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of belief: “Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth.” (John
Created 5941[(?)] 10 29 2027
[2011-02-03]
Last edited 5938[(??)] 01 25 2027 [2011-05-29]
Revising
ancient Greek history by 30 years…
Pericles’
solar eclipse
at
the end of the 1st year of the Peloponnesian War
took
place
at
about
&
The
Lunar Eclipse of the
took
place on
between
Abstract:
A close study of the NASA Canon of Eclipses,
in conjunction with the use of currently available astronomy software, and in
comparison with the primary historical records makes it quite clear that the
total solar eclipse of
This finding goes hand in hand with a revised
date also for the total lunar eclipse of the battle of
Thus, both of these events agree with one
another in moving the conventionally accepted dates for these anchor points of
Greek history about 30 years closer to our own time in comparison to that which
has been heretofore commonly taught and believed.
Praise the Lord of Hosts, the Yahweh Elohim
who alone is the One who knows all truth, for teaching and showing me all these
wonderful things!
Considerations:
Using NASA’s Five Millennium Canon of Eclipses
and my Starry Night Backyard software
for carefully reviewing all (partial, total, annular, and hybrid) solar
eclipses for 100+ years both ways[1]
from 432 BCE and the conventionally accepted timing of the Peloponnesian war, I
find only one solar eclipse that satisfies 1) Plutarch’s words “the
sun was eclipsed and darkness came on,” and 2) the corresponding
record of Thucydides (cf. this link!) Unfortunately
for those who tend to rely on the conventional consensus of the majority among
themselves, this one solution is not anywhere near supporting the conventional
belief re the timing of that war. The eclipse I am referencing is the total
eclipse that occurred on
Now at first sight that date, “January 18,”
might seem to be at odds with the records of Plutarch (“ca 46-120 CE”) and
Thucydides (“c. 460 BC – c. 395 BC,) that is, words such as “In the very beginning of summer,” but let’s dive
into the details and I believe that I may well be able to convince the sharpest
among you, my dear readers, that this date, January 18, 402 BCE, exactly fits
the record. Please bear with me just a little!
First, comparing Plutarch’s and Thucydides’
records, I find it clear from Plutarch’s The Life of Pericles (authored c. 500
years after the fact!) that the solar eclipse event that he (Plutarch)
describes is associated with these three identifying characteristics:
1) Pericles “manned a hundred and fifty ships of war…”
against the
2) then comes a very specific action: The “laying siege to sacred Epidaurus…,”
and
3) “a pestilential destruction fell upon them,”
which was more or less concurrent with a certain forty day period of time
referenced by Thucydides, who lived and worked at the very time of these
events, which events he was indeed even a part of.
Finding these very same events being described
by very similar language by Thucydides in his History of the Peloponnesian
War…:
1) Pericles “he furnished a hundred galleys to go about
Peloponnesus and… The Chians and Lesbians joined… with fifty galleys.…”
against the
2) then the same specific action: “Coming before Epidaurus, a city of Peloponnesus, they
wasted much of the country thereabout and assaulting the city had a hope to
take it…,” and
3) “They had not been many days in Attica when the plague
first began amongst the Athenians,” which plague
was more or less concurrent with that certain forty day period of time
referenced by Thucydides, who lived and worked at the very time of these
events, which events he was indeed even a part of.
It is quite clear to me that Plutarch’s and
Thucydides’ stories are complementary to one another in these particulars, such
that where Plutarch’s record provides less detail as to the events and their
relative timing in terms of for instance “winter” and “summer,” he, Plutarch,
is the only an apparently distinct and separate record of a distinct and
separate observation of this solar eclipse, which solar eclipse is in itself a
unique and exceedingly exact and reliable time stamp, that is, considering all
the astronomical facts of the matter inherent in Plutarch’s words “the sun was eclipsed and
darkness came on” as well as in Thucydides’ words “in the afternoon happened
an eclipse of the sun. The which, after it had appeared in the form of a
crescent and withal some stars had been discerned.” Given the above
said three unique identifiers, Thucydides’ records help us further with the
timing of this event by adding the following sequence of words, which words
must certainly be given precedence over and above any ambiguity of Plutarch’s
record:
“47.… In the
very beginning of summer the
Peloponnesians and their confederates… invaded
“49. This year…
“55…
[2] And Pericles, who was also then general…
“56… furnished a hundred galleys to go about
“57.
