,
16)
"VI. (Olymp. CCXCV.) VII. VIII. Solis facta defectio tertio idus Novembris [feria secunda]." |
"Ol.295.2 (=402). An eclipse of the sun occured on the 3rd ides November (=Nov. 11)." (Newton, 1972) |
| 59b. Consularia
Constantinopolitana (Patr. Lat. v.51, Monum. Germ. Auct. Antiq. IX,
230)
"Arcadio V et Honorio v. His conss. solis facta defectio III id. Novemb." |
Consularial Constantinopolitana (Patr. Lat. v.51, Monum. Germ. Auct.
Antiq. IX, 246)
"Arcadius V and Honorius V. Under these consuls there was an eclipse of the sun on the 3rd ides November (=Nov.11)." (Newton, 1972) |
| 59c. Chronica Gallica (Monum. Germ. Auctor.
Antiq. IX 652, 653)
"Ol. 295, 3 a 8 Arcad. et Honor. Solis facta defectio." "a. 7 Arc. et Hon. Sol eclipsim passus." |
|
| 60a. Philostorgius, ecclesiast. histor. lib. XII,
c. 8 (Migne Patr. gr. vol. 65, p. 616)
"Oti Qeodosiou thV twn meirakiwn hlikiaV epibebhkotoV, kai tou mhnoV Iouliou eiV ennea epi dekath diabainontoV, peri ogdohn thV hmeraV wran, o hlioV outw baqewV ekleipei, wV kai asteraV analamyai, kai aucmoV outw tw paqei suneipeto, wV pollwn anqrwpwn kai twn allwn zwwn asunhqh wqoran pantacou feresqai. Ekleiponti de tw hliw, feggoV ti kata ton ouranon sunanefanh, kwnon schma paraduomenon, o tineV ex amaqiaV astera komhthn ekaloun kai gar wn ekeinoV edeiknu, oiden hn komhtaiV parashmon oute gar to feggoV eiV komhn apebainen, oute asteri. all oion lucnou tiV megalh flox uphrce kaq eauthn orwmenh, mhdenoV asteroV qruallidoV autw tinoV morfhn ipotrecontoV." |
"When Theodosius was in his boyhood (meipakion hlikiaV), and the month of July has advanced to the nineteenth day, about the eighth hour of the day, the sun was so deeply eclipsed that stars could be seen." (Newton, 1970, p118, 1972) |
| 60b. Marcellini:
"Comitic V.C. Chronicon" (Monum. Germ. Auctor. antiq. XI)
"(A. C. 417.) Ind. XV, Honorio XI et Constantio II coss. Tenebrae in die factae sunt. Cybera Asiae civitas, aliquantaque praedia terraemotu demersa. Romanae Ecclesiae Zosimus XXXIX episcopus ordinatus vixit annis III." "(A. C. 418.) Ind. I, Honorio XII et Theodosio VIII coss. Plinta comes, idemque rebellium apud Palaestinam provinciam auctor deletus est. Solis defectio facta est. Stella ab Oriente per septem menses surgens ardensque apparuit." |
"418 ... An eclipse of the sun occured. A star appeared rising out of the east and glowing for seven months." (Newton, 1972) |
| 60c Fasti Vindobonenses [ca. 576], (Monum. Germ.
Script, v.9)
"Honorio XII et Theodosio VIII conss. Sol eclipsim fecit XIIII. kl. Aug. et a parte Orientis apparuit stella ardens per dies XXX." |
"Consuls Honorius, 12th time, and Theodosius, 8th time. The sun suffered an eclipse on the 14th calends August [Jul. 19] and in the eastern region a fiery star appeared for 30 days." |
| 60d. Idatii [Hydatii]
episcopi chronicon, (Patr. Lat. 51)
"XXII. (Olymp. CCXCIX.) [...] XXIV. Solis facta defectio die decimo quarto kal. Augusti, qui fuit quinta feria." |
"Ol. 299.2 (=418). An eclipse of the sun occured on the 14th calends August (=Jul 19) which was the 5th feria." (Newton, 1972) |
| 60e. Chronica Gallica a.452 (Mon. Germ. auct.
