Lunar eclipses during the kings of Persian

Lunar eclipses of Cambyses II

The two lunar eclipses recorded in the 7th year of the reign of Cambyses II help to time the time of his reign, and at the same time the time when Cyrus conquered Babylon.
The clay tablet BM 33066 mainly looks at the astronomical events of the 7th year of the reign of Cambyses II. It also has a few lines from his 8th and 9th years of government.
The contents of this clay tablet can suddenly look a bit confusing. One of the reasons for this could be the time measurement beru appearing on the board, which is estimated to correspond to a period of approximately 2 hours.34-1 However, its exact time is not known, as its length appears to vary. The reason for the variability may be that the writer of the clay tablet never told the exact time, but about the time of about a third of the beru. Today, when time is measured in minutes, the length of the beru is not always fully refined to the same length. In addition, it is likely that during that time the times of sunrise and sunset were not always accurate, but were timed according to a human observation.

The other side of the clay tablet lists the observations made about the location of the moon and orbiting stars in the starry sky. All observations were made mainly in the morning.
The findings are not listed in full order. Each observation was probably first written on a small clay tablet, from which it was later assembled on a larger clay tablet.
The lunar eclipses were assembled from the small clay tablets into the bottom rows.
The first lunar eclipse has the following text on lines 19 and 20:

‘Year 7, month 4, night of the 14th, 1⅔ bēru after sunset   the moon madea eclipse, a little remained’

This eclipse occurred on July 16th, 523 BCE. In that, those words “a little remained” apparently refer to the phrase a “little missed” or something like that, i.e. the eclipse was partial.
The sun went down around 7:07 p.m. The shadowing of the moon were clearly visible as early as 10:20 p.m. so in that respect that was a little over three hours, or 1⅔ beru, in which the length of beru corresponds to the estimated two hours.

The second lunar eclipse is described in the following lines of the clay tablet as follows:

‘Month 10, night of the 14th, when 2½ bēru remained to sunrise’

This lunar eclipse occurred on January 10th, 522 BCE. in the morning.

The sun rose at about. 7:14 a.m. The moon began to darken at about 2:55 a.m. and the total phase of the eclipse began at about 3:50 a.m. The total phase ended at about 5:30 a.m.

Here it can be deduced from that expression “2½ beru to sunrise” that the time of the lunar eclipse was calculated from the beginning of the eclipse at night before at three.

Length of reign for Artaxerxes I

The reign of King Artaxerxes I of Persia is usually reported to be 464-424 BCE. He is said to have ruled for a little over 40 years.

Archaeological data, however, reveal that Artaxerxes ruled for about eleven years for longer. The clay tablet BM 65494, a Babylonian business document, is dated to Artaxerxes for the 50th year of his reign.34-2

The clay tablet CBM 12803 even combines the end of the reign of Artaxerxes with the beginning of the reign of Darius II following him.34-3 It says:

‘51st year, year of reign, 12th month, 20th day, Darius is king of nations.’

This is quite a talking clay tablet in another way as well. It states that Darius II became king on the 20th of the 12th month, the that March.

In this dissertation, this time is interpreted to probably correspond to March in 422 BCE. This may seem like a surprising move, but the reasons for it will be set out a little later.

However, these findings presented above are very weighty archaeological data that cannot be ignored on light grounds.

Artaxerxes is said to have fought against Greece. He also offered asylum to the Greek Themistocles. Indeed, the Persian chronology currently in use is found to be inconsistent with the Greek chronology. According to historian Thucydides, Themistocles died a few years after his arrival in Persia. He also says that when Themistocles arrived in Persia, Artaxerxes had recently begun to rule.34-4

On the other hand, however, the historian Diodoros of Sicilian associates Themistocles at the time of his death, when “Praksiergos was the archon of Athens”. Praksiergos was the archontic of Athens in 471/470 BCE.34-5

Further, M. de Koutorga wrote about the time when Xerxes died and Artaxerxes ascended the throne: “We have seen that, according to the time of Thucydides, Xerxes died in 475 BCE. and that, according to that same historian, Themistocles arrived in Asia Minor shortly after Artaxerxes Longimanus ascended the throne.”34-6

Although historians may present the matter differently, these are consistent with the archaeological finds that Artaxerxses ruled for 50 years.