All the while the Peloponnesians were in the territory of the Athenians and the
Athenians abroad with their fleet, the sickness, both in the army and city,
destroyed many, insomuch as it was said that the Peloponnesians, fearing the
sickness (which they knew to be in the city both by fugitives and by seeing the
Athenians burying their dead), went the sooner away out of the country. [2] And
yet they stayed there longer in this invasion than they had done anytime before
and wasted even the whole territory, for they
continued in
“58. The same summer…
“66.
The Lacedaemonians and their confederates made war the
same summer with one hundred galleys against
Zacynthus…
“67. In the end of the same summer…
“68. About the same time, in the end of summer… These were the
acts of the summer.
“69. In the beginning of the winter the Athenians sent twenty
galleys about
“70. The same winter… These were the things done in this winter.
And so ended the second year of this war, written by Thucydides.
“71. The next summer…”
Looking carefully at the details of the above
quoted passages of Thucydides, it is obvious that Pericles and his 150 ships
and the associated solar eclipse darkness took place within, or before, the
forty days following “the very beginning of summer.”
Indeed, I do not see much if any evidence of there being a problem with the
plague among those who left with Pericles on the ships, and thus they too seem
to have left very close to “the very beginning of summer…”
and before “not… many days… when the plague first began amongst the Athenians…”
Yes, it is true that Thucydides is describing the plague prior to Pericles leaving with the ships,
but he is not using express words to the effect that that was the order of
events. One might also wish to consider whether or not plagues generally are
not a phenomenon of the [real time] mid-winter season? Considering also the accusations against Pericles
that began while the city was being attacked, how likely would Pericles be to
leave with the ships at such a time, which indeed he had not done at the
time of sending the ships off on the prior year’s crusade?
Also, it seems quite certain that his second speech was a
remedy against said accusations which speech he engineered at the time of his
return with the fleet following the raid of this second summer of the war.
Where is Paralos? Is it a variant name for Paralia, or not? Lastly, considering
carefully the language of the following two passages, I find said order of events
confirmed. That is, Pericles and his fleet left prior to the invasion of
2.55. After the
Peloponnesians had wasted the champaign country, they fell upon the territory
called Paralos
as far as to the mountain Laurius where the Athenians had silver mines, and
first wasted that part of it which looketh towards
2.56. Whilst they [the Peloponnesians/ToL]
were yet in the plain and before they [the Peloponnesians/ToL] entered
into the maritime country [= “before the P. set out to sea?,” /ToL] he [Pericles/ToL] furnished a hundred galleys to go about
Which “Paralia,”
which ‘beach,’ is here being referenced?
Cf. the maps below and the location of at least nine (9) different places in
Perhaps 2.47 is better placed subsequent to
2.56?:
2.47.… In the very
beginning of summer the
Peloponnesians and their confederates… invaded
Map of ancient
Re the W. T. Lynn’s argument
re many events…:
It seems to me that W.T. Lynn is mixing up the
1st and the 2nd raids of Pericles into
At any rate, the popularly supported annular
eclipse of
The
maximum eclipse as seen from
The
maximum eclipse as seen from
The solution to the apparent
paradox
re a January 18 conjunction vs.
Thucydides’ words “In the very beginning of summer…”
Now, here’s the tricky part, that is, to the
extent that the above said is not in and of itself sufficiently convincing: How
can a solar eclipse that occurred on January 18 be associated with an event
within “almost forty days…” following “the very beginning of summer?” That does
seem contradictory, does it not? However, consider these facts: The only two
seasons referenced by Thucydides are winter and summer. Given that, in terms of
our modern calendars, the beginning of summer is the beginning of April (the
2nd quarter of the year; which at the time of the beginnings of both the Greek
and the Roman Calendars was concurrent with the spring equinox,) and that the
beginning of winter is the beginning of October (the 4th quarter of the year;
initially the fall equinox,) we may conclude that, per the calendars then in
use, the time referenced by the words “in the very beginning of summer” more
than likely are words tied to their then current official calendar year, while
not necessarily being words tied to the actual seasons of the year (or to the
solstices; cf. the Egyptian calendar where Thoth 1, the 1st day of the Egyptian
year, began December 2, 402 BCE.) More than likely then, Plutarch’s words “ the
very beginning of summer” reference a point in time no later than the first day
of Artemisios, the lunar month which typically begins in April [cf.