antiq. IX 656)
"Ol. 300,1 anno 26 Arcadii et Honorii imp. Solis hoc anno defectio." |
|
| 60f. Annales Chronogr. vet. (Mon. Germ. Scr. XIII
716),
Excerpt. Sangall. (Mon. Germ. Auct. antiq. IX 300), Adnotationes ad cycl. Dionysianos (Mon. Germ. Auct. antiq. IX 755) "Sol defecit hora III, 14 Kal. Aug. et apparuit stella ab oriente ardens usque ad Septembrem. |
|
| 60g. Pascale Campanum, (Corp. hist. Byzant.
1832 p.574)
Ol. 299,3."Ind. a'. up. Onowriou to ib' kai Qeodosiou neou Augoustou to h'. Epi toutwn twn upatwn gegonen ekleiyiV hliou mhni Panemw pro id kalandwn augoustwn hmera paraskeuh wran h'. |
"Indiction 1. 10. Honorius XII and Theodosius Augustus VIII. Under these consuls an eclipse of the sun happened in the month of Panemos, on the 14th calends August (= Jul 19), feria 6 [Paraskeun], hour 8." (Newton, 1972) |
| 60h. Mellicenses, Annales, (Monum. Germ. Scr.
IX 490),
Salisburgenses (Monum. Germ. Scr. IX 765), Herimanni Chronicon (Monum. Germ. Scr. V 81), Bernoldi Chronicon (Monum. Germ. Scr. V 409), Chron. suevic. univers. [Pistorii Rer. Germ. Scr. ed. III c. Struvio, vol. I 155] "418 eclipsis solis 14. Kal. Augusti" |
418: "There was an eclipse of the sun on the 14th calends August (=Jul 19); and a comet was seen until the month of September" (Newton, 1972) |
| 60i. Esromenses, Annales rerum Danicarum (annales
Lundenses), (Monum. Germ. Scr. XXIX 191)
|
416. "This Easter under Pope & Ozo [sub Papa & Ozonio] the sun was eclipsed at the 3rd hour on the 14th calends August (= Jul 19), and a star appeared glowing in the east until the calends of September." (Newton, 1972) |
| 61a. Idatii [Hydatii]
episcopi chronicon, (Patr. Lat. 51)
"XX. (Olymp. CCCVI.) [...] XXIII. [...] Solis facta defectio die nono [X] Kal. Januarias, qui fui tertia feria." |
"Ol. 306.3 (=447). An eclipse of the sun occured on the 10th (?) calends January (= Dec 23) which was the 3rd feria." (Newton, 1972). |
| 61b. Esromenses, Annales rerum Danicarum (annales
Lundenses), (Monum. Germ. Scr. XXIX 191)
"448. Hic dies tenebrosa fuit." |
|
| 61c. The Annals of Inisfallen (Ireland) | 444AD "An eclipse of the sun at the ninth hour" |
| 61d. The Annales Cambriae (The annals of Wales) | "447 Days as dark as night." |
| 62. Idatii [Hydatii]
episcopi chronicon, (Patr. Lat. 51)
"XXVIII. (Olymp. CCCVIII.) Valentiniani imperatoris mater Placidia moritur apud Romam. In Gallaecia terraemotus assidui, signa in coelo plurima ostenduntur. Nam pridie nonas Aprilis tertia feria, post solis occasum, ab Aquilonis plaga coelum rubens sicut ignis aut sanguis efficitur, intermixtis per igneum ruborem lineis clarioribus in speciem hastarum rutilantium deformatis: a die clauso usque in horam noctis fere tertiam signi durat ostensio, quae mox ingenti exitu perdocetur. Gens Hunnorum pace rupta depraedatur provincias Galliarum: plurimae civitates effractae, in campis Catalaunicis, haud longe de civitate quam effregerant, Mertis, Aetio duci et regi Theodori, quibus erat in pace societas, aperto marte confligens, divino caesa superatur auxilio: bellum nox intempesta diremit. Rex illic Theodores prostratus occubuit: CCC ferme millia hominum in eo certamine cecidisse memorantur. Multa anno signa procedunt. Quinto kal. Octobris a parte Orientis luna fuscatur. In diebus sequentis paschae visa quaedam in coelo regionibus Galliarum, epistola de his Eufronii Augustodunensis episcopi ad Agrippinum comitem facta evidenter ostendit. Stella cometes a decimo quarto kal. Julias apparere incipit, quae III kal. diluculo ab Oriente visa, post occasum solis ab occidua parte mox cernitur. Kalendis Augusti a parte occidentis apparet. Occiso Theodore Thorismo filius ejus succedit in regno. Hunni cum rege suo Attila, relictis Galliis post certamen, Italiam petunt." |
