Paranormal
Eclipses were a source of fear and reverence for our ancestors. In a world where any given civilization charted their lives by the movements of these celestial bodies, eclipses were something that stood outside their knowledge; these were the exceptions to the rules and were thought to be signs from the gods.
Chaos ensued, prayers went out for the Sun or the moon to return to normal. These events were considered to be so important that they even altered the course of history. Here is a list of the 10 most important eclipses that have either affected history to some extent or have stood out as being of special significance.
#10: The Sad Tale of Hsi and Ho - October 22, 2134 BC
The Ancient Chinese are known to have been early pioneers of the sciences, which included astronomy. The general belief in that part of the world was that eclipses were caused when a dragon devoured the Sun. The local citizens would create a lot of noise and fire weapons into the sky using any implements that they could find in order to distract or drive away the dragon and restore sunlight.
Predicting eclipses were of prime importance in the field of astronomy, as the Chinese kings used a proper prediction of an eclipse as a sign of their linkage with the gods; others used eclipses as ill omens, as a time for a new monarch or as a mandate for an invasion or coup.
The Chinese have one of the first records of a solar eclipse. As legend has it, on October 22, 2134 BC, the two royal astronomers of the time, Hsi and Ho, were too busy getting drunk and they had neglected their duties. As a result, they failed to predict a solar eclipse. The Emperor was caught completely by surprise when this happened, the entire staff was set into a scramble. The residents of the area, being resourceful, used whatever they could to create noise and scream defiance at the dragon. Slowly but surely, the dragon left its meal and the Sun was restored.
The Emperor was, at this point, extremely angry now that the surprise was gone. He ordered Hsi and Ho beheaded for failing to do their duties. It is now widely thought that they were unable to properly calculate the Saros Cycle for predicting solar eclipses. The date given, October 22, 2134 BC, is actually an approximation made based upon records found in The Shu Ching (Book of History).
Carving of dragon devouring the Sun in China
#9: The King and I and the Eclipse - August 18, 1868 AD
King Mongkut of Siam spent almost thirty years as a monk, studying science, geography, history and mathematics. King Mongkut had decided that in his reign he would reform his nation by doing away with superstitions and converting religious schools into actual places of learning. Mongkut had hired a governess to teach him, Anna Leonowens, as he had wanted someone who would be able to teach him language, science and literature but without the mix of religion and superstition in the throw. (Anna Leonowens eventually wrote about her adventures in teaching the King... her story has become a Broadway play known as "The King and I" and a movie, "Anna and the King.")
Thanks to his knowledge and her teaching abilities, King Mongkut studied astronomical tables, as an amateur, and predicted that an eclipse would occur on August 18, 1868. He also calculated the best place to observe the eclipse from - a grassy marshland in the present-day area of Khao Sam Roi Yot National Park.
He invited other astronomers from England and Asian kingdoms nearby to observe it. Contrary to what Mongkut had hoped, astrologers in his court had predicted dire consequences from the eclipse and that God himself would strike down upon them. On August 18, 1868, the King and his guests waited and sure enough at the predicted time, the eclipse took place. The totality lasted for 6 minutes and 47 seconds, and nothing dire happened in that time. Unfortunately, because they were in a marshland, King Mongkut got bitten by a mosquito and died on his 64th birthday. However, his display of knowledge had set the country on its rocky road to modernization into what is Thailand Today.
#8: The Zulu Eclipse - January 22, 1879 AD
In the late 1800s, the British were trying to gain a foothold into Southern Africa and were brushing up against their last remaining obstacle - the Zulus. In January 1879, Lt. General Thesiger invaded Zululand without authorization from the British Government with a force of some 40,000 men. They were met by a force of 20,000 Zulus. The Zulus only had spears and clubs, the invading army had rifles and two heavy guns.
They met at the rocky Mount Isandlwana, where the Zulu warriors charged and in a formation encircled the British troops, cutting them off from their supplies. In the ensuing chaos, the British army was cut into several sections. As the British army attempted to recover, a giant shadow fell across the land - an almost total solar eclipse was taking place - and despite this being a bad omen for the Zulus, they rallied and destroyed the entire army from all directions in a span of 24 hours. In doing so, they had done the unthinkable - an African army had defeated Britain on a battlefield.
#7: The Last Eclipse of the Millennium - August 11, 1999
The solar eclipse of August 11, 1999 was the most viewed in history. Being the last eclipse of the millennium, it was regarded as a sign of the end of the world. Doomsday prophecies were everywhere, and thousands of Christians flocked to Jerusalem to be in the Holy Land when the "world ended." A few days later, Hurricane Dennis hit North Carolina and there was an earthquake in Turkey, convincing people even more of an impending doom.The significance of this eclipse is its reminder to us regarding the survival of superstitions in this day and age. This was not an isolated incident of modern day remnants of age-old superstitions.
