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Throughout history, when the moon acquired reddish tints, it aroused fears and disconcerted those who witnessed such a metamorphosis. Centuries ago, it was not known yet that it was an astronomical phenomenon that had little to do with the anger of the ancient gods or a forerunner of future misfortunes.
Lunar eclipses continue to amaze today even though they generate controversy and instead of instilling fear, they have become an impressive nighttime sight. While waiting for the "bloody moon", this July 27, many are preparing to enjoy what will be the longest lunar eclipse of the 21st century, which will last 1 hour and 43 minutes.
The Quartz portal has reviewed several stories taken from George Chambers' 1899 "eclipse history" book to recall how the temporary change of the color of the moon has revolutionized the perception of the phenomenon. in the society of past centuries, scary and give benefits to others.
First recording and first omen
For the first time in the history of humanity, a lunar eclipse was recorded in China. It took place on January 29, 1136 BC or, in other words, "in the year 35 of Wen-Wang, the day of Ping-Tzu," according to Chambers, citing the book for the discs Chou -Shu, from the ancient Zhou dynasty.
Nevertheless, it is estimated that the lunar eclipse described in the book was produced in 1059 BC when in power was the last king of the Shang Dynasty. King Vasallo Wen of the Zhou Dynasty considered the disappearance of the Moon of the firmament as an important omen that the time had come to challenge his Lord Shang.
How a lunar eclipse led to a failure of the Athenian army
The ancient Greek philosopher Plutarch described in his work "The Life of Nicias" on August 27, 413 BC. A lunar eclipse made a disaster to prepare the flight of the Athenian army of Sicily, where his soldiers fought without much success against the Syracuse forces.
The soldiers became ill and the army did not progress in combat, which Commander Nicias decided that the Athenians had to leave the island. "Everything was well prepared for the boarding and the enemy was not paying attention to these movements because they were not expecting them, but at night there was a lunar eclipse that caused a great panic in Nicias, and the rest by ignorance or superstition ", Plutarco wrote
" They then considered it as a strange and supernatural phenomenon, a sign with which the gods announced a great calamity ", he explained. The calamity for the Athenian army was not due to the moon, but rather to the ignorance of Nicias. The enemy captured the Athenian soldiers who panicked before they could escape.
Science Against Witchcraft
Edward Churton, scholar and cleric of the nineteenth century, uncovered an unusual story about how the Archbishop of Canterbury Thomas Bradwardine, also known as Dr. Profundus, used astronomy to treat a witch's spells.
One summer night in 1349, a witch tried to take responsibility for the disappearance of the Moon and asked that it be done good amendments for the earlier evils ", or else would ask the Sun to also remove its light from local residents.
What the witch was not expecting, was that Bradwardine was a mathematician and philosopher who had studied with Arab astronomers and knew the phenomenon of solar and lunar eclipses.According to Churton, the man asked the witch to tell him what time he intended to do his spells.Otherwise, he said what would it be like "when the next time the sun and the moon are darkened, in which part of its orb the darkness would begin, how long would it last and how long would it last?" [19659004] of Columbus who helped him return to Spain
In June 1503 two surviving caravels from Columbus's expedition arrived in Jamaica. As detailed Duncan Steel in his book "Eclipse: the celestial phenomenon that changed the course of history". ("Eclipse: the celestial phenomenon that changed the course of history"), the indigenous Arawak tribe shared its food with the Spaniards. six months and finally got fed up with giving them their fish and yucca.
The sailors murdered the Arawak people and stole their food. Columbus took the situation under his control and three days before the lunar eclipse scheduled for the night of February 29, 1504, he told the tribal leader that his Christian god was angry because that the Indians had ceased to be generous
Columbus was aware of the astronomical phenomenon thanks to the almanac of the astronomer Johannes Mueller von Koenigsberg, used by the sailors, and warned that divine discontent would become visible in three days : the Moon was disappearing from the sky and blushing with rage.
The prediction performed as she was and, frightened by the "bloody moon", the Arawaks were quick to run to the Spanish food-laden vessels and begged Columbus to help them. make peace with their god. Colon promises to negotiate the pact on condition that the Arawak continue to share their food with members of the expedition
Thus, the Spaniards left Jamaica to return home nearly a year and a half after their arrival on the Caribbean island. If Christopher Columbus had not deceived the Indians, who knows he had returned to Spain and now the world was as it was?
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