Strong’s G736 “(something hung up), that is, (specifically) the topsail
(rather foresail or jib) of a vessel,”] but very possibly even
the first day of Xanthikos [cf. Strong’s G1816 “to start up out
of the ground, that is germinate,”] the month usually associated with
the spring equinox these days, that is, Xanthikos typically begins in
March and these days we associate the spring equinox with March 21, but that
was not always so!
Re Xanthikos vs. the beginning of the
year: Consider these words:
“Originally the Romans
reckoned March as the first month of the year; the decision to begin the year
on January 1 did not come until 153 BCE…”
(From Svensk Uppslagsbok (1956,) Vol. 16, ‘Kronologi:
Column 1249;’(my translation.) The original Swedish words are: “Romarna urspr.
betraktade mars som årets första mån.; först 153 f.Kr. bestämdes årets början
till 1 jan..”)
Re Caesar Julius’ calendar revision,
and re the eclipse at the battle of Pydna
However, as we know, Caesar Julius is commonly
associated with a very revolutionary calendar correction due to the drifting of
the seasons up until that time. I believe this is based most firmly upon Suetonius’
words per The Life of Julius Caesar (Chapter 40,) albeit
having been falsely associated with the
“16… 4 After
this disaster, Perseus
hastily broke camp and retired; he had become exceedingly fearful, and his
hopes were shattered. 5 But nevertheless he was under the necessity of
standing his ground there in front of Pydna and
risking a battle, or else of scattering his army about among the cities and so
awaiting the issue of the war, which, now that it had once made its way into
his country, could not be driven out without much bloodshed and slaughter. 6 In
the number of his men, then, he was superior where he was, and they would fight
with great ardour in defence of their wives and children, and with their king
beholding all their actions and risking life in their behalf. 7 With such
arguments his friends encouraged Perseus. So he pitched a camp and arranged his
forces for battle, examining the field and distributing his commands, purposing
to confront the Romans as soon as they came up. 8 The place afforded a
plain for his phalanx, which required firm standing and smooth ground, and
there were hills succeeding one another continuously, which gave his
skirmishers and light-armed troops opportunity for retreat and flank attack.
9 Moreover, through the middle of it ran the rivers Aeson and Leucus, which
were not very deep at that time (for it was the latter end of summer),
but were likely, nevertheless, to give the Romans considerable trouble.”
“17… 7 Now,
when night had come, and the soldiers, after supper, were betaking themselves
to rest and sleep, on a sudden the moon, which was full and high in the
heavens, grew dark, lost its light, took on all sorts of colours in succession,
and finally disappeared.