Even as recently as January 9, 2001 when Nigeria was witness to a lunar eclipse and upon seeing that "the moon was starting to disappear", hundreds of youths started attacking hotels, bars and brothels. Reports from Maiduguri said that the youths blamed the eclipse on what they call the preponderance of sinful activities in the city. They attacked mainly Christian targets - a church was burned down, several bars and hotels and police and soldiers had to battle these gangs of youths overnight.
Another case was in 1974, 16 people were killed in Cambodia when soldiers began firing guns at the moon, thinking that the lunar eclipse was actually "a giant monkey eating the moon." As is apparent, traditions or ancient fears can still linger in our cultures today in the form of superstitions.
It is a common practice in several east Asian countries to make as much noise as possible to frighten away the "demon" attacking the Sun or Moon. Even in the 1800s, the Chinese Navy would fire its cannons to frighten the dragon eating the Moon. In other parts of the world, it is common even today to yell, chant, bang pots, shoot bullets into the air and play electronic appliances such as TVs and radios as loudly as possible during an eclipse. This is usually done out of tradition today, rather than out of a sense of fear.
In other parts of the world, eclipses are a sign of "disease" on the Sun or the Moon and that protection is required to avoid contracting the diseases. In Japan, it is a tradition to cover wells during an eclipse to avoid them being poisoned by the cosmic "disease". Eskimos will overturn pots and pans and other utensils to avoid them being contaminated.
In India, people in rural areas will lock themselves inside their houses to avoid the "harmful" rays of the eclipse. Business deals don't take place, temples are shut down and people will fast for the entire day.
A well-known superstition in the Hispanic world says that a pregnant woman shouldn't touch her belly during a lunar eclipse. Doing so will cause the baby to be born with a noticeable birthmark. Another one is that if a pregnant woman goes out during a full moon or lunar eclipse, her baby will born with a harelip or with the features of a wolf. To prevent this the woman should carry a bunch of keys around her waist so that they hang over the baby and deflect the light.
#6: How Greece's Golden Age Ended - August 27, 413 BC
The Greek states and the Spartan forces had been battling each other for control of the Mediterranean in the Peloponnesian war. 17 years into the war, during a relative lull in the conflicts, the Greek side decided to invade Sicily in order to gain a stronghold in the region for resources as well as strategic reasons. The Greeks sent Nicias, an Athenian general, to lead the forces. The Syracusians were also there to prevent them from taking over. At first, Nicias delayed the battle. This hesitation allowed the Syracusians to call for reinforcements from Sparta, providing a blockage to the Greeks
Then, winter arrived and Nicias asked for reinforcements from Athens, but the combined forces were still no match for the Syracusian-Spartan partnership. It was decided that they ought to temporarily retreat and come back later to finish their tasks. The night before they were about to leave, the Moon was eclipsed. This frightened the soldiers. Being a superstitious man, Nicias consulted his priests and asked them what this meant. The priests said that he ought to wait and not withdraw for twenty-seven days. Nicias agreed, but this proved to be a big mistake - The Syracusian forces attacked again and the Greek army was completely destroyed.
News of this defeat reached Athens, where the leaders panicked. Meanwhile, the Persians as well as other Greek states who were until then neutral, decided to join the Spartans as they considered the destruction of the Greek armies to be imminent. Eventually, the states descended into civil wars, the foundation of Greek culture was destroyed; Weakened, the Athenian forces eventually surrendered. Thus ended the Golden Age of Greece.
#5: How a Lunar Eclipse saved Christopher Columbus - February 29, 1504 AD
In 1492, Columbus discovered the New World when he landed at San Salvador. Since that discovery, Columbus made several more voyages to the New World in which he continued to carry the belief that he had reached The Far East by sailing westwards.
On his fourth voyage, Columbus was exploring the coast of Central America when woodworms struck. The worms began to eat holes into the wood of his ship, and this caused leakages and would inevitably cause the ship to sink if it weren't repaired soon. They landed at Jamaica where he decided to beach the ship and carry out repairs. This would take a considerable amount of time and Columbus and his crew spent over a year there as they waited for his lieutenant's ship to arrive and help them.
The local Jamaican natives found Columbus and his crew rather fascinating, owing to the physical differences apparent, as well as their mysterious language which they didn't understand. Being hospitable, they gave Columbus and his crew food, supplies and helped them build shelters. Columbus' crew, however, were an ungrateful bunch and began robbing and mistreating the natives.
The natives grew wary of the mistreatment and decided to cut off their supply of food and assistance to them. The sailors, already frustrated about being stranded in a place for so long, were willing to go to war with the natives to force them into slavery. Columbus, however, came up with a better idea.
