Chronology and Science
"The units of time are repeated again and again and always the same: one day is like the other. Only events - birth and death, good or bad harvest - allocate units of time, making them unequal in meaning and, thus, memorable. Therefore, chronography( the chronological exposition of events) -the method of establishing time intervals between events, as well as events and the present time, differs from the science of calendars, which deals with standard time units.
However, the elements of absolute chronology are not isolated dates, but homogeneous time intervals, a continuous series of which leads to the present. Absolute chronology borrows the concept of "year" from the calendar, but a chronological year is a unit of measurement of history, that is, a link in the goal of the years indicated in another way. This is the end-to-end designation and distinguishes the chronological year from the calendar year. "
In these words, the famous chronology specialist E. Bickerman outlined the connection of the chronology with the science of
about calendars. Of course, today there is a certain harmony between the calendar and the chronological account of time, the civil year used in everyday life is adjusted with sufficient accuracy to the change of the seasons, i.e., with the astronomical unit of the years account. Such harmony, however, was absent in the distant past. The reason for this was primarily the imperfection of calendars as "tools" for counting individual intervals of time, and E. Bikerman expressed his aphorism: "Calendar is such a thing that neither logic nor astronomy can explain. ..".
For example, in ancient Greek language, a distinction was made between the year as a year cycle of changing seasons and a civil year, the duration of which was sometimes set quite arbitrarily. According to E. Bikerman, if the official for which the year( eponym) was designated, served only six months, "then the civil year had the same length - the year became a six-month period. Similarly, in Babylonia, the year initially included only six months. In the ancient Sumerian texts, the dating according to the period of activity of officials also covers years of different magnitude. "And further, Bikerman writes: "It was only under Caesar, under the influence of astrology, that the New Year's holiday acquired an independent significance of the timestamp of the beginning of the year and, thus, marked the beginning of our civil year and our New Year holidays."
Meanwhile, the events of the history of the Middle East, Greece and Rome are associated mainly with this or that epic year( under the rule of archons in Greece, consuls in Rome).Therefore, first of all, the problem arose: to correctly establish the sequence of government officials and, further, to establish the remoteness of at least a few specific eponymic years from the present. These tasks proved extremely difficult. As E. Bickerman notes, all the proposed lists of archons of the Hellenistic era differ from each other and they are all equally unreliable: "The number of Athenian archons, for which the Julian dates are defined, after 290 BC.E., remains extremely insignificant. .. The compilers could distort the lists or simply invent eponyms. .. ".The rulers themselves could for some reason or another "backdating" postpone the date of the beginning of their rule. For example, Charles II, King of England, ascended the throne on May 29, 1660, but his reign was counted from the date of the execution of Charles I - January 30, 1649.
Lists of Roman consuls are considered reliable, starting from 300 BC.e. At the same time, however, until 222 BC.e.there was no definite date for the consul to enter office: he could start and end his service on any day during the seasonal year. But in fact together with it the civil year also came to an end!
Therefore, today, many events that occurred even during the lifetime of Julius Caesar, and could not translate into the dates of the Julian calendar.
Yes, the ancient calendars were too imperfect, and the dating systems were too confusing. Therefore, as E. Bickerman points out, "for the dates of Greek history and for Roman pre-Julian dates, excluding special cases( for example, dates fixed by astronomical phenomena), it is possible to establish only a year according to the Julian calendar and the approximate time of the year of the corresponding event. For the Middle East, the limits of the permissible error rapidly increase as we go into the depths of the centuries beyond 900 BC.e. Until the XIV century. BC.e.in the most favorable cases, the margin of error reaches 10 or more years, by the XVII century.they reach about 50 years, but for an earlier time and up to 100 years. "In the same case, "anyone who tries to translate ancient dating in the dates of our calendar, must remember the legal rule of caveat emptor -" let the beware beware. .. ".
Alas, it is necessary to be attentive also when reading the latest scientific and publicistic literature. As an example, we want to draw the reader's attention here to the dating of the events described by L. Feuchtwanger in his "Jewish War"( Compositions: T. VII.- M., 1965).On page 315 we read:
"On April 23, that is, 10 Nisan according to Jewish reckoning, they performed( Roman warriors) from Caesarea, on the 25th they encamped in. .. the nearest village in front of Jerusalem. .. And when 14 nisan, on the eve of the feast on the day of the Paschal Supper, the last pilgrims reached the city,. .. the Roman advance detachment already appeared behind them on the heights. "Further, on p.386 we learn that "the death of the temple was accomplished on August 29, 823, after the founding of Rome, the city, 9 aba 3830 according to the Jewish calendar, and the same aba was destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar the first temple."And US.391: "On September 25, a month after the fall of the temple and five months after the siege began, the Upper Town fell."
