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List of solar eclipses in antiquity

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Lists of solar eclipses
Geometry of a total solar eclipse
(not to scale)
Solar eclipses in antiquity
Solar eclipses in the Middle Ages
Modern history
The future
Eclipses seen from
See also Lists of lunar eclipses

This is a list of selected solar eclipses from antiquity, in particular those with historical significance. Eclipses on this list were not only recorded, but sometimes would have large effects such as ending a war.

Historically significant solar eclipses

[edit]
Date of
eclipse 		Type Saros Magnitude Gamma Time (UTC) Central Duration Eclipse Path Notes
Start Mid End
22 Oct 2137 BC Annular 9 0.9736 0.3842 – 03:25:29 02m52s It is said that Ho and Hi, the Drunk Astronomers failed to predict this eclipse. (story may be fictitious or misinterpreted) [2] [3]
3 May 1375 BC Total 16 1.0295 0.7755 – 04:51:04 02m07s Ugarit eclipse. [4]
June 24, 1312 BC Total 35 – 10:44 – 04m33s Anatolia Known as Mursili's eclipse, could provide an absolute chronology of the ancient Near East.[1][2][3]
5 June 1302 BC Total 26 1.0805 0.2982 02:10:48 00:06:25 Early Chinese eclipse. [5]
16 Apr 1178 BC Total 39 1.0599 0.5187 10:00:58 00:04:33 Odyssey Eclipse. [6] [7]
21 Apr 899 BC Annular 53 0.9591 0.8964 22:21:56 00:03:04 China's 'Double-Dawn' Eclipse. [8] [9]
June 15, 763 BC Total 44 – 08:23 – 04m59s Attested in Assyrian sources and providing an absolute chronology of the ancient Near East.[4]
6 Apr 648 BC Total 38 1.0689 0.6898 08:31:03 00:05:02 Archilochus' Eclipse. [10] [11]
May 28, 585 BC Total 57 – 14:28 – 06m05s Allegedly predicted by Thales; occurred during the Battle of the Eclipse.[5][6]
19 May 557 BC Total 48 1.0258 0.3145 12:52:26 00:02:22 The Siege of Larisa, firstly recorded by Xenophon. [12]
February 17, 478 BC or October 2, 480 BC Annular 42/65 – 9:58:51/11:51:0 – 06m00s/07m57s Greece Eclipse occurring prior to Xerxes' first march against Greece. The exact dating has been debated, as the writings of Herodotus (who chronicled the eclipse) give a date for which there was no eclipse visible in that area of the world.[7]
August 3, 431 BC Annular 48 – 14:54:51:8 – 01m04.5s Greece, Mediterranean Sea Recorded by Thucydides;[8] Pericles shows his Greek Army that the eclipse was not much more than a covering of the sun by something bigger than his cloak.[9]
21 Mar 424 BC Annular 42 0.9430 0.9433 07:54:29 00:04:39 8th year of the Peloponnesian War. [13]
May 6, 319 Total 72 – 14:24:49 – 03m56s Georgia, Europe, Mexico, United States Thought by astronomers to be the eclipse preceding the Christianization of Iberia by Mirian III of Iberia.[10]
July 17, 334 Annular 80 0.9759 0.3268 – 11:21:41 – 02m23s Rome, Mediterranean Sea Recorded by Firmicus Maternus in his Mathesos.[11] [14]

Statistics

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Longest total eclipses

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Below is a list of the 10 longest total eclipses between the 30th century BC and the 4th century.

Date of eclipse Central Duration Reference
30 May 2585 BC 07m17s [12]
10 June 2567 BC 07m21s [12]
6 May 2249 BC 07m20s [12]
17 May 2231 BC 07m21s [12]
5 June 762 BC 07m25s [13]
15 June 744 BC 07m28s [13]
26 June 726 BC 07m18s [13]
16 June 345 07m17s [14]
27 June 363 07m24s [14]
8 July 381 07m22s [14]

