The Assyrian eclipse, also known as the Bur-Sagale eclipse, is a

solar eclipse A solar eclipse occurs when the Moon passes between Earth and the Sun, thereby obscuring the view of the Sun from a small part of the Earth, totally or partially. Such an alignment occurs during an eclipse season, approximately every six mon ...

recorded in

Assyrian Assyrian may refer to: * Assyrian people, the indigenous ethnic group of Mesopotamia. * Assyria, a major Mesopotamian kingdom and empire. ** Early Assyrian Period ** Old Assyrian Period ** Middle Assyrian Empire ** Neo-Assyrian Empire * Assyri ...

eponym list The Eponym dating system was a calendar system for Assyria, for a period of over one thousand years. Every year was associated with the name, an eponym, of the Limmu, the official who led that year's New Year festival. The dating system is thought ...

s that most likely dates to the tenth year of the reign of king

Ashur-dan III Ashur-dan III ( Neo-Assyrian cuneiform: , meaning " Ashur is strong") was the king of the Neo-Assyrian Empire from 773 BC to his death in 755 BC. Ashur-dan was a son of Adad-nirari III (811–783 BC) and succeeded his brother Shalmaneser IV as kin ...

. The eclipse is identified with the one that occurred on 15 June 763 BC (

proleptic Julian calendar The proleptic Julian calendar is produced by extending the Julian calendar backwards to dates preceding AD 8 when the quadrennial leap year stabilized. The leap years that were actually observed between the implementation of the Julian calendar in ...

). The entry is short and reads: :"

ear of An ear is the organ that enables hearing and, in mammals, body balance using the vestibular system. In mammals, the ear is usually described as having three parts—the outer ear, the middle ear and the inner ear. The outer ear consists o ...

Bur-Sagale of

Guzana Tell Halaf ( ar, تل حلف) is an archaeological site in the Al Hasakah governorate of northeastern Syria, a few kilometers from the city of Ra's al-'Ayn near the Turkish border. The site, which dates to the 6th millennium BCE, was the fir ...

. Revolt in the city of

Assur Aššur (; Sumerian: AN.ŠAR2KI, Assyrian cuneiform: ''Aš-šurKI'', "City of God Aššur"; syr, ܐܫܘܪ ''Āšūr''; Old Persian ''Aθur'', fa, آشور: ''Āšūr''; he, אַשּׁוּר, ', ar, اشور), also known as Ashur and Qal'a ...

. In the month Simanu an eclipse of the sun took place." The phrase used — ''

shamash Utu (dUD " Sun"), also known under the Akkadian name Shamash, ''šmš'', syc, ܫܡܫܐ ''šemša'', he, שֶׁמֶשׁ ''šemeš'', ar, شمس ''šams'', Ashurian Aramaic: 𐣴𐣬𐣴 ''š'meš(ā)'' was the ancient Mesopotamian sun god ...

'' ("the sun") ''akallu'' ("bent", "twisted", "crooked", "distorted", "obscured") — has been interpreted as a reference to a solar eclipse since the first decipherment of cuneiform in the mid 19th century. The name ''Bur-Sagale'' (also rendered ''Bur-Saggile, Pur-Sagale'' or ''Par-Sagale'') is the name of the

limmu : Limmu was an Assyrian eponym. At the beginning of the reign of an Assyrian king, the limmu, an appointed royal official, would preside over the New Year festival at the capital. Each year a new limmu would be chosen. Although picked by lot, th ...

official in the eponymous year. In 1867, Henry Rawlinson identified the near-

total eclipse An eclipse is an astronomical event that occurs when an astronomical object or spacecraft is temporarily obscured, by passing into the shadow of another body or by having another body pass between it and the viewer. This alignment of three ce ...

of 15 June 763 BC as the most likely candidate (the month ''Simanu'' corresponding to the May/June lunation), visible in northern Assyria just before noon. This date has been widely accepted ever since; the identification is also substantiated by other astronomical observations from the same period. This record is one of the crucial pieces of evidence that anchor the absolute

chronology of the ancient Near East The chronology of the ancient Near East is a framework of dates for various events, rulers and dynasties. Historical inscriptions and texts customarily record events in terms of a succession of officials or rulers: "in the year X of king Y". Com ...

for the Assyrian period.

References

External links

Path map of eclipses 780 BCE - 761 BCE
(NASA) - Includes total eclipse of June 15, 763 BC (labeled -0762 June 15)
Path map of eclipses 800 BCE - 781 BCE
(NASA) - Includes annular eclipse of June 24, 791 BC (labeled -0790 June 24)
Five Millennium (-1999 to +3000) Canon of Solar Eclipses Database
– maps the visibility of the total solar eclipse of June 15, 763 BC.
Five Millennium (-1999 to +3000) Canon of Solar Eclipses Database
– maps the visibility of the annular solar eclipse of June 24, 791 BC. {{DEFAULTSORT:Assyrian Eclipse Assyriology Chronology Solar eclipses Ancient astronomy

Eclipse An eclipse is an astronomical event that occurs when an astronomical object or spacecraft is temporarily obscured, by passing into the shadow of another body or by having another body pass between it and the viewer. This alignment of three c ...

760s BC

See also

References

External links