Let's see how the eyewitness Joseph Flavius dates the same events. In his work "On the War of the Jews"( St. Petersburg, 1786-1787) on p.145 we find that "when the feast of unleavened bread, the month of xanfik on the fourteenth day," Tit approached Jerusalem. On page 181: "The Romans, having begun the structure of the ramparts( around the city - IK) of the month of Artemisia on the second day. ..", "on the day of the month Loya brought the ramparts to the end( p. 219), after which( 221) "it was a fateful day, which was five and a quarter of a month Loy. .. one warrior. .. threw fire through the golden window" into the temple. After further fighting for the city, "Jerusalem was finally taken in the second year of the autocracy of Vespasian, the month of Gorpiei on the eighth day."
As you can see, Flavius uses the names of months, not the Hebrew names known to many people outside Palestine, but Macedonian ones. Both calendars are lunisolar with the same number of days in months in this period of the calendar year. And if Nisan is Xandikos, then the 2nd month( Iyar) is Artemisios, 5th( Av) -Loios and 6th( Elul) -Gorpeos. It is still necessary to clarify, about what year there is a speech. The 823rd year "from the founding of Rome" began on April 21, 70 AD.e. The year of the Jewish era of 3830 is also the 70th year of AD.e.(= 3830 - 3760), which began, however, on September 5 st. Art.69 and continued until September 24, 1970.
Next, we find on what day the Julian calendar was in 70 AD.e.14 Nisan = 14 Xandikos, after which it will be possible to compare all the other dates mentioned above. From the tables of FK Ginzel( see E, Bikerman, Chronology of the Ancient World, M., 1975, pp. 145) we find that the March New Moon was in 70 on 30.82 March, and the Jewish Passover-15 Nisan-30,82 + 14,76 - 31 = 14,58 April. Calculation using Gauss formulas( for c = 0, M = 45) also gives Easter on April 14.Therefore, 10 Nisan was not 23, but only 9 April 70 AD.e. Further, from 10 Nisan to 9 Av, there are only 117 days, so that 9 Awa was then on August 4 in the Julian calendar, but not in the 29th. Meanwhile, Flavius says that the temple was set on fire not by 9, but by 15 Loios, and this is August 10.Also we will find that 10 Gorpeos is September 4, 1970.
And, finally, if in the date "the temple was destroyed by fire 9 Awa" there is an imprint of the desire to emphasize the coincidence with the destruction of the first temple by Nebuchadnezzar( as Feuchtwanger also says), then here toodiscrepancy, because not on the 9th day, but "in the fifth month, on the seventh day of the month. .. Nebuzaradan. .. came to Jerusalem."And he burned the house of the Lord. .. "(Bible, IV Kings, 25, 8 - 9). ..
New Year over Europe
Great caution is also necessary in the chronological ordering of events that took place in various countries of medieval Europe only some 600 or 1000 years ago. The fact is that they used different calendar styles in different( and sometimes the same) time. The beginning of the year could be counted from December 25, January 1, March 1, March 25, from Easter and September 1.
The account of the days in the year from the holiday of the "Nativity of Christ"( dated December 25) was conducted in Rome from the 4th century.n. In France, from the VIII to the end of the 10th century, in Germany from the 9th century, and throughout the country the beginning of the year was postponed here on December 25 in 1310.
The beginning of the year from March 1, already used inIII century.n.e.calculators of the date of Christian Easter, gradually spread to many countries of Europe;from the VI century.it was used in France, Venice and a number of other states.
Very popular in Europe was the blagoveshchensky style( from the "incarnation of the Lord" on March 25), which was also used in two versions. So, in Florence the year began on March 25 after the year with the same designation was started in other cities and regions that used other styles. In Pisa, the designation of the year was also changed on March 25, but 12 months earlier than in Florence. The Papal Chancery in Rome in the XII and the beginning of the XIII century.followed the style of Blagoveschensky Florentine type, although in her documents of the time there is also a Christmas style, which she adhered to until about the middle of the 10th century. In the first decades of the XII century.in the papal documents there is a Pisman-type Blagoveshchensky style. Then, at the end of the second decade of the 13th century, the Christmas style was again. But the papal bull about the reform of the calendar of 1582 is dated Florentine in 1581. ..
The Annunciation style was used in England up to 1753, in France in the 9th-10th centuries, but in the second half of the 11th century.here it was replaced by the Paschal( the beginning of the year - from the "pre-Easter" Sabbath), and this last style gradually became dominant in this country, although in some regions of France the Blagoveshchensky was still kept for a long time, while in others the Christmas style appeared. Easter style in the XIV century. It was widely used in many cities of Germany( in Cologne, Munster, etc.).
In the southern part of Italy( for example, in Naples) since the Byzantine times the beginning of the year was counted from September 1.In Russia, this style was used from 1493 to 1700.