Xerxes’ lunar eclipses

And have there been any archaeological discoveries that shed light on the last year of the reign of Artaxerxes' predecessor, Xerxes I?

Such is the clay tablet BM 32234. However, this too was written considerably later, as it also contains lunar eclipses from the time of Napobolassar and Nebuchadnezzar II. Therefore, the dates presented in it regarding the years of Xerxes' reign are not completely reliable. However, it contains one significant feature. Journalist John Curtis writes about it:

“Besides [lunar eclipses], the tablets gave precise information about the death of the reigning king at appropriate points. Such details are a useful supplement. . . only one such reference survives in this series of lunar eclipse tablets" and adds: "It concerns the death of Xerxes shortly after a partial lunar eclipse".34-7

What significant information is gained from this event? The researcher notes that the mention from the time of the lunar eclipse has disappeared. It is described as follows:

“40° (duration) from the time of commencement, the 'garment of heaven' was present: (the moon) darkened in the region of Sagittarius ... ...

Month V, on the 14th . . . He was murdered by Xerxes' son.

Month VIII, the 14th, 13° after sunset, (the moon) came out of a cloud [or of out a eclipse], one-fourth of the [ moon] disk [was visible] …. and west side was covered 8° [a moon] clearing”

This can tell some surprising information about the time of Xerxes' death when using the current chronology. Xerxes I apparently died after mid-August. June 5, 465 BCE. has been applied to this lunar eclipse. lunar eclipse that happened.

 When we assume that this happened in 465 BCE., it would be consistent to think that Artaxerxes succeeded him as king immediately in the early autumn of the same year. This may seem contradictory given the length of Artaxerxes' reign mentioned earlier. But first, let's take a closer look at this clay tablet.

The clay tablet tells three important things:

1. It happened in the region of the Sagittarius constellation.

2. Since Xerxes died in the month of Ab, the lunar eclipse occurred in summer.

3. In the eighth month something happened involving the moon about an hour after sunset.

In June 465 BCE. The last lunar eclipse took place in the constellation of Sagittarius. It has also been suggested in June 475 BCE. lunar eclipse that happened.

In 465 BCE the calendar was later than usual. The beginning of the year could not be until April 22. Thus, the lunar eclipse on June 5 occurred during the month of Ajaru.

 But what happened in VIII month? It seems that there was also a lunar eclipse shortly after sunset, as the author above has added in square brackets. Scholars have not commented on this meaning of the statement on the clay tablet. The reason for this is probably that the text is slightly damaged. Or perhaps the astrologer of that time did not fully understand the meaning of what he saw due to the possible partial cloudiness, and therefore did not mention the "eclipse".

Let's take a closer look at the writing on the clay tablet. However, the astrologer mentions that the "west side" was "covered" and he speaks of a quarter of a "disk". This indicates that he saw the moon that evening a little after sunset. The "west side" of the moon was apparently shadowed or covered by clouds. At the end of the sentence, he writes about "clearing". Since it was evening, the sky was getting dark. On the other hand, if this had referred to the retreat of the clouds, then it had already happened much earlier (if the sky had been cloudy), because the “disk" or the moon was visible. Therefore, it can be assumed that this mention refers to the end of the lunar eclipse.

This mention of the "west side" may indicate that the lunar eclipse was nearing its end. Since 8° is mentioned at the end, perhaps it was about half an hour from that moment until the eclipse ended. 

On November 29, 465 BCE., there was a total lunar eclipse. This was the 14th day of the VIII month mentioned on the clay tablet. The darkest phase of the lunar eclipse was at 16:15 local time, when the moon had not yet risen. When this is examined more closely, it is noticed that the sun set at 17;03 and the moon rose at 17:01. When you follow the phase of the moon, you notice that the lunar eclipse ended at 18:02, about an hour after sunrise. Instead at 17:22, about 20 min. i.e. 5° after sunset, about a quarter of the moon was visible (this kind of situation was mentioned in the clay tablet). This length of time is apparently not described on the clay tablet. This moment to the end of the lunar eclipse, it was about 40 minutes. i.e. about 10°. Perhaps this corresponds to the 8° mentioned on the clay tablet. This can lead to further interpretations of what could have been read on the damaged lines of the clay tablet.

