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Created 5941[(?)]13 16 2027 [2011-04-20]
Last edited 5941[(?)]01 05 2027 [2011-05-09]
Pelopidas’ Solar Eclipse at
Thebes
October 6, 350 BCE…
Quoting Plutarch:
“31. . . 2 The Thebans readily decreed what they
desired, and soon everything was in readiness and
the commander about to set out, when the sun was eclipsed and the city was covered with darkness in the
day-time.[1]”
(Plutarch, Parallel Lives, The
Life of Pelopidas, 31:2)
“XXXI. . . . 3 Θήβας, αἰτούμεναι δύναμιν καὶ στρατηγὸν ἐκεῖνον. ψηφισαμένων δὲ τῶν Θηβαίων προθύμως, καὶ ταχὺ πάντων ἑτοίμων γενομένων, καὶ <τοῦ> στρατηγοῦ περὶ ἔξοδον ὄντος, ὁ μὲν ἥλιος ἐξέλιπε καὶ σκότος ἐν ἡμέρᾳ τὴν πόλιν”
(Plutarch, Parallel Lives, The
Life of Pelopidas, 31:3)
Quoting Diodorus Sicilus:
“2 When the
common council of the Boeotians convened and the envoys had explained the
matters on which they had been instructed, the Boeotians concurred with the
Thessalians on every matter, gave Pelopidas seven thousand men and ordered him
speedily to assist as requested; but as Pelopidas was hastening to leave with
his army,14 the sun, as it happened, was eclipsed.[2] 3 Many were
superstitious about the phenomenon, and some of the soothsayers declared that
because of the withdrawal of the soldiers, the city's "sun" had been
eclipsed. Although in this interpretation they were foretelling the death of
Pelopidas, he notwithstanding set out for the campaign, drawn on by Fate.”
(Diodorus Siculus, The Library of
History, Vol. VII, Book XV:80:2)
|
Listing
of all the solar eclipses between 414 BCE and 300 BCE that -
per the NASA eclipse catalogue
and canon - may
have been anywhere near causing a darkness in ancient Thebes. |
|||||||||
|
# |
Date (with
links to NASA’s Google maps) |
Type (with links to NASA’s small global
maps) |
Local
appearance at Thebes |
Maximum
NASA magnitude from the Thebes horizon |
Thebes
UT time at maximum eclipse (Add
+1 hour 33 min for local solar time) |
Thebes
sunrise (SNB
local solar time) |
Thebes local
solar time at maximum eclipse (per
Starry Night Pro+) |
Thebes
sunset (Starry
Night Pro+ local solar time) |
Comments |
|
1 |
Partial
eclipse at sunset |
0.85 |
17:04:55 |
|
18:37:46 |
18:07:17 |
Sunset 30 min prior to maximum eclipse! - Not a viable candidate for Pelopidas’
eclipse. |
||
|
2 |
Total |
1.004 |
07:44:54 |
|
|
|
Pericles'
solar eclipse. -
This is not a viable candidate for being Pelopidas’ eclipse (cf. this link!) |
||
|
3 |
Partial |
0.91 |
08:02:03 |
|
|
|
Cf. item #2 above! |
||
|
4 |
Partial |
0.897 |
06:31:39 |
06:30:01 |
08:01:00 |
|
This eclipse is at least 20 years too early
relative to the Lacedaemonian’s alliance with, and support of, Dionysius [the
younger,] the tyrant of Syracuse, against the Thebans (cf. this
link, this
link, and this
link!) |
||
|
5 |
Partial |
0.866 |
08:22:45 |
|
|
|
Insufficient eclipse magnitude for causing
any noticeable darkness in Thebes! - Too early a year for being Pelopidas’
eclipse (cf. item #4 above!) |
||
|
6 |
Partial
eclipse at sunset |
0.903 |
16:36:24 |
06:52:24 |
18:07:24 |
18:52:37 |
Sunset time, not “day-time!” |
||
|
7 |
Partial |
0.928 |
06:55:20 |
05:56:43 |
08:25:00 |
|
Provided the NASA data are
sufficiently precise, this eclipse seems to be the most likely candidate for
being Pelopidas’ eclipse! Consider these
features: 1. It fits comfortably within the
48 year Dionysian tyranny as previously
revised to 380 BCE – 331 BCE, that is, the 30th year after its
beginning and the 18th year before its end. 2. It fits nicely with Dion’s
stay with Plato in Athens sometimes not too long after having been sent
away from Syracuse by Dionysian the younger, who could have begun his
reign no
earlier than in the 18th year of the tyranny, and a good
number of years prior to the events associated with Helicon’s eclipse of July 4, 336 BCE.
Notice in particular Plutarch’s reference to Dionysius
vs. the Lacedaemonian’s generals and governors in his The Life of
Pelopidus, and the corresponding multiple references to various persons of “Sparta”
during the reign of Dionysius the younger in his The
Life of Dion. 3. It fits nicely while Artaxerxes,
the King of Persia is still the King over these Greecian domains. 4. This eclipse is, per the
available NASA data, the eclipse of greatest magnitude as perceived from the
Thebes horizon during said 48 year Dionysian tyranny from 380 BCE – 331 BCE.
Indeed, it is the one eclipse of greatest magnitude between Pericles’ total
eclipse in 402 BCE (which was total also in Thebes,) and the August 15, 310
BCE total solar eclipse. 5. Of the two non-sunrise,
non-sunset, “day-time” solar eclipses (-349 and -335) during the reign of
Dionysius the younger, and between the July 13, 364 BCE solar eclipse and
Dion’s and Alexander’s lunar eclipse of September 20, 331 BCE, this eclipse
is the one that is far more likely to cause any noticeable darkness in Thebes
than is the other one, provided of course that the NASA website data is
providing reliable data... (That is, unless
Alexander the
Great’s eclipse is also revised
such that Pelopidas’ eclipse may be placed in 310 BCE, which I find no
reason for doing... Cf. this
link!) |
||
|
8 |
Partial
|
0.826 |
09:00:11.5 |
|
|
|
Insufficient eclipse magnitude for causing
any noticeable darkness in Thebes! However, cf. item #7 above! |
||
|
9 |
Partial
eclipse at sunrise |
0.900 |
03:33:29 |
04:41:46 |
05:09:00 |
|
Sunrise time, not “day-time!” Requires revising Alexander’s eclipse. Cf. this
link! |
||
|
10 |
Partial
eclipse at sunset |
0.777 |
15:04:40 |
|
16:36:00 |
16:56:58 |
Sunset time, not “day-time!” Insufficient magnitude for causing “darkness”
in Thebes. Requires revising Alexander’s eclipse. Cf. this
link! |
||
|
11 |
Total |
1.00 |
06:45:06 |
|
|
|
If attributed to Pelopidas’ eclipse, this
would require revising Alexander’s eclipse (cf. this
link!) as well as Agathocles’
eclipse (cf. this
link!) |
||
Above is the view of the sun at time of maximum eclipse magnitude per Starry Night Pro Plus v. 6.4.3.
Above is the view of the sun at time of maximum eclipse magnitude per Starry Night Backyard v. 3.1.2.
All
eclipse maps courtesy of Fred Espenak - NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center.
For more information on solar and lunar eclipses, see Fred Espenak's Eclipse
Web Site:
http://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/eclipse.html
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