Page:Historical eclipses.djvu/23

 The Shih King Eclipse.

In B.C. 776 the Shih King, the Chinese Book of Poetry, records an eclipse of the Sun preceded by an eclipse of the Moon. The exact date of the solar eclipse is given and can be verified astronomically. This is the first of a large number of eclipses, by means of which Chinese chronology can be confirmed.

Eponym Canon Eclipse.

In B.C. 763 an Assyrian chronicle which includes the text of the eponym canon records an eclipse of the Sun. The year can be established by simple enumeration from the canon of eponyms. The month is named. Both are confirmed by astronomical computation. This confirms the accuracy of that canon, and so involves a correction amounting to 44 years to the chronology which was derived from the books of Kings and Chronicles by Archbishop Ussher.

This eclipse is the first historical eclipse contained in Ginzel's Spezieller Kanon, a valuable work largely used by students of history and doubtless familiar to many of my audience. In regard to this book I may say that, although the elements of the motion of the Moon as used by Ginzel are glaringly inconsistent both with gravitational theory and with modern observations, they have been made to fit the ancient eclipses of the Sun, and the zones marked on his maps are sufficiently reliable in all but the most delicate cases.

Lunar Eclipses of the Almagest.

In B.C. 721 occurred the first of the lunar eclipses recorded by Ptolemy in his Almagest. The earlier of these eclipses were observed and recorded in Babylon