|
| 63. Idatii [Hydatii]
episcopi chronicon, (Patr. Lat. 51)
"(Olymp. CCCIX.) [... Marcianus ... I ... II ... III ... Leo ... I ...] Quinto kal. Junias die, quarta feria, ab hora quarta in horam sextam, ad speciem lunae quintae vel sextae, sol de lumine orbis sui minoratus apparuit." |
"Ol.309.3 (=459). On the day 5th calends June (=May 28), the 4th feria, the sun appeared diminished in the brightness of its orb in the form of a moon of the 5th or 6th from the 4th hour to the 6th", (Newton, 1972) |
| 64. Idatii [Hydatii]
episcopi chronicon, (Patr. Lat. 51)
"VI. I. (Olymp. CCCXI.) Suniericus redit ad Gallias. Nepotianus Theudorico ordinante Arborium accipit successorem. In provincia Gallaecia prodigiorum videntur signa diversa. Aera D, VI nonas Martias pullorum cantu, ab occasu solis luna in sanguinem plena convertitur. Idem dies sexta feria fuit." |
|
| 65. Idatii [Hydatii]
episcopi chronicon, (Patr. Lat. 51)
"VII (Leo). II. Nepotianus recedit e corpore. Frumario mortuo, Rechimundus omnibus Suevis in suam ditionem regali jure revocatis, pacem reformat elapsam. Mense Maio supra dicti viri Aegidii legati per Oceanum ad Vandalos transeunt, qui eodem cursu Septembri mense revertuntur ad suos. Decimo tertio kalend. Augusti die, secunda feria, in speciem lunae quintae sol de lumine suo ab hora tertia in horam sextam cernitur minoratus." |
"Ol.311.1 (=465). On the 13th calends August (= Jul. 20), the 2nd feria, the sun was decreased in its light in the form of a 5th moon from the 3rd hour to the 6th." (Newton, 1972) |
|
66. Procli vita, scriptore Marino Neapolitano "Egenonto de kai dioshmeiai pro eviautou thV teleuthV, wV h ekleiyiV h hliakh, outwV enarghV, wste kai nukta meq hmeran genestai. SkotoV gar egeneto baqu kai astereV wfqhsan. Auth men oun en aigokerwti egeneto kata to anatolikon kentron, Anegrayanto de kai eteran oi hmerografoi, wV esomernhn kai authn plhroumenou tou prwtou eniautou. "Nec prognostica defuere anno, qui eius obitum antecessit, veluti defectus solis tantus, ut interdiu nox videretur. Tenebrae enim ingruebant gravissimae, ut astra etiam in coelo apparerent. Accidit hoc, cum sol versaretur in capricorno, in cardine orientali. Praeterea aliam quoque eclipsin solis adnotarunt scriptores Ephemeridum futuram anno proximo exacto [...]"
|
"A year before his death there were various omens. There was
an eclipse of the Sun which was so pronounced as to turn day into night
and the darkness was deep enough for the stars to become visible; it occurred
in the eastern horn of the sign of Capricorn. And the almanacs predicted
another eclipse that would occur after the first year. They say that such
events that are observed to happen in the heavens are indicative of things
that happen on the earth; so that these eclipses clearly foretold us of
the privation and departure as it were of the light of philosophy."
