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Created
5941[(?)]01 02 2027 [2011-05-06]
Last
edited 5941[(?)]01 05 2027 [2011-05-08]
Gordian’s Total Solar Eclipse
August 14, 212 CE…?
Abstract:
I am by no means positive of the placement of
this particular solar eclipse of Gordian III, which is however, by far, my
favorite choice out of 18 solar eclipses, all of which I consider within the
range of possibilities.
Considering first of all 1) the fact that the
conventionally preferred solar eclipse in 238 CE is not possibly visible from
anywhere within the greater Roman Empire, secondly, 2) that the August 14, 212
CE solar eclipse falls well within the relatively narrow range of years called
for by my last prior
Thus, in spite of many options of fairly little
of hard facts to go on, I believe I may well have hit on the correct solar
eclipse for Gordian III… (?)
Praise the Lord of Hosts for teaching me many
things along the way!
Click on the picture for an interactive
map! Cf. this
link!
This is the solar eclipse that I find
being my most favored
candidate for being Gordian III’s solar eclipse.
(But I am by no means positive about
that!)
Quoting
from Historia Augusta, The Three Gordians:
“22
On the death of the two Gordians, the
senate, being now thoroughly agitated and in even more violent terror of
Maximinus, chose Pupienus (or Maximus) and
Clodius Balbinus, both ex-consuls, from the twenty men whom they had
elected to protect the state, and declared them
emperors.80 2 But on this the populace and soldiers demanded
that the child Gordian should be made Caesar,81 he
being then, so most authorities declare, eleven years old; some, however, say
thirteen,82 and Junius Cordus says sixteen (for Cordus says that he was in his
twenty-second year when he died). 3 At any rate, he was hurried to
the senate and thence taken to an assembly, and there they clothed him in the
imperial garments and hailed him as Caesar.83
p421 4 According to most authorities, he was the
son of Gordian's daughter,84 but one or two (I have unable to discover
more) say that he was the child of that son of Gordian who was killed in Africa.
5 However this may be, after he was made
Caesar he was reared at his mother's house. But when Maximus and Balbinus had ruled for two years after
the death of the Maximini85 they were
slain in a mutiny of the soldiers, and the young Gordian, who had been Caesar
until then, was declared Augustus86 — the soldiers, populace, senate,
and all the peoples of the Empire uniting with great love, great eagerness, and
great gratitude to do so. 6 For they loved him exceedingly because of his
grandfather and uncle (or father), who had both taken up arms in behalf of the
senate and Roman people against Maximinus and had both perished, the one by a
soldier's death, the other through a soldier's despair.
7 After this87 a body of veterans came to the
Senate-house to learn what had taken place. 8 And two of them, having gone
up to the Capitol — for the senate was meeting there,— were slain by
Gallicanus, a former consul, and Maecenas, a former general, before the very
altar, 9 and a civil war sprang up, in which
even the senators were armed; for the veterans were unaware that the young
Gordian was holding the imperial power alone.88
“23…
(Dexippus says that p423Gordian the third was the child of Gordian's son). But shortly afterwards, when it was understood among the
veterans that Gordian was ruling alone,
a peace was confirmed between the populace and the soldiers and veterans, and
an end of the civil strife was made when the boy was given the consulship.[1]
2 There was an omen, however, that Gordian was not to rule for long, which
was this: there occurred an eclipse of the sun,[2]
so black that men thought it was night and business could not be transacted
without the aid of lanterns. 3 None
the less, after it the populace devoted itself to spectacles and revelry, to
dull the memory of the hard things that had been done before.”
(Historia Augusta, The
Three Gordians 23.2)
Considerations:
It
is obvious from the above words of the extant historical record that:
1)
At the very least, this August 14, 212 CE solar eclipse was very close
to a total eclipse, and furthermore, that it lasted for more than just a few
seconds, or there would have been no time for doing business or even for
lighting lanterns,
2)
This eclipse took place during business hours and not at an hour when
the sun was close to either rising or setting,
3)
This eclipse took place several years after Pertinax’s total solar
eclipse, and certainly no less than two years following Pertinax’s eclipse,
and,
4)
More likely than not, this solar eclipse took place no later than the
solar eclipse conventionally associated with this event, which solar eclipse
cannot possibly be associated with the above specified event, that is, given
that it is certainly not reasonable to assume that the business transactions
and lanterns being spoken of were located on the western coast of Greenland.
