Talk:Mursili's eclipse

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Somebody needs to check the Paul Astrom reference -- according to NASA's map [1] the 1308 eclipse didn't even come near Anatolia (meaning, it would have been partial, not annular). Probably the sun might have risen partially obscured, that might have been noticed, and 4 years after the 1312 eclipse, people may have watched the sun with suspicion, still the 1312 date seems vasty more likely. Another point is, however, that the eclipse may have been "moved" retrospectively to align with the campaign, this sort of thing is frequent in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, lots of eclipses there have no historical counterpart. dab () 13:44, 30 March 2006 (UTC)

I don't think the eclipse was moved. In the earlier years of Mursili's annal, he's preparing to attack Uhha-Ziti of Arzawa. A meteor streaks out of the sky and crashes into Apasas, where Uhha-Ziti was staying. Why did Mursili not insert the solar portent then? -Zimriel|t 15:18, 25 May 2006 (UTC)

If I remember correctly the eclipse is not mentioned in the Annals, but in the fragmentary text KUB 14.4 = CTH 70; can anyone check please? Thanks, Federico Rocchi [14 May 2007].


[edit] Julian calendar?

I removed this note - doesn't make any sense to me. Who would give Julian calendar dates before the Julian calendar was invented?! It can only be a reconstructed date from the Gregorian calendar. SockPuppetForTomruen (talk) 21:21, 18 April 2008 (UTC)

Note that the dates given are in the Julian calendar; this means that the 24 June eclipse was shortly before, not after, summer solstice of 1312 BC.