The beginning of the year from January 1 is celebrated in documents of the Holy Roman Empire from the 13th-14th centuries, in Spain since 1556, in Denmark and Sweden - since 1559, in France -from 1563, in the Netherlands - since 1575, in Scotland - since 1600, in Germany - since 1691, in Venice - since 1797. In the documents of the papal chancellery, the beginning of the year is combined from January 1, beginning in 1691
It would really not be possible to orient in this chaos of styles if the authors of those or other documents did not specify additional elements of dating - indices, inTo survive, the Sun circles and "golden numbers".
We also note in passing that in many countries of medieval Europe the dating was carried out "according to Cisiojanus": 12 12-line poems. They were composed of the first syllables of the names of the most important holidays or "saints" so that each syllable beginning with a capital letter corresponded to the ordinal day of the month on which this holiday occurred( one syllable per day).The very name of the method of counting the days came from the poem in January:
Cislo Janus Epi Sibi vendicat Os Feli Mar An
Prisca Fab Ag Vincen Ti Pau Po nobile lumen.
But let us digress a bit from all these difficulties, so that at least "the corner of your eye" see how the first day of the New Year was greeted by the different peoples of Europe. And since for a long time this day was combined with the holiday of the "Nativity of Christ", one can not leave aside some of its ritual moments. First of all, we note that in ancient Rome, the year ended Saturnalia - festivities in honor of Saturn - the god of crops and fertility. During this holiday, Saturn was sacrificed a pig. The echo of this custom is found almost in all the peoples of Europe. ..
Italians believed that eating New Year's almonds and other types of nuts, they contribute to improve soil fertility, increase livestock, the well-being of the family. Until now, there lives the belief that the New Year needs to get rid of all the bad and sad. Therefore, at midnight on December 31 from the windows of houses on the streets of Italian cities with a roar flying old junk - broken furniture, broken porcelain and glass dishes, etc. Italians said that on Christmas night in the rivers flowing oil, and in the sources, honey. Anyone who aspired to become rich at midnight for Christmas was picking up water from the spring. In the morning of January 1, in some areas of Italy, people today also rush to sources to collect "new water". ..
In Scotland on the eve of the New Year, a bright fire is planted in the fireplace and the whole family silently sits down beside it. When the hands of the clock approach 12, the master silently opens the door and keeps it open until the last blow is heard. So he releases the old year and lets in a new one.
In England, the custom to decorate houses for Christmas with branches of greenery-ivy, holly, etc., is preserved, symbolizing the undying nature. Above the door a branch of mistletoe is strengthened, giving the right to kiss everyone entering the door, over which the ode is hanging. On New Year's Eve, these branches of mistletoe were lit and with such torches they walked around their plot of land to destroy the spells of evil spirits and get a good harvest in the future.
In Sweden, children have been collecting old dishes for several months to break it into the New Year on the door of those they love and respect. Catching the joker, the hosts treat him with cakes, nuts and other goodies.
From time immemorial, the Germans had a custom to decorate the house on the New Year with green branches;it was believed that this guarantees a person in the new year health and happiness. At first they were branches of cherries, plums, apple trees, which were put into the water a few weeks before the holidays in the hope that the forces of the plant awakening to life will pass to humans and animals. Over time, the branches were replaced by an evergreen tree. On the eve of "Christmas" and New Year in the north of Germany for dinner served dishes that "carry the germ of life": fish eggs, peas, beans, poppy, eggs, millet or barley porridge. The indispensable dish of this meal was pork with sauerkraut.
In Spain on the night of the New Year, young people in freakish masks, led by the "old man" and "old woman" go to their homes, singing New Year's songs. The "old man" and the "old woman" carry brooms with them and, leaving the house, sweep the floor behind them to clear the house of the evil spirits accumulated during the year. In some areas of Spain, the effigy of the old year is solemnly burned.
On ritual bread, farmers from Northern Greece depict a plow with bulls, pastoralists - sheep. This bread is shared with livestock. In Greece, attach great importance to the identity of the first person entering the house on New Year's Eve. On the island of Amorgos, the owner of the house himself comes to them, who, going out into the street, then comes in, takes two steps inside the house and says: "Come in, good, happiness," then step back two steps and say: "Come out, failures, misfortunes!"So it repeats three times. In some places, people go to visit relatives and friends to congratulate them on the New Year, bring with them a moss stone and, dropping it in the room, say: "May the owner's money be as heavy as this stone!"
OnFor several days before and after the New Year, in most European countries, you can meet mummers. But especially a lot of them these days in Switzerland. The mummers walk the streets, smear the faces of women with soot, hit their counterparts with branches. Entering the yard, they whip cattle and fruit trees with branches. It is believed that all this should bring health to people and promote the fertility of the entire surrounding nature.
One of the important moments in Christmas and New Year's rituals, the origins of which lie in ancient times, is the burning of logs. His fire was attributed to a purifying, life-giving force. In addition, together with the burning trunk, the old year with all the bad things that it accumulated was also decaying. The log was lit very solemnly. In the hearth he laid the head of the family, surrounded by children and family. The log should burn slowly and for a long time, otherwise disaster was expected. The stored bunches were lit during a thunderstorm to protect the house from lightning strikes. ..
