Historical jokes related to eclipses and eclipses

Ritual of Arabia - the phenomena of eclipses and eclipses have been linked to many antics and historical events that have occurred, most of which revolve around the miraculous or magical effect of these phenomena, according to peoples ’ancient beliefs, from which we will cite examples in this article to mention but not limited to:

According to Chinese heritage, there is the myth of astronomers "he and she" who failed to predict the date of the eclipse . The Chinese Emperor became angry with them, because without knowing the date of the eclipse, he did not prepare special teams to beat the drums and shoot arrows to "scare the dragon." Although the sun "went out safe" from this ordeal, my "he" and "she" were beheaded for negligence !

But some events of the eclipse and eclipse really affected the course of history. According to historian Herodotus, the Greek philosopher Thales foretold a eclipse that occurred in 585 BC. This eclipse coincided with a battle that took place between the Lydians and the Medes. But the warriors stopped the battle as soon as the sun disappeared, considering it a "warning from the sky" to end the war that had been going on between them for six years!

Likewise, the references mention that during the siege of the city of Constantinople (now Istanbul) by the Ottomans, the moon shone while in a state of eclipse on May 22, 1453 AD, and the morale of the Byzantine forces defending the city collapsed, and then fell into the hands of the Ottomans, led by Muhammad II within three days !

Thomas Edward Lawrence (known as "Lawrence of Arabia") mentions in the book "The Seven Pillars of Wisdom" the incident of the lunar eclipse on July 6, 1917 AD, which helped him and the Arab forces supporting him to overthrow the site of "many" that was under Ottoman control . Where the Turkish soldiers were busy firing bullets and banging copper vessels to "save the threatened moon" during the eclipse, the Arab forces were able to easily control the site, and dozens of Turks were captured. This incident facilitated the fall of the port of Aqaba without a fight !

Another interesting historical fact is the story of Christopher Columbus, who took advantage of his prior knowledge of the date of the lunar eclipse on February 29, 1504 AD to show his "magical power"! Where Columbus and his sailors needed to provide supplies and food while on the island of Jamaica.

However, after a while the original inhabitants of the island refused to provide them with what they wanted. Columbus then led them to believe that he could "turn off the moonlight" if they did not bow to his request. This is what happened. The islanders terrified and provided Columbus and his men with whatever they wanted! Such an incident has entered into the field of literature and novel, and we mention, for example, the story of the British writer H. Rider Haggard , as well as the story of the “Temple of the Sun” from the series “The Adventures of Tintin” by the Belgian writer Georges Rémi ( known In "Hergé ").

Source: Former President of the Jordanian Astronomical Society, Dr. Hanna Sabat