eclipse Uses of eclipses for chronological purposesastronomy

Several examples of the value of eclipses in chronology are mentioned above in passing. No one system of dating has been continuously in use since ancient times, although some, such as the Olympiads, persisted for many centuries. Dates were frequently expressed in terms of a king’s reign; years were also named after officials of whom lists have been preserved (for instance, the Assyrian Chronicle mentioned above). In such cases, it is important to be able to equate certain specific years thus defined with years before the Christian Era (bc). This correspondence can be made whenever the date of an eclipse is given in an ancient record. In this regard, eclipses have distinct advantages over other celestial phenomena such as comets: in addition to being frequently recorded in history, their dates of occurrence can be calculated exactly.

Chinese chronology can be confirmed accurately by eclipses from the 8th century bc (during the Zhou dynasty) onward. The Chunqiu chronicle, mentioned above, notes the occurrence of 36 solar eclipses between 722 and 481 bc—the earliest surviving series of solar eclipse observations from any part of the world. The records give the date of each event in the following form: year of the ruler, lunar month, and day of the 60-day cycle. As many as 32 of the eclipses cited in the Chunqiu can be identified by modern calculations. Errors in the recorded lunar month (typically amounting to no more than a single month) are fairly common, but both the year and the recorded day of the sexagenary cycle are invariably correct.

The chronology of Ptolemy’s canon list of kings—which gives the Babylonian series from 747 to 539 bc, the Persian series from 538 to 324 bc, the Alexandrian series from 323 to 30 bc, and the Roman series from 30 bc onward—is confirmed by eclipses. The eclipse of 763 bc, recorded in the Assyrian Chronicle, makes it possible to carry the chronology back with certainty through the period covered by that eponym canon to 893 bc. Identifiable eclipses that were recorded under named Roman consuls extend back to 217 bc. The lunar eclipse seen at Pydna in Macedonia on June 21, 168 bc, and the solar eclipse observed at Rome on March 14, 190 bc, can be used to determine months in the Roman calendar in the natural year. Furthermore, eclipses occasionally help to fix the precise dates of a series of events, such as those associated with the Athenian disaster at Syracuse in 413 bc.

The late Babylonian astronomical texts occasionally mention major historical events, as, for example, the dates when Xerxes and Alexander the Great died. To illustrate the potential of this material for chronological purposes, the date of the death of Xerxes may be accurately fixed by reference to eclipses. On a tablet that lists lunar eclipses at 18-year intervals occurs the following brief announcement between two eclipse records: “Month V, day 14 [?], Xerxes was murdered by his son.” Unfortunately, the cuneiform sign for the day of the month is damaged, and a viable reading could be anything from 14 to 18. The year is missing, but it can be deduced from the 18-year sequence as 465 bc. This identification is confirmed by calculating the dates of the two eclipses stated to have occurred in the same year that Xerxes died. The first of these happened when the Moon was in the constellation of Sagittarius, while the second took place on the 14th day of the eighth lunar month. For many years both before and after 465 bc, no such combination of eclipses can be found; it occurs only in 465 bc itself. The dates deduced for the two eclipses are June 5 and November 30 of that year. Mention of an intercalary sixth month on the same tablet enables the date of the death of Xerxes to be fixed as some time between August 4 and 8 in 465 bc.