An important place in the ritual Christmas meal of the peoples of Yugoslavia was occupied by chesnitsa - bread, decorated with various figures and patterns from the dough, as well as green branches. This bread was a symbol of fertility, he was credited with a miraculous power. For the preparation of cheddar flour was taken from the first or the last sheaf of harvest, on water for kneading went to the source before sunrise, and, coming to the source, greeted him and threw in it small coins, grains, apples. A ritual log - a poor fellow - was supposed to bring a man from the forest. Approaching the tree, he greeted him and chopped it so that the tree fell to the east, otherwise he was looking for something else( in Bulgaria they kept the tree from falling to the ground at all).In Montenegro, the hostess was greeted by the poor fellow with an unoccupied loaf of bread. They brought the poor fellow into the house as solemnly as possible, sprinkling it with grain and pouring wine, and before lighting, they adorned with green branches of pine, laurel and other trees. The unburned poor fellow was kept until the sowing was started and baked bread on it, which the plowmen ate in the field. In memory of their ancestors on Christmas and New Year's, candles were lit, which they put on the window. If the candle went out, it would have foreshadowed the death of one of the family members next year. On New Year's Eve, they did not eat the bird, so that happiness, like a bird, did not fly out of the house. ..
About a week before Christmas, the Austrian housewives baked special bread, and when they put it in the oven, all the homemakers were present: the more eyes they lookon him, the better the harvest should be next year. According to the belief, this bread, on which the signs of the cross or circles( the sign of the Sun!) Were made with a barn key, drove away the diseases, gave strength and health.
In some areas of Hungary, in order to be healthy and rich in the new year, washing in the morning instead of soap, they rubbed their hands with coins. On the eve of the New Year, a few minutes before midnight, someone from the family, clutching money, got up on the table and with the last blow of the clock jumped to the floor - "in the New Year with money."
Czechs and Slovaks believed that on Christmas Eve you can not go far from home, then not to wander all year;on this day you can not also sleep and even lie, otherwise "you will be ill and polyagut-ears of corn."In Poland, it was ensured that the carols passed through all the houses, then no lightning struck in such a village.
Yes, although in different parts of Europe people speak different languages and have a very different way of life and style of thinking, they have been united for many centuries by the same desire: to bewitch the New Year's health, happiness and abundance. ..
Help "The Tsarinasky "and" Great Sotis "
To reduce the events that took place in various countries into a single channel of world history to a certain extent helped that the compilers of the ancient chronicles sometimes compared these events with the view of the starry sky, left in their records the mentionan eclipse of the Sun or the Moon, the positions of the planets, the appearance of Halley's comet, etc. Here are a few examples illustrating what has been said.
In the ruins of the Babylonian library of King Ash-Shurbanipal, tablets were found containing records of 21-year observations of the planet Venus, which the ancient Babylonians called Nin-dar-anna( "Queen of the Sky").Here is one of the texts: "In the month of Abu on the sixth day, Nin-dar-ann appears in the east. .. until the first day Nisanu it is in the east, on the eleventh day it disappears. For three months she is absent from the sky, on the eleventh day, the duet Nin-dar-ann breaks out in the west. There will be war in the state;the harvest will be rich. "
Ancient astronomers conducted these observations, apparently for the needs of astrological predictions. Observations were conducted during the reign of King Amisadugi, the penultimate of the 11 kings of the First Babylonian dynasty, the sixth king of which was the famous Hammurabi.
But when does this dynasty rule? Historians could not say anything concrete about this. Therefore, they placed high hopes on the decoding of the mentioned records of observations of Venus and were not mistaken.
In fact, the dates of these observations are indicated by the lunar calendar. In other words, in the texts the phases of Venus are compared with the phases of the moon. In particular, in one of the texts it is noted that in the sixth year of the reign of King Amisadugi on the twenty-sixth day of the month of the Arachsam, Venus disappeared in the west and on the third day of the month Kislimu appeared again - already in the east. Here we are talking about the so-called lower connection of the planet with the Sun: at this moment, the Earth, Venus and the Sun are almost on a straight line. But just then the new moon was coming, that is, the Earth, the Moon and the Sun also occupied a similar position. And this means that at that moment the celestial coordinates of Venus and the Moon were very close to the coordinates of the Sun.
Calculations carried out by astronomers showed that this phenomenon took place on January 23, 1971 Don.e., then it was repeated( but with the worst coincidence of the mutual position of Venus and the Moon) alternately every 56 and 64 years. The next best coincidence occurred on December 25, 1641 BC.e.
