According to Herodotus, who wrote The History around 430 BCE, a total solar eclipse interrupted a battle between the Lydians and the Medes:
[J]ust 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.
(Source: Internet Classic Archives)
This “battle of the eclipse” took place in what is now Turkey, and the eclipse itself could have been the one that occurred on 28 May 585 BCE. Unfortunately, if Thales wrote anything it didn’t survive the centuries. So, we don’t know if he really did predict the eclipse or by what means he did it. All we have is Herodotus to go on. In any case, it’s the first mention in history of anyone predicting an eclipse so it’s interesting on that basis alone.
Wouldn’t it be cool if we could figure out when future solar eclipses occurred for us in the next decade or so? That’s what we’re going to do in this blog post so read on. Continue reading “Calculate Future Solar Eclipses”