(Newton, 1970, p.119-120; Stephenson, p.367-368.) |
| 67a. Gregori Turon. hist. Franc. lib. II c. 3
(Mon. Germ. Scr. r. Merov. I 219)
"Tunc et sol teter apparuit, ita ut vix ab eo pars vel tertia eluceret, credo pro tantis sceleribus et effusione sanguinis innocentes."
|
"The sun appeared hideous in a way that there was visible as if its third part shining; I belive that it was as a result of such a crime and bloodshed of innocent people." |
| 67b. Paschale Campanum, (Monum. Germ. Auctor.
antiq. IX, 747)
"485 ... Hoc anno in K. Iul. (recte IV. Kal. Iunias = 29 Mai) sol eclipsin passus est ..." |
|
| 68a. Marcellini:
"Comitic V.C. Chronicon" (Monum. Germ. Auctor. antiq. XI, 94)
"(A. C. 497.) Ind. V, Anastasio Aug. [Al. II] solo cos. Solis defectus apparuit: bellumque Isauricum hoc sexto anno sedatum. Athenodorus Isaurorum primus in Isauria captus decollatusque est. Caput ejus Tarsum civitatem allatum pro portis hastili fixum extabuit." |
"An eclipse of the sun appeared." (Newton, 1972) |
| 68b,c,d. The
Annals of Ulster, The Chronicon Scotorum, The Annals of Tigernach
(Ireland)
AU496: "Solis defectus apparuit" CS493: "Defectus solis apparuit" |
AU496, CS493, AT497: "An eclipse of the sun was visible." |
| 69a. Marcellini:
"Comitic V.C. Chronicon" (Monum. Germ. Auctor. antiq. XI, 98)
"(A. C. 512.) Ind. V, Paulo et Musciano coss. [...] Iisdem ferme temporibus solis defectus contigit. Gens Erulorum in terras atque civitates Romanorum jussu Anastasii Caesaris introducta." |
"Near these times an eclipse of the sun happened." (Newton, 1972) |
| 69b. Paschale Campanum, (Monum. Germ. Auctor.
antiq. IX, 747 cf.330)
"512 p.c. Felicis [hoc anno III Kal. Iul. (=29. Juni) sol eclipsim passus est]." |
512. "This year on the calends of July (=1 Jul) the sun suffered an eclipse, and when Vesuvius erupted on the 8th ides July (= Jul 8), there was darkness in the vicinity of the mountain." (Newton, 1972) |
| 69c,d. The
Annals of Ulster, The Chronicon Scotorum (Ireland)
AU512, CS510: "Defectus solis contigit" |
AU512, CS510: "An eclipse of the sun was visible" |
| 70a. Bedae hist. eccl. V.24
"Anno 538 eclipsis solis facta est XIV Kalend. Mart. (16 Febr.) ab hora prima usque ad tertiam." |
Bede:
Ecclesiastical History of England, V,24
"In the year 538, there happened an eclipse of the sun, on the 16th of February, from the first to the third hour." (Newton, 1970, p.76) |
| 70b. Anglo-Saxon Chronicle I 28 II 14 (Rer. Brit. Script. 23) | "A.D. 538. This year the sun was eclipsed, fourteen days before the calends of March, from before morning until nine" |
| 70c. Chron. Ethelwerdi (Rer. Angl. Script. p.834),
Annales S. Maximini Trevirensis (Mon.Germ.Script. IV, 6), Annales Lundenses (Mon.Germ.Script. XXIX, 191). Henrici Huntinon. hist lib. II (Rer. Angl. Script. 1601, p.314) "Kinrici anno V obscuratus est sol a mane usque ad tertiam mense Martio." |
|
| 71a. Annales S. Maximini Trevirensis (Mon. Germ.