Given some archaeological data, historians came to the conclusion that the sixth year of the reign of Amisadugi was in 1641 BC.e. Hence it followed that the entire 1st Babylonian dynasty ruled the country from 1894 to 1595 BC.E., and the 6th king of this dynasty Hammurabi - from 1792 to 1750 BC.e. Thanks to this, the Assyrian history was also regulated, since the contemporary of Hammurabi was the Assyrian king Shamshiadad I. Nevertheless, data on the first eight or nine kings of another Babylonian, the so-called Kassite dynasty, historians never have, although the kings of this dynasty ruled about the samesame time.
Today it is impossible to say with certainty how many millennia - three, four or even more - there was an ancient Egyptian civilization. Around 300 BC.e.the Egyptian priest Manetho made a list of the kings of Egypt, in which there were a total of 31 dynasties. The history of Egypt Manetho wrote in Greek, having laid it down in the interval of 3912 years. Unlike the Babylonian dynasties, which often overlapped, in Egypt( with few exceptions), the dynasty of kings were successively followed one after another. Having specified the years of the reign of one of them, one could order the whole history of ancient Egypt as a whole.
However, in ancient Egyptian papyri there are almost no records of an astronomical nature. So, among the huge number of written documents of Ancient Egypt, there was found only one( and that doubtful) mention of a private solar eclipse of 610 BC.e. And yet, the "strong points" for several periods of Egyptian history were established precisely because of astronomical phenomena.
First of all, it is mentioned in the so-called Kahun papyrus that in the 7th year of the reign of Senusert III( XII dynasty) the rising of Sirius( meaning its heliacic sunrise) was celebrated in
on the 16th day of the 8th month, i.e.,in the 225th day of the year. Cenzorin noted that the heliacal rise of Sirius( Sotis) on the day of the Egyptian New Year took place in 139 AD.As already mentioned, the Egyptian year had 365 days, and therefore for every 4 years it started moving one day back( relative to the Julian calendar).After 1460 sunny years the New Year, having bypassed all the days of the Julian calendar, coincided again with the day of the first, heliacic rising of Sirius. Counting the intervals of time 1460 years ago, we find that before 139 g.e.this took place in 1321, 2781, 4241, and so on. BC.e. Taking into account some archaeological data, historians came to the conclusion that the closest to the XII dynasty was the date of 2781 BC.e. By the time of the reign of Senusert III, the beginning of the Egyptian calendar year had shifted by 225 days. Hence, from the date 2781 BC.e.passed 225 X 4 = 900 years. Thus, the seventh year of the reign of Senusert III is 2781 - 900 = 1881 BC.e. It is known that all the previous kings of this dynasty ruled Egypt for only 119 years. And this means that the beginning of this dynasty falls on 2000 BC.her reign ended in 1788 BC.e. Similarly, it was found that the kings of the XVIII dynasty began to rule Egypt from 1584 BC.e.
Further, in the annals of King Tuthmosis III it is said that on the 23rd year of his reign, on the 21st day of the 9th month, according to the Egyptian calendar, there was a new moon( more precisely, neomenia).Calculations showed that this happened on May 21, 1503 BC.e.(other dates distant from the one mentioned for 19 years are not suitable here, since then the general scheme of the reign of kings and dynasties is violated).This date is fully consistent with the deciphering of the so-called papyrus Ebers, according to which the beginning of the Egyptian year in 1550 BC.e. It was noted on September 3, and the 21st day of the 9th month actually fell on May 21.
Until now, many "diplomatic documents" have survived - a correspondence of pharaohs with other kings of the East. This made it possible to establish "strong points" in the chronology of other peoples.
On the mention of eclipses of
Astronomers conducted a truly fantastic amount of complex calculations to compile a list of all eclipses that were observed on Earth in the historically foreseeable past or will be observed in the near future. So, in the fundamental book of the Austrian scientist T. Oppoltser( 1841-1886) "The Canon of eclipses" contains data on eclipses of the Sun and Moon from 1.08.e.to 2163 years BC.e.(total about 8000 solar and 5000 lunar eclipses).The modern Canon of eclipses, published in 1967, contains the conditions of 10,000 solar and 6,000 lunar eclipses until 2500 AD.e. Comparison of the calculated date of eclipse with a record about it in this or that ancient chronicle largely helped historians in ordering the events of ancient history.
This is how, for example, astronomers helped historians to correct the mistake made by Herodotus.