“8 The
Romans, according to their custom, tried to call her
light back by the clashing of bronze utensils and by holding up many blazing
fire-brands and torches towards the heavens; the
Macedonians, however, did nothing of this sort, but amazement and terror
possessed their camp, and a rumor quietly spread among many of them that the
portent signified an eclipse of a king. 9 Now, Aemilius was not altogether
without knowledge and experiences of the irregularities of eclipses, which, at
fixed periods, carry the moon in her course into the shadow of the earth and conceal her from sight, until she passes beyond the region of shadow
and reflects again the light of the sun; 10 however, since he was very
devout and given to sacrifices and divination, as
soon as he saw the moon beginning to emerge from the shadow, he sacrificed
eleven heifers to her…”
Plutarch, The Life of Aemilius 17.7
“The reason verily of both eclipses, the first Romane
that published abroad and divulged, was Sulpitius Gallus, who
afterwards was Consul, together with M. Marcellus: but at that time being a Colonell, the day before that king Perseus was vanquished by
Paulus, he was brought
forth by the Generall into open audience before the whole hoast, to fore-tell the eclipse which should happen the next
morrow: whereby he
delivered the armie from all pensivenesse and fear, which might have troubled
them in the time of battaile, and within a while after hee compiled also a
booke thereof. But among the Greekes, Thales Milosius was the first that found
it out, who in the 48 Olympias, and the fourth yeere thereof, did prognosticate
and foreshew the Sunnes eclipse that happened in the raigne of Halyattes, and
in the 170 yeere after the foundation of the citie of
C. Plinvs
Secvndvs, The Second
Booke of the Historie of Natvre, Chap. VII
“[37] Paulus postquam metata castra impedimentaque conlocata
animaduertit, ex postrema acie triarios primos subducit, deinde principes,
stantibus in prima acie hastatis, si quid hostis moueret, postremo hastatos, ab
dextro primum cornu singulorum paulatim signorum milites subtrahens. ita
pedites equitibus cum leui armatura ante aciem hosti oppositis sine tumultu
abducti, nec ante, quam prima frons ualli ac fossa perducta est, ex statione
equites reuocati sunt. rex quoque, cum sine detractatione paratus pugnare eo
die fuisset, contentus eo, quod per hostem moram fuisse scirent, et ipse in
castra copias reduxit.
Castris
permunitis C. Sulpicius Gallus, tribunus militum secundae legionis,
qui praetor superiore anno fuerat, consulis permissu ad contionem militibus
uocatis pronuntiauit, nocte proxima, ne quis id pro
portento acciperet, ab hora secunda usque ad quartam horam noctis lunam
defecturam esse. id quia
naturali ordine statis temporibus fiat, et sciri ante et praedici posse. itaque
quem ad modum, quia certi solis lunaeque et ortus et occasus sint, nunc pleno
orbe, nunc senescentem exiguo cornu fulgere lunam non mirarentur, ita ne
obscurari quidem, cum condatur umbra terrae, trahere in prodigium debere. nocte, quam pridie nonas Septembres insecuta est dies, edita hora luna cum defecisset, Romanis militibus Galli sapientia
prope diuina uideri; Macedonas ut triste prodigium, occasum regni perniciemque
gentis portendens, mouit nec aliter uates. clamor ululatusque in castris
Macedonum fuit, donec luna in suam lucem emersit.”
Notice that, per the Latin quote above, this
lunar eclipse took place on the 4th of September, as reckoned by the
Roman calendar of that time, and that the eclipse began in the 1st
quarter of the 2nd hour of night. Given that the local solar time of
sunset, at Pydna at the evening of this particular eclipse, June 1, 139 BCE,
was 7:16 PM[2],
I find that the 2nd hour of night began at 8:16 PM and that the
first quarter of that hour ended at 8:31 PM, and that this is a perfect fit for
the onset of the penumbral shadow, which began at 8:25 PM!
It is clear from the details of the language
that I’ve highlighted in bold red font above that the September 2-3, 172 BCE
eclipse, proposed by John N. Stockwell (The Astronomical Journal, 1891, Vol. 11, pp. 5-6,)
also is not a
If we do the math, we’ll find that the
drifting of the seasons during those years, reckoning from the beginning of the
Roman calendar in the middle of the eighth century to the time of Caesar
Julius, was on the order of 0.113 days per year. For
the year 139 BCE (the most likely date for the Pydna lunar
eclipse being June 1-2, 139 BCE, which per my revised Olympiad calendar corresponds
to the 1st year of the 160th Olympiad [or else, but not likely, Sept
2-3, 153 BCE, which corresponds to the 3rd year of the 157th Olympiad! Cf.
Plutarch’s The Life of Aemilius 24.4
and Bill Thayer’s discussion
of the same (his last two paragraphs of footnote e)]) this corresponds to 753 BCE
– 139 BCE = 614 years, or 614 x 0.113 days = 69.4 days. That is, at a point
about 90 years (139 BCE – 49 BCE = 90 years) prior to my revised date for
Caesar Julius’ calendar reform, which reform, per Suetonius’ record required
a 15 months year for correcting the then extant migration of the seasons. Also,
Thoth 1 of the Egyptian calendar began on Sept 27, 139 BCE (and on Oct 4, 168
BCE.) Thus it is easy to see how that the shifting of the seasons were
affecting all of the calendars on both sides of the Mediterranean up until that
time.
