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The moon is a reliable friend. It grows and decreases regularly and helps us to mark the passage of time. It illuminates the night sky, shines white and provides relief through the darkest hours. So it's no wonder that once upon a time, when the moon glowed and disappeared during a lunar eclipse, humans were terrified.
The second blood moon of 2018 will take place on July 27th. Before and after the moon is completely darkened For an hour and 43 minutes – the longest part of the 21st century, predicts NASA – it will seem to bleed, shining a disturbing red. Now we know that the strange occurrence simply means that the moon is passing through the shadow of our planet and does not reflect the sunlight. And although we may find it amazing to observe, we are especially not afraid that a lunar eclipse is a bad omen – except for those who believe that a prophecy of the blood moon in the Bible predicts the end of days.
the disappearance of the moon – and the bloody hue that accompanies it from a lunar eclipse – was experienced as extremely significant and disconcerting, according to the book of 1899, The Story of Eclipses (pdf) by George Chambers. In the chapter entitled "Eclipses of the Moon mentioned in History", Chambers tells the sometimes scary story of blood moons over millennia.
The first record presents a sign
The first record of a total lunar eclipse comes from China. Chambers writes, or "in the 35th year of Wen-Wang the day of Ping-Tzu." He quotes Shu-Shu, or the book of Cabbage. Dynasty for memory, saying that it was found in 280 AD in the tomb of an emperor who died for centuries.
This chronicle of the period of China's first Warring States was found in the tomb of King Xiang Wei's references are better known as "bamboo annals" (竹 書 紀年 Zhúshū Jìnián ). The text refers to a total lunar eclipse that would have occurred in 1059 BC, during the reign of the last king of the Shang Dynasty. Apparently, the disappearance of the moon was considered an important omen, signaling to the Wen dynasty king Wen that it was time to challenge his suzerain Shang.
The gods announce a great calamity
August 27 in 413 BC. or the fourth year of the 91st Olympiad by the ancient Greek calendar, a lunar eclipse led to disaster for the Athenian army. The troops were in Sicily fighting the Syracuse and evil forces. The disease broke out among the soldiers and their commander Niclas decided that the Athenians should leave the island. Plutarch, in his Life of Nicias writes:
Everything was accordingly prepared for boarding, and the enemy paid no attention to these movements, because they did not wait for them. But in the night there was an eclipse of the moon, to which Nicias and all the others were struck with great panic, either by ignorance or superstition. As for the eclipse of the Sun, which occurs at the Conjunction, even the common people had some idea of what it was caused by the interposition of the Moon; but they could not easily conceive, by the interposition of which body the Moon, when completely, should suddenly lose its light, and assume such a variety of colors. They regarded it as a strange and supernatural phenomenon, a sign by which the gods announced a great calamity.
The calamity occurred, as expected. The protests of Chambers, "but only indirectly was it caused by the moon!" The Syracusan army captured the panicked Athenian soldiers before they could flee.
Dr. Profundus and the Witch eclipse
The scholar and ecclesiastic of the 19th century Edward Churton tells a story of what may have been one of the first attempts to take power with false news. But the Archbishop of Canterbury, Thomas Bradwardine, also known as Dr. Profundus, used astronomy to thwart the wiles of a witch.
As the story goes, a "beautiful summer night" in 1349, as the moon suddenly eclipsed a witch tried to take responsibility for her dramatic demise. Churton writes, "Make good repairs," she says, "for old wrongs, or I will ask the sun to take away its light too."
Bradwardine, mathematician and philosopher who had studied with Arab astronomers, did not Was not fooled by the trick. He was familiar with the predictions of solar and lunar eclipse. Churton explains: "Tell me," he said, "what time will you do that, and we will believe you; or if you do not tell me, I will tell you when the Sun or the Moon will be darkened, in what part of their orb will the darkness begin, to where it will extend, and how long it will continue. "[19659002HavingBradwardineProvidedGreatestCorceryandMilitarywatchingknowledge
A Hoax of the Blood Moon
In 1504, Christopher Columbus made an eclipse turn similar to the 14th century witch attempt, using the kind of knowledge that Bradwardine used to counteracting his manipulations.
As Duncan Steel explains in his book Eclipse: The Celestial Phenomenon That Changed the Course of History in June 1503, an epidemic of two of the four Columbus ships, forcing him to land on the Caribbean island now known as Jamaica.The aboriginal Arawak people of the island for six months fed uninvited guests.Finally, however, they were bored and stopped wanting to abandon their cassava and their fish.The Spanish sailors from Columbus mutinied, massacred Arawaks, and stole food.
Columbus must have done something. Three days before a lunar eclipse was to occur on the night of February 29, he told Chief Arawak his Christian god was angry because the locals were no longer generous. The evidence of his god's discontent would be revealed in three days, when the moon would disappear from the sky and turn red with fury. He relied on the knowledge of an upcoming lunar eclipse, noted in the almanac of the 15th century astronomer Johannes Müller von Königsberg with astronomical tables on which sailors relied.
Indeed, three days later, the moon disappeared and seemed to bleed. Terrified, the Arawaks ran to the Spanish ships loaded with provisions and implored Columbus to intercede with his god on their behalf.
The Spaniard pretended to consider the requests while he was waiting in private for the moon to come out of the Earth. shadow. Finally, Columbus said that he had negotiated a peace, based on the fact that the Arawaks continued to feed the Spaniards.
Nearly a year and a half after their landing on the island, the Spaniards returned home. Shortly after, the conquest of the Caribbean and North American and South American continents began in earnest. If Columbus had not deceived the Arawaks, it is possible that neither he nor his crew returned to Spain. The world could be very different today.
The Magic Tints
It is unlikely that the July 27th eclipse will have a similar dramatic effect on history. We can always hope for a colorful show such as that of October 13, 1837. Chambers writes that the range of hues that the moon showed that night was "very remarkable". The celestial star went beyond the blood moon, passing from copper to sea. Green to a neutral to silver hue
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