Script. IV, 6),
Annales Lundenses (Mon.Germ.Script. XXIX, 191). Bedae hist. eccl. V.24 "Anno quingentesimo quadragesimo eclipsis solis facta est duodecimo Kalendas Julii et apparuerunt stellae pene hora dimidia ab hora diei tertia." |
Bede:
Ecclesiastical History of England, V,24
"In the year 540, an eclipse of the sun happened on the 20th of June, and the stars appeared during almost half an hour after the third hour of the day." (Newton, 1970, p.76) |
| 71b. Anglo-Saxon Chronicle I 28 II 15 (Rer. Brit. Script. 23) | "A.D. 540. This year the sun was eclipsed on the twelfth day before the calends of July; and the stars showed themselves full nigh half an hour over nine." |
| 71c. Chron. Ethelwerdi (Rer. Angl. Script. p.834)
"540. Iterum post biennium sol obscuratus est post tertiae calculum dimidiam horam, ita ut stellae passim in firmamento cernerentur." |
|
| 71d. Henrici Huntinon. hist lib. II (Rer. Angl.
Script. 1601, p.314)
"Kinrici anno VII obscuratus est sol a tertia pene usque ad nonam, ita ut stellae apparerent. [Cynric, Westsex 534-560]" |
|
| 71e. Fasti Vindobonenses [ca. 576], (Monum. Germ.
Script, v.9),
Excerpt. Sangall. (Mon. Germ. Auct.: antiq. IX 334) "p.c. Bilisarii IIII et Stratici IIII tenebrae factae sunt ab hora diei III usque in horam IIII die Saturnis."
|
"Fourth year of Belisarius and fourth year of Straticus, there was darkness from the third till the fourth hour of the day on Saturday.", (Newton, 1970, p.76) |
| 72. Cosmas Indikopleustes, Topographia christian.
(Migne Patrol. v. 88, p. 321/2).
"Oqen apaithqeiV tw Qwq mhni, thV paroishV dekathV indiktiwnoV, para androV episthmonoV, Anastasiou tounoma, mhcanikou androV logiou kai uper pollouV empeirou, proeipein ekleiyin hliou, efh genesqai en aitw tw kairw kata thn dwdwkathn tou Mecir mhnoV htiV kai gegone kai selhniakhn Mesori kd' palin tw autw kairw kai o qaumasaV, palin aphthse gegonuiaV ekleiyiV kai tautaV palin exeipontoV eqaumasen o anhr." |
|
| 73. Gregori Turon. hist. Franc. lib. IV c. 31 (Mon.
Germ. Scr. r. Merov. I 167)
"Quadam tamen vice Calendis Octobribus ita sol obscuratus apparuit, ut nec quarta quidem pars in eodem lucens remaneret, sed teter atque decolor apparens, quasi saccus videbatur. Nam et stilla, quam quidam comiten vocant, radium tamquam gladium habens, super regionem illam per annum integrum apparuit et caelum ardere visum est, et multa alia signa apparuerunt." |
Gregory of Tours, The history of Francs, IV, 31. Penguin classics,
London.
"Before the great plague which ravaged Auvergne, prodigies terrified the people of that region in the same way. On a number of occations three or four great shining lights appeared round the sun, and these the country folk also called suns. 'Look!' they shouted. 'There are now three or four suns in the sky!'. Once on the first day of October, the sun was in eclipse, so that less than a quarter of it continued to shine, and the rest was so dark and discoloured that you would have said that it was made of sackcloth. Then a star, which some call a comet, appeared over the region for a whole year, with a tail like a sword, and the whole sky seemed to burn and many other portents were seen." |
| 74. Excerptum Sangallense, (Monum. Germ. Auctor.
antiq. IX, 335)
"ad 567 p.c. (Justini anno). In caelo luna XVI non conparuit (=disparuit) II Kal. Januari" |
|
| 75. Gregori Turon. hist. Franc. lib. V c. 23 (Mon.