In the VII century. BC.e. Asia Minor along the river Galis( present name Kizil-Irmak) was divided by two powerful powers at the time - Lydia and Media. Soon a war broke out between them. She ended, according to Herodotus, as follows: "For five years this war lasted, and the Medians conquered it, then the Lydians defeated and once even in some night battle. So, with this success, this protracted war continued, and for the sixth year in a single battle suddenly the day turned into night. This solar eclipse predicted the Ionians Thales of Miletus [c.625 - approx.547 years. BC.e.] and even accurately determined in advance the year in which it came. When the Lydians and Medes saw that the day turned into night, they stopped the battle and hurriedly concluded peace. "
Herodotus compiled his "History" 150 years after the event occurred, and for unknown reasons he associated it with another eclipse that occurred on September 30, 610 BC.The band of this total eclipse lasted( roughly) through the years. Shecin, Lviv and Rostov-on-Don, in the place of the Battle of the Galis River( and even more so in Greece), it was private. In fact, the battle in question took place in 585 g, BC.e. It was then, on May 28, 585 BC.e.the band of a total solar eclipse crossed the Pyrenees, Italy, Greece and Asia Minor. At the battle site, a solar eclipse occurred 45 minutes before sunset.
Mistakenly combining these eclipses, relating them to 610 BC.Herodotus incorrectly dated a whole series of events that occurred in Asia Minor and Greece in the 7th-6th centuries. BC.e., arbitrarily combined the activities of many historical personalities of different generations. In particular, Herodotus most seriously describes the meeting of the Greek politician and poet Solon( circa 640-560 BC) with the king of Lydia Crees, their conversation about the happiest person( Solon allegedly told Creza: "So, Croesus, man - only a game of chance ").Later, writes Herodotus, when Cyrus, the Persian autocrat, came to see how Croesus would be burned at the stake, he heard Croesus say Solon's name three times than intrigued Cyrus and ultimately saved his own life. .. In fact, Solon's journey to Egypt dates back to 594-584, and Croesus began reigning from 560 BC.E., so Solon could not meet with him.
As noted by O. Neugebauer( USA), we also have to state that the "story about the prediction of a solar eclipse by Thales is no more reliable than another story about the philosopher Anaxagoras's prediction( about 500-428 BC) of a fallmeteorites ".There is a legend that Thales during his stay in Egypt met with the ability of ancient Babylonian astronomers to predict eclipses. However, from the surviving astronomical texts compiled by Babylonian astronomers, it can be seen that these scientists had no theory for the prediction of solar eclipses not only in 600, but also in 300 BC.e.
Indeed, solar eclipses are repeated after 18 years 11 days 7 hours 42 minutes( this period of time, the ancient Greek astronomers called Saros), but they are repeated on a global scale. The observer, located at any particular point on the Earth, will not detect any regularities in the onset of solar eclipses. First, the band of the next similar eclipse( after 18 years 11.32 days)
moves almost 120 ° to the west, and the eclipse comes almost 8 hours later. Secondly, this band shifts somewhat in the direction from the south pole of the Earth to the north. The cycle is only resumed after 1244.1 years. For example, the last eclipse of the Saros, which began on June 23, 727 AD.E., when there was a partial eclipse in the southern hemisphere, was observed on July 22, 1971 in the Magadan Region.
The situation with lunar eclipses is somewhat different. They are visible more than from the hemisphere of the Earth. Statistics of this phenomenon is such that from a specific point of the Earth in every four years you can observe three lunar eclipses, one of which is complete. Therefore, Saros as a period of recurrence of eclipses and could be established by ancient Babylonian astronomers, perhaps already in the VI.BC.e.on observations of lunar eclipses. Recall that the basis of the Saros are the ratio of
223 synodic months = 6585.32 days,
19 draconic years = 6585.78 days.
Here under the draconic year is meant a time interval of 346.62 days, during which the Sun, moving along the ecliptic, "meets" the same node of the lunar orbit. Since 12 lunar months are 354.36 days, in each subsequent calendar year, eclipses are observed 10-11 days earlier than in the previous one. Thus, the total lunar eclipse of 28.X 1985 will be repeated on the 17th of July 1986. In Saros, the same eclipse in 1986 as before was observed in 6.X 1968, 26. IX 1950, 14. IX 1932 and 4.IX 1914, the first and the last in the European part of the USSR were not visible.
It is pertinent to note that, describing the same battle, between Lydians and Medes, Mark Tullius Cicero dated the solar eclipse mentioned the 4th year of the 48th Olympiad. This is what made it possible to establish that the first Olympic Games took place;in 776 BC.e. Of course, the correspondence of the ancient Greek chronology to the system of the modern calendar is also checked according to other data. For example, the ancient Greek historian Plutarch in the book "Life of Nikia" mentions a full lunar eclipse in the 4th year of the
of the 91st Olympiad. According to calculations, this eclipse, which allegedly "heralded" the death of the Athenian army, the commander of which was Niki, in battle with the Syracuse army in Sicily, occurred on August 27, 413 BC.e.
And here are some more "historical" eclipses. The famous Salamis sea battle off the southern coast of Greece between the Greek and Persian fleets, which Herodotus also described, occurred on the day of the total eclipse of the Sun - October 2, 480 BC.e. With a solar eclipse on August 3, 431 BC.e.coincided the beginning of the Peloponnesian war between Athens and Sparta. The solar eclipse of 310 BC.e.as if "announced" the victory of the ruler Syracuse Agathocles over Carthage. Mention of a total solar eclipse on March 20, 71 AD.e.was used to establish the date of introduction in the ancient Rome of the Julian calendar - January 1, 45 BC.- and the era from the "founding of the city" of Rome - April 21, 753 BC.e.
