Across human history, eclipses have always been a source of inspiration for legends, myths and symbols.
To explain eclipses, many ancient legends evoke a celestial monster which devours the Sun or Moon. It is a dragon in Indian, Indonesian and Chinese legends, a giant frog in Vietnam, a jaguar in Argentina, and a vampire in Siberia. Whatever form it takes, the celestial creature was to be respected and (usually) feared.
One Chinese legend reports that the total solar eclipse in China on 22 October 2134 BC took everybody by surprise. Therefore there was no time to prepare the archers and the drummers in order to fight and frighten the dragons which devour the Sun during the eclipse.
The official imperial astronomers His and Ho had missed the prediction of the eclipse. Not only did they lose their work and the respect of their colleagues, they also lost their heads!
In any civilisation, a total eclipse occurring without being announced would certainly bring chaos for a few minutes, and would remain a defining moment used later as an historical milestone.
The Odyssey refers to a solar eclipse near Ithaca, which would correspond to 1178 BC. There is a reference to an eclipse in the Bible which could correspond to 15 June 736 BC. Babylonian astronomers have systematically noted solar and lunar eclipses from 700 BC to 50 years BC.
Thales of Milet reports that a total solar eclipse (now dated in May 585 BC) crossed the battlefield during a war between the Lydians and the Medes. The fighting stopped, and peace was declared.
Herodotus, Cicero and Pliny also refer to eclipses as time milestones. Plutarch gives very accurate observations of an eclipse on 20 March 71 AD.
On 29 May 1453, a rising full moon was eclipsed over Constantinople, then under siege by the Turk army. It is reported that this created such a dip in morale that in a few days Constantinople was defeated, leading to the end of the Roman Empire of Orient after 1130 years.
Christopher Columbus inspired fear and respect in the inhabitants of Jamaica by 'asking his Christian god to send a celestial warning'. He correctly predicted the lunar eclipse of 29 February 1504. This enabled him to negotiate good provision of food and protection for his troops, allowing them to survive until the arrival of the next ship.
Eclipses remain spectacular and symbolic events, and they still come with their cortege of doom and gloom merchants. But nowadays, our understanding of the movements of the Sun, Earth and Moon mean that wonder at their celestial dance can replace the fear of our ancestors.
In fact, we shouldn't be caught off-guard by an eclipse ever again. Scientists can predict eclipses with very high precision, getting the timing correct to less than a second!
It seems normal that at the time of an eclipse one reflects further about our relation to Earth, the Moon, the Sun and the cosmos. Scientific knowledge can inspire and guide us further in this process.
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