Germ. Scr. r. Merov. I 219)
577: "Nam et luna hoc anno sepe in nigridiem versam videmus et ante natalem Domini gravia fuere tonitrua." |
Gregory of Tours, The history of Francs, V, 23. Penguin classics,
London.
"When I was celebrating Mass on Saint Martin's Eve, which is 11 November, a remarkable portent was seen in the middle of the night. A bright star was seen shining in the very center of the moon, and other stars appeared close to the moon, above it and below. Round the moon stretched the circle which is usually a sign of rain. I have no idea what all of this meant. This same year the moon often appeared in eclipse ant there were loud claps of thunder just before christmas." |
| 76. Gregori Turon. hist. Franc. lib. V c. 41 (Mon.
Germ. Scr. r. Merov. I 233)
580: "luna cumtenebricata (contenebrata) est et comitis stilla apparuit. Gravis autem lues in populo subsecuta est." |
Gregory of Tours, The history of Francs, V, 41. Penguin classics,
London.
"The moon was darkened and a comet appeared in the sky. A serious epidemic followed among the common people." |
| 77a. Gregori Turon. hist. Franc. lib. VI c. 21
(Mon. Germ. Scr. r. Merov. I 262)
582: "Haec in hoc anno iteratis signa apparuerunt: luna eclypsim passa est; infra Toronicum territurium verus de fracto pane sanguis effluxit ..." |
Gregory of Tours, The history of Francs, VI, 21. Penguin classics,
London.
"The portents appeared again this year. The moon was in eclipse." |
| 78a. Gregori Turon. hist. Franc. lib. X c. 23
(Mon. Germ. Scr. r. Merov. I 435)
"Sol eclipsim pertuit mense octavo mediante: et ita lumen eius minuit, ut vix quantum quintae lunae cornua retinent, ad lucendum haberet." |
Gregory of Tours, The history of Francs, X, 23. Penguin classics,
London.
"A dispute arose about the date of the Easter, because Victorius, in his cycle, had written that Easter should be celebrated on the fifteenth day after the full moon. To prevent this Christians holding the feast on the same day after the full moon as the Jews, Victorius added: 'The Church of Rome celebrates on the twenty second day.' As a result many people in Gaul hold Easter on the fifteenth day, but I myself kept the feast on the twenty-second day. I made careful inquiries and discovered that the Spanish Springs, which flow by divine agency, began to run on the day which I had chosen for Easter. There was a great Earthquake very early in the morning on Wednesday 14 June, just as the day began to dawn. There was an eclipse of the sun in the middle of October. The sun's rays were so diminished that it gave no more light than the horned moon when five days old. " |
| 78b. Theophylacti Simocattae hist. lib. V, 16
(ed. C. de Boor 1883 I, 218)
"execwrei twn basileiwn o autokratwr MaurikioV parasagghn ena kai hmolion. Ebdomon de ara touto toiV BuzantioV wnomastai. kat ekeinhn goun thn hmeran hliou megisth gegonen ekleiyiV. evaton de ara touto etoV etugcanen on MaurikioV tou autokratoroV. epegenonto de kai exaisiwn pveumatwn fushmata notoV te biaioV, wV mononoci kai thn epibuqion yhfida anarriptein tw qolw tou salou." |
"Not moved by their entreaties, the emperor Mauricius went out of the palace and proceeded one and one-half pasarangs to the Hebdomon, as it is called by in Byzantium. Than day there happened a very great (megisth) eclipse of the sun. Then there arose a violent roaring south wind, that almost tore the pebbles from the depths of the sea." (Newton, 1972) |