An important role in ordering the events of world history was played by the mention in the ancient chronicles of lunar eclipses. For example, Claudius Ptolemy in the Almagest referred to three complete lunar eclipses that occurred literally at the beginning of the Nabonassar era, the first of them in 27 AD.The calculation showed that at that time three total lunar eclipses really occurred: on March 19, 721 BC.e., March 8 and September 1, 720 BC.e.
Describing the victory of Alexander of Macedon over the Persian king Darius, Plutarch in The Life of Alexander, in particular, says: "Before the holidays in Athens, there was an eclipse of the Moon.11 days after the eclipse, two armies approached each other. "According to calculations, this lunar eclipse occurred on September 20, 331 BC.e.
In a few cases of mentioning eclipses, it was possible to establish the magnitude of the deviation of the Roman calendar from the days we received today in months. Thus, the solar eclipse on March 14, 190 BCE.e.(according to the Julian calendar) recorded in Rome on July 11.Lunar eclipse on June 21, 168 BC.e.was observed in Rome. .. September 4, the Roman calendar.
It is impossible not to mention here that the analysis of data on the lunar eclipses led to the conclusion about the existence of a contradiction between the era introduced by Dionysius the Small Age "from the Nativity of Christ" and historical data. In fact, the historian Josephus notes that the Jewish king Herod reigned in the consulship of Gneya Domitius Calvinus and Caius Asinius Pollio( 714 AD from the "foundation of Rome") and that he died in the 37th year of his reign, the year whenbefore the Jewish Passover there was a lunar eclipse. According to calculations, for this period of time there were three lunar eclipses: on the night from 12 to 13 March 750, on 20 January 752 and on the night of 9 to 10 January 753 from the "foundation of Rome", the second of which wascan be seen only in the western hemisphere. Further, on the coins of 753, Herod's successor is already indicated. Consequently, King Herod died in 750 from the "foundation of Rome", ie, in 4 BC.e.
As it was about the evangelical character and related events, it is appropriate to note that in the search for the "Bethlehem star" mentioned in the gospels, which allegedly ushered in the world about the birth of Christ, an analysis of various astronomical phenomena was carried out. As a result, records were found in Chinese and Korean chronicles, according to which in the spring of 5 BC.e.at the point of the sky with coordinates α = 20h15m, δ = -15 °, i.e. near star β of Capricorn, a New Star flashed, which was visible for 70 days. According to the astrological ideas of that time, she "announced" the birth of the great king. Apparently, to reinforce their story of the miraculous birth of Christ, the evangelists attracted the truly observed astronomical phenomenon.
Leafing pages of
chronicles As D.O. Svyatsky noted, over 655 years, from 1060 to 1715, 283 solar eclipses were seen on the territory of the European part of the USSR, of which in 147 cases the disk of the Sun was covered by the disk of the Moon by more than half. Judging by the annals, 49 eclipses were observed, the rest did not appear in the annals: they either did not notice or their descriptions did not reach us. Of the 618 lunar eclipses in the record, only 40.
attracted the attention of the chroniclers and one of the largest comets in the solar system - Halley's comet( Fig.).
Fig. Comet Halley
Mention of her remained in many chronicles, which from the distant past reached the times of the Middle Ages and were systematized, in particular, in the books of S. Lyubinetsky( 1623-1675).
Under the action of attraction from Jupiter and Saturn, Halley's comet moves somewhat unevenly: its period of revolution around the sun varies from 74.5 to 79.6 years. The Polish astronomer M. Kamensky calculated the moments of its passage through the perihelion up to 9542 BC.e.these results are partially given in Table.
Table. Moments of passage of Halley's comet near the Sun( through perihelion)
| Passage Passage Passage | |||||
| number | date | number | date | number | date |
| 15 | 1986,11 | 5 | 1222,69 | -4 | 530,87 |
| 14 | 1910,30 | 4 | 1145,30 | -5 | 431,50 |
| 13 | 1835, 88 | 3 | 1066.24 | -6 | 374.06 |
| 12 | 1759.20 | 2 | 989.67 | -7 | 295.30 |
| 11 | 1682.76 | 1 | 912.55 | -8 | 218.30 |
| 10 | 1607.82 | 0 | 837,15 | -9 | 141.21 |
| 9 | 1531.65 | - 1 | 760.44 | - 10 | 66.05 |
| 8 | 1465.44 | -2 | 684.40 | - 11 | - 10.23 |
| 7 | 1378.86 | -3 | 607,23 | -12 | -85,42 |
| 6 | 1301,81 |
It turned out that in the past this comet passed much closer to the Earth than now. Thus, in 9541 BC.e.it passed at a distance of only about 400,000 km from the Earth! One can imagine how spectacular this spectacle was in the starry sky, how much fear it caused in the prehistoric inhabitants of our planet! The next passage of Halley's comet through perihelion is expected on February 9, 1986. The approaching comet was discovered as early as October 16, 1982. See the Astronomical Calendar for 1984, 1985 and 1986 on the conditions of the comet's visibility.