He had in his possession an almanac by Johannes Müller which covered several aspects of astronomy between 1475 and 1506. This was an important book for sailors at the time as it was an immense help in charting out their courses over unknown waters. Studying this almanac had made Columbus realize that on February 29, 1504, there would be a total lunar eclipse.
Armed with this knowledge, he asked the natives to meet with him on February 29th, which was just a few days away. When the natives arrived at the appointed time, Columbus told them that the gods were displeased with them for not providing assistance and would show his disapproval by "removing the moon from the sky". The natives of course did not take this seriously, but as the sun set and the moon rose, it was obvious that something was different. The moon rose with part of its lower disc missing and soon enough, it had turned into an eerie, bloody red.
Columbus strikes fear into the Jamaicans by making the moon "disappear"
The natives were terrified by this and most likely believing that it was the gods who controlled such events, were definitely frightened by the power of this strange man. They begged Columbus to return the moon to its former self and that they would not cut off supplies; they'd do anything he asked.
Columbus told them that he'd have to consult with the gods to decide their fate. He went into his tent where he had an hourglass which was keeping track of the amount of time that had passed by. He waited until the 48 minutes of totality were almost over, and then went back outside to speak to the natives once more. He told them that the gods were going to forgive them if they kept their promise to his crew and that they would now put the moon back into the sky. On cue, the lunar eclipse totality was over and the moon emerged from the Earth's shadow. The grateful natives then continued to serve the crew members and Columbus until his relief ship finally arrived and took him back to Spain.
#4: The Battle of the Eclipse - May 28, 585 BC
Herodotus, the world's first historian, wrote of the ongoing battle between the Lydians and the Medes in present-day Turkey. The two sides - the Lydians and the Medes - had been fighting for over fifteen years due to a dispute between the two nations. On this particular day, May 28, 585 BC, the battle was at its peak when suddenly, the sky turned dark. Both warring armies stopped what they were doing and looked up to see that the sun had disappeared.
It must have been quite a scene, with thousands of men killing each other, the dramatic darkness which covered the sun and the sudden silence descending on the land as every eye was turned to the heavens. They viewed this as a sign from the gods that they wanted the fighting to stop and so everyone put their weapons on the ground immediately. Soon enough a truce was hastily hammered out between the two nations, strengthened by a double marriage between the two main families' children, and it was agreed that the Halys River would serve as the boundary between them.Herodotus also wrote that the Greek astronomer Thales had in fact predicted this solar eclipse.
"...suddenly the day became night. And this change of the day Thales the Milesian had foretold to the Ionians laying down as a limit this very year in which the change took place. The Lydians however and the Medes, when they saw that it had become night instead of day, ceased from their fighting and were much more eager both of them that peace should be made between them." - Herodotus' Histories
The warring nations most likely were not aware of this prediction, and it is also disputed as to whether Thales devised the method himself or simply copied the knowledge from the Egyptians; nevertheless, the prediction had been made and did come true. It is for this reason that the Battle of the Eclipse is considered to be the first battle of the modern age, owing to the fact that the date of the battle can be determined due to the solar eclipse.
#3: Emperor Louis' Solar Eclipse - May 5, 840 AD
Louis the Pious, son of the legendary Charlemagne, was the Holy Roman Emperor and King of the Franks from 814 AD until his death in 840 AD. When Louis' wife died, he considered that it was due to divine retribution and it took a long time for his counsel to convince him to remarry. He eventually did remarry and had another son - his fourth. Louis tried to bequeath a portion of his kingdom to his fourth son for after his death, but this did not please Louis' other three sons among whom the shares were already uneven and cause for much tension. The final two decades of Louis reign were marked by several civil wars as a result wherein he divided and redivided the land among his sons various times, all in an unfair manner.
Despite his grief over the civil war and his fighting sons, Louis was victorious in his campaigns but felt guilty over what he had done. Then one day, on May 5, 840 AD, there occurred a solar eclipse. Louis, a deeply religious man, considered that this was a foretelling by god of his death and impending punishment. He was so frightened by this that he died just a few minutes later thus fulfilling his own fear-inspired prophecy. This plunged his kingdom, once again, into a chaotic civil war among the brothers; this war was finally settled with the signing of the Treaty of Verdun wherein the lands were then divided up into areas which today are known as Germany, Italy and France. This was a major event in the shaping of Europe as we know it today.
#2: The End of the Middle Ages - May 22, 1453 AD
In 324 AD, the Roman Emperor Constantine moved his capital from Rome to Byzantium and renamed it "Constantinople". For a thousand years after that, while the rest of the Roman Empire collapsed and degenerated into conflicts, disease and civil war, the Byzantine Empire withstood the test of time and served as the last bastion of the Roman Empire's strength and stability in the region.The Ottomans made several attempts at capturing the capital, but these attempts failed. However, in 1451 the Sultan Mehmed II decided to lay siege to Constantinople because he had recently acquired a new, powerful cannon which would be capable of destroying almost any wall.