Given
that Pertinax solar eclipse did certainly not occurs any earlier than 174 CE
and that the conventional date for Gordian III’s eclipse is placed in 238 I can
now focus my attention upon the solar eclipses between 176 CE and 237 CE, as
follows:
|
Legend: |
(finding 15 more
or less possible solutions; cf. first column, items #2-20!) Solar Eclipses
Possibly Visible from Within the from 174 CE
(Pertinax’s eclipse) through 301 CE |
Legend: |
||||||||||
|
Not possible |
Not possible |
|||||||||||
|
Possible |
Possible |
|||||||||||
|
Good fit |
Good fit |
|||||||||||
|
# |
# (cf. Pertinax’s
eclipse) |
Dated eclipse |
Year (CE) |
Type |
Location of
potential observation post within the Roman Empire |
Maximum eclipse - UT at the location
within the |
Maximum eclipse - Local solar time at the location
within the |
Sunset or sunrise - SNB local solar
time at the location
within the |
Assessment |
|
||
|
1 |
21 |
174 |
Total Magn.: 1.02 |
|
|
|
Pertinax’s solar eclipse[3] |
|||||
|
Partial in Rome Magn.: 0.971 |
||||||||||||
|
2 |
22 |
176 |
Total Magn.: 1.008 |
16:49:37 |
16:18 PM |
18:51 PM |
After siesta time? |
|
||||
|
3 |
23 |
183 |
Total Magn.: 1.019 |
16:59:54 |
16:19 PM |
17:33 PM |
Towards end of
business hours? |
|
||||
|
4 |
24 |
185 |
Total Magn.: 1.015 |
15:13:05 |
15:33 PM |
20:00 PM |
Siesta time? |
|
||||
|
5 |
25 |
186 |
Total Magn.: 1.035 |
05:49:35 |
9:09 AM |
04:56 AM |
Business hours |
|
||||
|
6 |
26 |
186 |
Annular Magn.: 0.953 |
(15:33:51) 15:59:03 |
(14:33 PM) 16:40 PM |
(17:43 PM) 17:07 PM |
Close to sunset
in |
|
||||
|
7 |
27 |
189 |
Annular Magn.: 0.968 |
04:06:34 |
08:07 AM |
05:09 AM |
Business hours in Persia |
|
||||
|
8 |
28 |
193 |
Total Magn.: 1.022 |
|
|
|
|
|
||||
|
9 |
29 |
197 |
Annular Magn.: 0.999 |
11:53:30 |
12:33 PM |
|
Siesta time? |
|
||||
|
10 |
30 |
199 |
Annular Magn.: 0.994 |
17:08:07 |
16:38 PM |
17:40 PM |
Business hours? |
|
||||
|
11 |
31 |
204 |
Total Magn.: 1.037 |
15:23:35 |
14:20 PM |
|
Business hours |
|
||||
|
12 |
32 |
207 |
Annular Magn.: 0.972 |
12:02:43 |
11:42 AM |
|
Siesta time?? |
|
||||
|
13 |
33 |
211 |
Total Magn.: 1.021 |
17:23:40 |
16:15 PM |
17:55 PM |
Siesta time? |
|
||||
|
14 |
34 |
212 |
Magn.: 1.007 |
05:15:17 |
06:20 AM |
05:05 AM |
Business hours? |
|||||
|
Partial in Magn.: 0.963 at (at the beginning
of 2nd hour of the day!) |
||||||||||||
|
Rome: 05:00 AM |
||||||||||||
|
15 |
35 |
218 |
Annular Magn.: 0.967 |
05:59:12 (06:31:37) |
06:50 AM (09:45 AM) |
06:15 AM (06:21 AM) |
Too early? |
|||||
|
Partial in Rome: 0.869 |
||||||||||||
|
16 |
36 |
223 |
Annular Magn.: 0.957 |
04:37:51 |
8 AM |
06:21 AM |
Business hours |
|
||||
|
17 |
37 |
228 |
Total Magn.: 1.026 |
06:53:49 |
07:30 AM |
06:16 AM |
Business hours? |
|
||||
|
18 |
38 |
230 |
Total Magn.: 1.011 |
15:19:34 |
14:19 PM |
18:30 PM |
Siesta time? |
|
||||
|
19 |
39 |
234 |
Annular Magn. 0.969 |
03:43:15 |
04:48 AM |
04:21 AM |
Too early? |
|||||
|
Partial in Rome: 0.937 |
||||||||||||
|
20 |
40 |
237 |
Total Magn.: 1.026 |
16:34:13 |
16:24 PM |
18:45 PM |
Siesta time?? |
|||||
|
Partial in Rome: 0.855 |
||||||||||||
|
21 |
|
238 |
Partial Max magn.: 0.9523 As seen from W.