Mention of the appearance of Halley's comet and eclipses helped to some extent to clarify the issue of the calendar style of our chroniclers, made it possible to clarify a number of historical events. Let's consider some typical examples taken from the Russian chronicles.
According to the Ipatiev Chronicle, "In the summer of 6653" during the princes' congress in Kiev, where the question of a campaign for Poland to help Vladislav against his brothers Boleslav and Meshka was decided, "there is a great star in the west emitting rays."It was Halley's comet, which until mid-May 1145 could be observed in the east, and since May 14 - in the western part of the sky after sunset. The recording made it possible to establish a style of the annals - it turned out to be March - and made it possible to specify the time for the princes' congress.
And here in the Laurentian Chronicle we read: "In the summer of 6810. .. of the same summer, in the autumn, there is a star in the west, the rays of the property like the tail to the mountain to the south of the faces."In fact, Halley's comet was observed in the autumn of 1301( 6809 March).Thus, the record is given in the ultramartic style.
We learn about the next appearance of Halley's comet from the Gustinsky Chronicle: this comet "In the summer of 6730"( 1222 AD) marked "a new pestilence by Christian, who in two years was created an invasion of new enemies, there are godless Tatars,our country is not a sign. "
Among the many mentions of eclipses, let's pay attention to the following. The Laurentian and Ipatiev Chronicles mark the eclipse of the Sun( "sign in the sun") on August 11, 6632, from the "creation of the world."The eclipse really happened in 1124. Consequently, the chroniclers use the March designation of the years. But in a few years the picture is different. Both chronicles mention an eclipse "in the summer of 6645": in June "the signs were in the sun".In actual fact, a particular solar eclipse of the Sun occurred on June 1, 1136, ie, in March, 6644, the March style. Thus, this time both chroniclers used the ultramartic style.
The record about the lunar eclipse, which is made in the Ipatiev Chronicle, deserves to be brought completely: "In the summer of 6669. .. At the same time, a sign in the moon is terrible and marvelous: walking the moon across the sky from the branch to the west,changing its images: first and slowing down gradually, all death was bottomless, and its image was black as a cloth, and it was as if bloody, and then it was like two faces belonging to one green and the other yellow. "And further: "And in the midst of her( ie, the moon) is the twofold split sword, and to her alone is the blood flowing from the head, and the white aki is mulished more closely. But to old people it's a scapegoat: it's not good to eat a sign, it's the prince's death, and that's it. "
The description of this eclipse is given by the chronicler immediately after the announcement of Prince Izyaslav Davidovich's entry to Kiev on February 12, 1161. Hence it follows that the record was made in the ultramartic style. But it was done later, because Prince Izyaslav was killed on March 6 next, 6670 ultramartovskogo year.
Of course, one can not believe the dates of the chroniclers unconditionally, and one can be convinced of this by an example taken from the same Ipatiev Chronicle. So, we read: "In the summer of 6670. .. the same summer there was a sign in the sun of the month of August at 17, on Thursday."Date and day of the week indicate that the chronicler uses the ultramartic style and his numbering corresponds to 1161/62 year. But this year the solar eclipse seen in Russia was. .. on Wednesday, January 17, 1162. As the famous Soviet historianN. Berezhkov, in the process of correspondence, August could appear instead of January, after which the day of the week was also corrected. ..
In conclusion, let's also recall the solar eclipse that occurred before the battle of Prince Igor with the Polovtsians "in the summer of 6693".In the Ipatiev Chronicle it is reported that the prince's troops were uniting near the Donets and were about to cross it, when Igor "looked up to heaven and saw the sun standing like a month, and his boyar and his squadron:" Do you see what a sign is? "They are more narrow-minded and visible, and lowering heads and screaming men: "Prince, this is not a sign for good".Igor is the same: "Brothers and friends of the mystery of God no one knows, but God the creator and the whole world his sign;but what does God do to us, or for good, or for our evil, and also see to us. .. ».In the Novgorod annals, the eclipse is described as complete: "Mayan month in 1 day, in the evening call, there was a sign in the sun: it was foolish to be velmi, for an hour or more, and the stars are seen, and as a person in person as green bush, and in the sun,a month, from the horn of it, like the coals of heat, it's really hot: the sign of God is terribly seen. .. ».This eclipse occurred in 1185, therefore, in the chronicles mentioned records are made in the March style. The Lavrentiev and Nikon Chronicles date the campaign in 6694, and thus the ultramartic style is used here.