Mehmed II lays siege to Constantinple
Initially, this was proving to be fruitless - the slow reloading time of the cannon allowed the defenders to quickly repair the broken parts of the wall. The main driving force behind the zeal of the defenders was of prime importance here - their fighting spirit was maintained by an old prophecy that said that "Constantinople would never fall while the moon was waxing."
On May 22, 1453, their morale was crushed when the full moon rose in eclipse. Mehmad II was fully aware of this legend and decided to wait for a few days before resuming the attack. During these five days, it was said that "Heaven itself had turned against Constantinople," which was made evident through further signs. An appeal was made to the Mother of God. Her icon was carried around on the shoulders of the faithful around the streets of the city; everyone who wasn't keeping watch on the walls joined in the procession. As the icon made its way through the streets, it suddenly slipped off its platform. Despite being a small object, the men said that "it felt as heavy as lead" and had a difficult time replacing it back onto the platform. As the procession continued, a thunderstorm struck. The rain came down in strong torrents and children were almost swept away in the floods. The procession had to be abandoned.
The next day, to add to the omens, the whole city was blotted out by a thick fog, which was an unusual occurrence for the month of May in that region. And that night when the fog had lifted, strange lights were seen hovering around the dome of the Great Church of the Holy Wisdom - this was seen as the final sign of the Divine Presence leaving the city.
Five days after the lunar eclipse, Mehmad II renewed his attack on the city as the moon was waning gibbous. As fate and luck would have it, one gate in a portion of the city had been overlooked during security checks and was found to be unlocked. The Ottomans rushed in, and Constantinople was captured easily from there on.
Because the fall of Constantinople played such an important role in European and Middle Eastern politics, this is considered to be the point at which the Middle Ages, as a historical era, ends.
Old woodcutting of the Fall of Constantinople
#1: Einstein's Eclipse - May 29, 1919 AD
In 1687, Newton published his monumental work - the Philosophiæ Naturalis Principia Mathematica.In this book, Newton laid down the foundations of the workings of the Universe based upon his ideas of gravity, space and time. According to him, space was fixed in accordance with Euclid's laws and time was absolute. Newton's theories were a fundamental set of rules which remained unchallenged and shaped the scientific world for over 200 years.
Finally, in 1905, Albert Einstein emerged onto the scene with his Theory of Relativity which dispensed with the Newtonian view of the Universe - but it was not fully accepted. Einstein spent the next 10 years deriving other observations and consequences from his theory and in 1915, his theory gained widespread attention. He was able to describe motion as it would occur in a Newtonian universe, but his version required space to be curved.
By this time war had struck Germany and his paper had to be smuggled through Europe to Cambridge, where it was read by the leading British astrophysicist, Eddington. Eddington read his paper and realized that there was a way to test Einstein's theory. Space, being curved, meant that even light traveling through space would have to be affected by gravity when it passed near a massive object. The only problem was that the only massive object known to the world, the Sun, was extremely bright and nothing near it could be observed.
The solution was that during a total solar eclipse, the Sun would be blocked for a few minutes, and this would serve as the perfect opportunity to view the stars nearby. This would involve recording the positions of the stars near the sun and comparing them to their position from the night before. If Einstein's theory was correct, the stars would appear in a different position than they would otherwise have appeared.
It was also figured out that the May 29, 1919 eclipse would be ideal, because it would last for 6 minutes and the position of the Sun would be near Hyades which was a bright cluster of stars and the perfect candidates for observation.
Two expeditions were sent out to record the eclipse for that day - one went to Brazil and one went to the West African coast, both of whom recorded their observations.
The Hyades Cluster
Eddington himself measured the difference in positions between the previous night and the eclipse and compared them against the calculations as ordained by Einstein's theory. This was a painstaking and slow process because the calculations had to be extremely accurate and take into account various factors such as daytime temperatures, the bluriness of the stars and the glow of the Sun's corona.
Finally on 6 November of that year, Eddington called a special meeting of the Royal Society and announced his findings - the measurements did not support Newton’s long-accepted theory of gravity. Instead, they agreed with the predictions of Einstein’s new theory. Overnight, Einstein became a household name and was on the front page of almost every newspaper.
Photo of one of the measured stars (May 29, 1919 solar eclipse) to confirm Einstein’s light deflection. The image has been magnified 281 times. The red dot shows where the star’s position should have been had the sun not been present.
With the test against this one eclipse, Einstein's Theory changed the way we looked at the universe and altered the course of the human civilization, making this the greatest and most important eclipse of all time.
