List of solar eclipses in antiquity

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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.

Contents

Historically significant solar eclipses

Date of
eclipse		TypeSarosMagnitudeGammaTime (UTC)Central DurationEclipse PathNotes
StartMidEnd
22 Oct 2137 BCAnnular90.97360.3842–03:25:2902m52sIt is said that Ho and Hi, the Drunk Astronomers failed to predict this eclipse. (story may be fictitious or misinterpreted)
3 May 1375 BCTotal161.02950.7755–04:51:0402m07sUgarit eclipse.
June 24, 1312 BC Total35–10:44–04m33s Anatolia Known as Mursili's eclipse, could provide an absolute chronology of the ancient Near East. [1] [2] [3]
5 June 1302 BCTotal261.08050.298202:10:4800:06:25Early Chinese eclipse.
16 Apr 1178 BCTotal391.05990.518710:00:5800:04:33Odyssey Eclipse.
21 Apr 899 BCAnnular530.95910.896422:21:5600:03:04China's 'Double-Dawn' Eclipse.
June 15, 763 BC Total44–08:23–04m59sAttested in Assyrian sources and providing an absolute chronology of the ancient Near East. [4]
6 Apr 648 BCTotal381.06890.689808:31:0300:05:02Archilochus' Eclipse.
May 28, 585 BC Total57–14:28–06m05sAllegedly predicted by Thales; occurred during the Battle of the Eclipse. [5] [6]
19 May 557 BCTotal481.02580.314512:52:2600:02:22The Siege of Larisa, firstly recorded by Xenophon.
February 17, 478 BC or October 2, 480 BCAnnular42/65–9:58:51/11:51:0–06m00s/07m57sGreeceEclipse 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 BCAnnular48–14:54:51:8–01m04.5sGreece, Mediterranean SeaRecorded 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 BCAnnular420.94300.943307:54:2900:04:398th year of the Peloponnesian War.
May 6, 319Total72–14:24:49–03m56s 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, 334Annular800.97590.3268–11:21:41–02m23s Rome, Mediterranean Sea Recorded by Firmicus Maternus in his Mathesos. [11]

Statistics

Longest total eclipses

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

Date of eclipseCentral DurationReference
30 May 2585 BC07m17s [12]
10 June 2567 BC07m21s [12]
6 May 2249 BC07m20s [12]
17 May 2231 BC07m21s [12]
5 June 762 BC07m25s [13]
15 June 744 BC07m28s [13]
26 June 726 BC07m18s [13]
16 June 34507m17s [14]
27 June 36307m24s [14]
8 July 38107m22s [14]

Solar eclipses by century

CenturyNo. Eclipse type Longest eclipse [lower-alpha 1] Two-eclipse months [lower-alpha 2] Ref.
Partial (P)Annular (A)Total (T)Hybrid (H)LengthDate
20th BC2398471622211m38s28 December 1983 BCMarch 1958 BC [15]
19th BC2539380631708m57s28 October 1896 BCJanuary 1806 BC [16]
18th BC2549574642111m10s10 November 1710 BC [17]
17th BC2307571602412m07s12 December 1656 BCJuly 1611 BC [18]
16th BC2257867592110m07s25 January 1583 BCJune 1535 BC, May 1524 BC [19]
15th BC2267769621810m00s25 September 1410 BCApril 1448 BC [20]
14th BC234768468611m29s18 November 1320 BC [21]
13th BC250938664711m11s9 December 1284 BCDecember 1210 BC [22]
12th BC252938963710m27s14 December 1108 BCOctober 1123 BC, September 1112 BC [23]
11th BC238799168010m34s25 December 1090 BCAugust 1036 BC, July 1025 BC, June 1014 BC [24]
10th BC226847561609m01s24 October 984 BC [25]
9th BC225807566410m21s7 November 817 BC [26]
8th BC234798864311m29s10 December 763 BC [13]
7th BC253968763710m06s22 November 604 BCDecember 689 BC, November 678 BC, October 602 BC [27]
6th BC255968665810m50s4 January 531 BCSeptember 591 BC, August 515 BC, July 504 BC [28]
5th BC2418478621710m24s26 January 495 BCMay 417 BC [29]
4th BC2258363562310m16s7 December 391 BC [30]
3rd BC2268362572411m47s30 November 214 BC [31]
2nd BC2378073632112m08s22 December 178 BC [32]
1st BC2519277651708m51s14 February 87 BC [33]
1st AD2489075582511m18s4 November 96August 7, July 18, April 97 [34]
2nd AD2378077641612m23s [lower-alpha 3] 7 December 150 [36]
3rd AD227797469511m09s8 January 205 [37]
4th AD222737666710m44s2 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]

Related Research Articles

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Solar eclipse</span> Natural phenomenon wherein the Sun is obscured by the Moon

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Solar eclipse of August 22, 1979</span> 20th-century annular solar eclipse

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Solar eclipse of September 11, 1969</span> 20th-century annular solar eclipse

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Solar eclipse of August 11, 1961</span> 20th-century annular solar eclipse

An annular solar eclipse occurred on August 11, 1961. A solar eclipse occurs when the Moon passes between Earth and the Sun, thereby totally or partly obscuring the image of the Sun for a viewer on Earth. An annular solar eclipse occurs when the Moon's apparent diameter is smaller than the Sun's, blocking most of the Sun's light and causing the Sun to look like an annulus (ring). An annular eclipse appears as a partial eclipse over a region of the Earth thousands of kilometres wide. A small annular eclipse covered only 94% of the Sun in a very broad path, 499 km wide at maximum, and lasted 6 minutes and 35 seconds.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Solar eclipse of November 15, 2077</span> Future annular solar eclipse

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Solar Saros 136</span> Saros cycle series 136 for solar eclipses

Saros cycle series 136 for solar eclipses occurs at the Moon's descending node, repeating every 18 years, 11 days, containing 71 events. All eclipses in this series occurs at the Moon's descending node.

This article contains information and statistics about solar eclipses occurring after the modern era, from the 22nd century to the 30th century.

This article gives statistics for lunar eclipses grouped by century. Detailed information about tetrads, timing, and other facts can be found at the linked references.

References

  1. ↑ KUB XIV 4.24: [ma-a-an I-NA KUR A]zi-ma i-ia-ah-at nud UTU -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].
  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 Astronomy28 (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. 1 2 3 4 "Catalog of Long Total Solar Eclipses: -2999 to -2000". Archived from the original on 2014-11-19. Retrieved 2009-12-15.
  13. 1 2 3 4 "Catalog of Solar Eclipses: −0799 to −0700". NASA. Archived from the original on March 22, 2019. Retrieved December 15, 2019.
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  23. ↑ "Catalog of Solar Eclipses: −1199 to −1100". NASA. Archived from the original on March 22, 2019. Retrieved December 15, 2019.
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