Ireland & Europe: < 0.86 |
Maximum magnitude
only along western As seen from |
|
|
|
Conventionally
applied on an impossible date when nowhere near the total eclipse necessary
for causing total darkness |
|
|||
|
22 |
41 |
240 |
Total Magn.: 1.029 |
|
|
|
|
|
||||
|
23 |
42 |
241 |
Annular 0.958 |
|
|
|
|
|||||
|
Partial in Rome: 0.852 |
||||||||||||
|
24 |
43 |
247 |
Total Magn.: 1.026 |
|
|
|
|
|
||||
|
25 |
44 |
258 |
Total Magn.: 1.034 |
|
|
|
|
|
||||
|
26 |
45 |
261 |
Annular Magn.: 0.969 |
|
|
|
|
|
||||
|
27 |
46 |
262 |
Annular Magn.: 0.984 |
|
|
|
|
|
||||
|
28 |
47 |
265 |
Total Magn.: 1.019 |
|
|
|
|
|
||||
|
29 |
48 |
266 |
Total Magn.: 1.006 |
|
|
|
|
|
||||
|
30 |
49 |
270 |
Annular Magn.: 0.967 |
|
|
|
|
|
||||
|
31 |
50 |
272 |
Annular Magn.: 0.959 |
|
|
|
|
|||||
|
Partial in 0.933 (at sunrise) |
||||||||||||
|
32 |
51 |
287 |
Annular Magn.: 0.988 |
|
|
|
|
|
||||
|
33 |
52 |
291 |
Total Magn.: 1.035 |
|
|
|
|
|
||||
|
34 |
53 |
292 |
Total Magn.: 1.027 |
|
|
|
|
|||||
|
Partial in Rome: 0.95 |
||||||||||||
|
35 |
54 |
294 |
Annular Magn.: 0.963 |
|
|
|
|
|
||||
|
36 |
55 |
294 |
Total Magn.: 1.022 |
|
|
|
|
|
||||
|
37 |
56 |
295 |
Annular Magn.: 0.97 |
|
|
|
|
|||||
|
Partial in Rome: 0.921 |
||||||||||||
|
38 |
57 |
301 |
Total Magn.: 1.023 |
|
|
|
|
|
||||
|
||||||||||||
Accordingly, I am finding altogether 18 possible solar
eclipses (#2-20 less #8) that could potentially satisfy the given criteria.
Nonetheless, considering first my prior findings re the timing of Pertinax’s
eclipse I would favor the eclipses within the narrower range of the years
211-223 CE, where, for other reasons as well, I find the total solar
eclipse of
Conclusion:
Among 18 possible solar eclipses, within a 64 year
range, none of which eclipses I cannot positively rule out, as well as within
the greater 127 year range above tabulated, I find the total solar
eclipse of August 14, 212 CE the most suitable and the most likely candidate
for being Gordian III’s solar eclipse.
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