dipper@utastro.UUCP (Debbie Byrd) (05/28/85)
What may be the earliest accurately dated event in human history occured on today's date more than twenty five centuries ago. More -- after this. May 28 The Solar Eclipse of 584 B.C. On today's date long ago -- in the year 584 B.C. -- two armies struggled with swords on the shores of the Aegean Sea. The Medes and the Lydians had been at war for six years. Neither side appeared to be winning. But as the battle that day grew fierce, a strange thing began to happen. In a matter of minutes, the daytime sky turned dark -- as thought twilight were falling in midday. Suddenly the sun itself appeared as a shimmering crescent -- then utterly disappeared. The two armies were terrified. By the time the sun returned -- only a few minutes later -- royal priests on both sides had decided that the gods didn't approve of the battle. They immediately signed an eternal treaty of peace. The event of May 28, 584 B.C., was a total eclipse of the sun. An eclipse of the sun can take place because, although the moon is about four hundred times smaller than the sun, it's also about four hundred times closer to Earth. That accident of geometry makes the moon and sun just about the same size in our sky -- which lets the much-smaller moon blot out the sun. Today we know the reasons behind a solar eclipse. But they're still awe-inspiring experiences. The eclipse of 584 B.C. became so famous that no one ever forgot it -- and today that eclipse is thought to be the earliest accurately dated event in human history. Script by Deborah Byrd. (c) Copyright 1984, 1985 McDonald Observatory, University of Texas at Austin