| 78c. Theophanis, Chronographia, (ed. C. de Boor
1883 I, 268)
"Exelqonti de autw en tw Ebdeomw gegonen hliou ekleiyiV epegenonto de kai exaisiwn pneumatwn fushmata, notoV biaioV." |
|
| 78d. Anastasii Bibliothecarii hist. eccles. ex
Theophanes (Migne patr. gr. 1. vol. 108 p. 1281)
"Augusta vero et patriarcha et senatus rogabant imperatorem ne per semet ipsum bellum iniret, sed potius id praetori committeret. Ast imperator non acquievit. Exeunte autem eo ad Septimum solis eclipsis facta est; cumque apud Rheginum ..." |
|
| 78e. Zonaras, annales lib. XIV (vol. III 295 Dindorf)
"O de autokratwr MaurikioV ton nion Qeodosion anhgoreuse basilea, kata to Pasca stefqenta upo tou patriarcou Iwannou [Johannes IV, 582-595 ... EirhnhV de gegonuiaV proV PersaV, taV dunameiV ex EwaV epi thn Qrakhn methnegke, kai autoV exhlqe thV BuzantidoV, ta upo twn Barbarwn katestrammena qeasasqai. Ote kai o hlioV eskiasqh ..." |
|
| 79. Chronicon quae dicunt Fredegarii Schol. IV,
11, (Monum. Germ. Script. r. Meroving. II, 127)
"AN. DXC. Anno 30 regni suprascripti principis, tunica Domini nostri Jesu Christi, quae eidem in passione sublata est, et a militibus qui eum custodiebant, est sortita, de qua David propheta dicit: Et super vestimenta mea posuerunt sortem (Joan. XIX, 24; Ps. XXI, 19) , inventa est prodente Simone filio Jacob, qui per duas hebdomadas multis cruciatibus affectus, tandem profitetur ipsam tunicam in civitate Zafad procul a Hierosolyma in arca marmorea positam esse. Quam Gregorius Antiochenus et Ihomas Hierosolymorum, et Johannes Constantinopolitanus episcopi cum aliis multis episcopis, triduanum facientes jejunium, exinde condigne cum arca marmorea, levi effecta, quasi ex ligno fuisset, ordine pedestri Hierosolymam cum devotione sanctissima perduxerunt, eamque in loco ubi crux Domini adoratur cum triumpho posuerunt. Eo anno luna obscurata est. Eo anno inter Francos et Britannos super fluvium Vicinonia bellum est ortum." |
"590 AD. In the 30th year of Guntrams's reign .. In this year the moon eclipsed. In the same year the war broke between Francs and Britans on the river Vicinonia." |
| 80a. Chroniques de St. Denis IV,
8
Chronicon quae dicunt Fredegarii Schol. IV, 11, (Monum. Germ. Script. r. Meroving. II, 127) "AN. DXCII. Anno 32 regni Guntchramni, ita a mane usque ad mediam diem sol minoratus est, ut tertia pars ex ipso vix appareret." |
"In the 32nd year of Guntrams's reign from early morning to midday the sun was diminished so that hardly a third part of itself appeared." (Newton, 1972) |
| 80b. Aimoin, De Gest. Franc. III, 80, (Patrologia
Latina, 139)
"Anno XXXII regnante Guntranno, ita a mane usque ad medium diem sol minoratus est ut tertia pars ex ipso vix appareret. " |
|
| 80c. Sigebertus Gemblacensis, Chronica (Monum.
Germ. Script. VI, VIII)
|
"The sun was diminished from early morning to midday down to the third part of itself" (Newton, 1972) |
| 80d. (*) The
Annals of Ulster, The Annals of Tigernach, The Chronicon Scotorum, The
Annals of Inisfallen (Ireland)
AU591,AT: "Defectio solis .i. mane tenebrosum",
|
AU591/2, CS590, AT594, AI594 "An eclipse of the sun i.e. a dark morning."
AU592: "A dark morning (early morning)" |