Perhaps the beginning of the statement "13° [or hour] after sunset, (the moon) came out of the a cloud" means just the end of the eclipse, here the length of this time was specified as 15°, i.e. one hour.

Perhaps the moon could be seen all the time through a thin cloud cover, which made the astrologer mistakenly think that the moon was behind some thicker cloud.

This seems to indicate that Thucydides' conclusion that Xerxes I died in 475 BCE. would appear to be incorrect. Furthermore, this further reinforces the contradiction regarding the length of Artaxerxes' reign. As it turned out above, according to the Greek Themistocles, Artaxerxes was the king of Persia in the 470s BCE.

So it is not wrong to estimate that Artaxerxes 1st official year of government began in the spring of 474 BCE.

This seems likely, as no serious grounds have been found to ignore the archaeological finds in which Artaxerxes is said to have ruled for more than 50 years.

Therefore, it seems very likely that Artaxerxes I reigned for about 10 years at the same time as his father. The length of his reign is stated to be about 41 years, which was the time he ruled alone after his father's death.

However, it is likely that the historical information on this clay tablet is mostly based on hearsay since the clay tablet was written hundreds of years later. Because of this, it is possible that the astrologers applied the wrong lunar eclipse to the time of Xerxes' death, since the writers of the clay tablets were not alive at that time. (They could only have information about what time of year Xerxes died and the fact that a lunar eclipse occurred shortly before that. They did not necessarily know the details of this lunar eclipse or even its exact time.)

 If so, then it may be possible that it would have been in June 475 BCE. a lunar eclipse occurred and Xerxes died that year. Greek chronology would support such an assumption.

Solar eclipse of Artaxerxes

Historian Thukydides says there would have been an solar eclipse shortly before the death of Artaxerxes. Only on March 20th, 424 BCE. the solar eclipse that took place is moderately close to this time, it was seen quite well in parts of Greece, in its northern parts, but weakly in Persia. However, this was best seen in Germany. Scholars usually question this and all the other solar eclipses mentioned by Thukydides.34-8 At the moment, however, we do not know exactly how far north the Greek Empire was at that time.

Thukydides was a contemporary of Artaxerxes and Darius II. So the question may arise here: Could it be that his “information” in this regard was merely rumors from Persia? However, could it be that shortly before that solar eclipse, something significant happened in Persia that crossed the “news threshold” of that time? And could it be that Artaxerxes had not died but become seriously ill during that time? The limited data from that time may shed some light on what might have happened at that time.

Greek Ktesias says that Artaxerxes' son Xerxes II, who had been appointed Crown Prince, was killed by his brother Sogdianus. What could have been the reason for this? Assuming that Artaxerxes was still alive at the time, albeit ill, we can assume that he had appointed Xerxes II as his co-ruler because of his illness. This measure resulted in Sogdianus trying to usurp power and Darius II had to intervene. This may have contributed to such rumors that Artaxerxses was dead.

If Artaxerxes had become seriously ill, it would have given him reason to appoint his son Darius II as his reigning partner. Thus, Darius II would have served as his co-ruler for about 1-2 years, and the responsibilities of the king due to his father's illness would be taken over by him. This assumption is applied in this dissertation.

References

34-1 adamoh.org/TreeOfLife.wan.io/OTCh/BM_ 33066-Cambyses_clay_tablet/BM_33066-Cambyses_7th_year_astronomy_clay_tablet.htm

34-2 E. Leichty and A. K. Grayson, Catalogue of the Babylonian Tablets in the British Museum, VII osa: Tablets From Sippar 2, 1987, p. 153

34-3 Albert T. Clay, The Babylonian Expedition of the University of Pennsylvania, Series A: Cuneiform Texts, VIII osa, I jakso, 1908, pp. 34, 83.

34-4 Themistokles, XXVII, 1

34-5 Alan E. Samuel, Greek and Roman Chronology, München 1972, p. 206

34-6 Mémoires présentés par divers savants à l’Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres de l’Institut Impérial de France, I series, VI part, second episode, Paris 1864, p. 147

34-7 Mesopotamia and Iran in the Persian Period: Conquest and  Imperialism 539-331 BCE., p. 20

34-8 biblioiranica.info/dating-the-reigns-of-xerxes-and-artaxerxes