Above: The
lunar eclipses popularly attributed to the battle of Pydna.
Notice the
the U.Mag.=0.9362, i.e. 93.62% of the lunar diameter of the left map,
and the
map in the right picture showing where the eclipse was visible (cf. the large
picture below!)
Above: The
eclipses of the battle at Pydna proposed by this author, in particular the one
to the right.
The
moving to
25° above the horizon before the eclipse concluded shortly after
The
remaining sliver of the September 3, 172 BCE partial lunar eclipse as seen from
Pydna, Greece at midnight and at the time of maximum eclipse.
Wrapping up the details of
Pericles eclipse
Now, let’s return to the Pericles eclipse and
402 BCE: In any given 40 day period there can be no more than one or two New
Moon events. Given also 1) that solar eclipses always occur at the exact time of
astronomical New moon, and 2) Plutarch’s words “In
the very beginning of summer the Peloponnesians and their
confederates… invaded Attica…,” we are faced with the conclusion that either
Pericles’ navy left at least a day or two, but possibly even a month or two,
prior to the arrival of the Peloponnesian invaders, or else they left, but not
likely, less than ten days before the forty days of the invading navy were up,
that is, less than 10 days before the Peloponnesians left Attica. Perhaps the
latter option might seem to be indicated by Plutarch’s words “left the
Peloponnesians still in Paralia…,” but considering all of the above
considerations, that certainly does not seem to agree with the language of
Plutarch and of Thucydides. Remember too, if the latter option were to be true,
then Pericles should have had considerable trouble with the plague among his
ship crew, and this should have been a major obstacle to their mission
objective, but no such thing is being mentioned. Thus we are left with the option
of Pericles and his navy leaving for their mission at least a day or two, and
possibly a month or two, prior to the invasion of the Peloponnesians.
Next, if indeed the words “In the very beginning of summer…” do follow the
day when “the
sun was eclipsed and darkness came on…” then we may also conclude
that the official calendar month Xanthikos began with the visible New
Moon on January 18, 402 BCE. For the year 402 BCE this corresponds to 753 BCE –
402 BCE = 351 years, or 351 x 0.113 days = 39.7 days shifting of the seasons.
Adding said 39.7 days, that is, the 40 days drift of the seasons, to January 18
we arrive at February 28 (beginning Feb 27,) that is, we arrive at the
beginning of the month, March, within which the spring equinox is expected in a
seasonally corrected calendar. This makes perfect sense, at least to me!
There remains one apparent major obstacle to
resolve: What about Thucydides’ words “in the afternoon happened an eclipse of
the sun,” that is, seeing that the solar eclipse of January 18, 402
BCE totally darkened the skies of Athens at 9:13± AM (08:18 UT + 1.5 hrs
= 9:48 AM local solar time) and not “in the afternoon” as suggested by the
above quoted translation. Well, as it turns out (cf. this word
study of mine!) the Greek words used by Thucydides
“μετὰ
μεσημβρίαν”
may also be translated “amidst the hot portion of the day.” That is, during
that time of the day when the sun was significantly hot, or say from
Thus, the astronomical hard facts of this
event must necessarily take precedence over words that, as in this case, may be
translated one way or the other.
Neither
one of the eclipses of Aug 3, 431 BCE and March 30, 433 BCE can be sustained by
the historical records of Plutarch and Thucydides when carefully considered
against the above referenced astronomical data. The correct date for the
Pericles solar eclipse can only be January 18, 402 BCE, which date, to the best
of my understanding of all the available facts is in total agreement with
all extant data as also considered in view of my revised chronology.
This placement of Pericles’ solar eclipse is
further sustained by my revised
placement of the battle at Pydna,
This result would not have been possible
without the direct guidance by and through the ultimate author of the Holy
Scriptures. Praise the Lord of Hosts!
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