Heroic Dreams - All Things Medieval

There was a total solar eclipse yesterday. It was of course visible from only certain parts of the world but because of modern technology it was available to everyone via NASA and their television program and webcasting. You can view the eclipse here Total Eclipse on NASA Webcast

SO what is this blogpost really about? Well, it’s about the wisdom and the mystery of the past.

In today’s world we tend to take the mystery out of everything - as soon as we explain something with science it becomes less special. But how could something as spectacular as a solar eclipse be less special than it is?

Here is a (roughly) modern interpretation of a solar eclipse: “Due to a coincidence of nature the sun is about 400 times further away from the Earth than the moon is. This causes the two at certain places in their orbit to be the same size - which is what makes an eclipse so remarkable in that the moon totally covers the sun - in a really nice fit.”

Ok, so maybe it is a coincidence that the apparent size of the two celestial objects (Sun and Moon) are the same size - but then again maybe it isn’t. Where is the wonder in the universe and the pondering of the mystery?

I guess what I am trying to say is that when we analyze things and know all the facts we lose something. There is a mystery here. The whole darn ball of wax is a mystery! And the more we know, it seems to me, the less we actually know. Sure we know all the facts about the moon, sun, eclipses, orbits etc. and we can predict the next thousand eclipses over eons but knowing all this we really are overlooking the sheer mystery of. And it makes me think:

Is it really a coincidence that the distance to the sun is exactly so that the two heavenly bodies mesh so perfectly during an eclipse? Therein lies the mystery that we sometimes lose sight of.

Here are some interesting little anecdotes and quotes from the Middle ages about eclipses:

AD 733: (“Ecclesiastical History of the English People”)  “almost the whole of the Sun’s disk seemed to be like a black and horrid shield.”

AD 968: “At the winter solstice there was an eclipse of the sun such as has never happened before.  Darkness fell upon the Earth and all the brighter stars revealed themselves. Everyone could see the disk of the Sun without brightness, deprived of light, and a certain dull and feeble glow, like a narrow headband, shining round the extreme parts of the edge of the disk. However, the Sun gradually going past the Moon (for this appeared covering it directly) sent out its original rays, and light filled the Earth again”. 

AD 1084: ”On the sixth day of the month of February between the sixth and ninth hours the Sun was obscured for the space of three hours; it was so great that any people who were working indoors could only continue if in the meantime they lit lamps. Indeed some people went from house to house to get lanterns or torches. Many were terrified”. 

An Eclipse in Homer’s Odyssey: There was a prophecy that upon the failing of the old moon and the retuning of the new moon Odysseus would return to his home to exact vengeance. “the Sun vanished out of heaven and an evil gloom covered all things about the hour of the midday meal, during the celebration of the new moon”. A total eclipse of the Sun was visible from the Greek island of Ithaca on April 16, 1178 BC. This would be six years after the end of the Trojan War.  

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