Solar eclipses by century

[edit]
Century No. Eclipse type Longest eclipse[a] Two-eclipse months[b] Ref.
Partial (P) Annular (A) Total (T) Hybrid (H) Length Date
20th BC 239 84 71 62 22 11m38s 28 December 1983 BC March 1958 BC [15]
19th BC 253 93 80 63 17 08m57s 28 October 1896 BC January 1806 BC [16]
18th BC 254 95 74 64 21 11m10s 10 November 1710 BC [17]
17th BC 230 75 71 60 24 12m07s 12 December 1656 BC July 1611 BC [18]
16th BC 225 78 67 59 21 10m07s 25 January 1583 BC June 1535 BC, May 1524 BC [19]
15th BC 226 77 69 62 18 10m00s 25 September 1410 BC April 1448 BC [20]
14th BC 234 76 84 68 6 11m29s 18 November 1320 BC [21]
13th BC 250 93 86 64 7 11m11s 9 December 1284 BC December 1210 BC [22]
12th BC 252 93 89 63 7 10m27s 14 December 1108 BC October 1123 BC, September 1112 BC [23]
11th BC 238 79 91 68 0 10m34s 25 December 1090 BC August 1036 BC, July 1025 BC, June 1014 BC [24]
10th BC 226 84 75 61 6 09m01s 24 October 984 BC [25]
9th BC 225 80 75 66 4 10m21s 7 November 817 BC [26]
8th BC 234 79 88 64 3 11m29s 10 December 763 BC [13]
7th BC 253 96 87 63 7 10m06s 22 November 604 BC December 689 BC, November 678 BC, October 602 BC [27]
6th BC 255 96 86 65 8 10m50s 4 January 531 BC September 591 BC, August 515 BC, July 504 BC [28]
5th BC 241 84 78 62 17 10m24s 26 January 495 BC May 417 BC [29]
4th BC 225 83 63 56 23 10m16s 7 December 391 BC [30]
3rd BC 226 83 62 57 24 11m47s 30 November 214 BC [31]
2nd BC 237 80 73 63 21 12m08s 22 December 178 BC [32]
1st BC 251 92 77 65 17 08m51s 14 February 87 BC [33]
1st AD 248 90 75 58 25 11m18s 4 November 96 August 7, July 18, April 97 [34]
2nd AD 237 80 77 64 16 12m23s[c] 7 December 150 [36]
3rd AD 227 79 74 69 5 11m09s 8 January 205 [37]
4th AD 222 73 76 66 7 10m44s 2 January 363 [14]
  1. ^ All eclipses listed are annular. See § Longest total eclipses above for longest total eclipses
  2. ^ Months listed in this column had two eclipses occur during that time period
  3. ^ This is the longest annular eclipse in the five-millennium period between the 20th century BC and 30th century.[35]

References

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  1. ^ KUB XIV 4.24: [ma-a-an I-NA KUR A]zi-ma i-ia-ah-at nu dUTU-us sa-ki-ya-ah-ta "[When] I marched [to the land of A]zzi, the Sungod gave a sign." Theo P. J. Van Den Hout, The Purity of Kingship: An Edition of CTH 569 and Related Hittite Oracle Inquiries of Tutẖaliya (1998), 42f. Archived 2020-01-30 at the Wayback Machine
  2. ^ Trevor R. Bryce, The Kingdom of the Hittites, Clarendon Oxford University Press, (1998)
  3. ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2009-09-15. Retrieved 2009-12-15.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  4. ^ Rawlinson, Henry Creswicke, "The Assyrian Canon Verified by the Record of a Solar Eclipse, B.C. 763", The Athenaeum: Journal of Literature, Science and the Fine Arts, nr. 2064, 660-661 [18 May 1867].[1]
  5. ^ Stephenson, F. Richard; Fatoohi, Louay J. (1997). "Stephenson, F. Richard, and Louay J. Fatoohi. "Thale's Prediction of a Solar Eclipse." Journal for the History of Astronomy 28 (1997): 279". Journal for the History of Astronomy. 28: 279. Bibcode:1997JHA....28..279S. doi:10.1177/002182869702800401. S2CID 118345852. Archived from the original on 2019-07-15. Retrieved 2019-07-15.
  6. ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2020-05-31. Retrieved 2009-12-15.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  7. ^ Lynn, W.T. (1884). "Eclipses during the war of Xerxes with the Greeks". The Observatory. 7: 138–140. Bibcode:1884Obs.....7..138L. Archived from the original on 17 October 2021. Retrieved 21 August 2020.
  8. ^ "Eclipse – Assyrian". Encyclopedia Britannica. Archived from the original on 12 August 2020. Retrieved 21 August 2020.
  9. ^ "The Eclipse of Pericles • An Exchange in 'The Observatory' (1884)". penelope.uchicago.edu. Archived from the original on 17 October 2021. Retrieved 21 August 2020.
  10. ^ Sauter, J. Simonia, I. Stephenson, F. R. & Orchiston, W. (2015) The Legendary Fourth-Century Total Solar Eclipse in Georgia: Fact or Fantasy? Springer Publishing p. 24, 42
  11. ^ Maternus, Mathesos libri octo, I.iv.10.
  12. ^ a b c d "Catalog of Long Total Solar Eclipses: -2999 to -2000". Archived from the original on 2014-11-19. Retrieved 2009-12-15.
  13. ^ a b c d "Catalog of Solar Eclipses: −0799 to −0700". NASA. Archived from the original on March 22, 2019. Retrieved December 15, 2019.
  14. ^ a b c d "Catalog of Solar Eclipses: 0301 to 0400". NASA. Archived from the original on March 22, 2019. Retrieved December 15, 2019.
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  26. ^ "Catalog of Solar Eclipses: −0899 to −0800". NASA. Archived from the original on March 22, 2019. Retrieved December 15, 2019.
  27. ^ "Catalog of Solar Eclipses: −0699 to −0600". NASA. Archived from the original on March 22, 2019. Retrieved December 15, 2019.
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  35. ^ "NASA – Five Millennium Catalog of Solar Eclipses". eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov. Archived from the original on 9 October 2020. Retrieved 8 September 2020.
  36. ^ "Catalog of Solar Eclipses: 0101 to 0200". NASA. Archived from the original on March 22, 2019. Retrieved December 15, 2019.
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