I wish to express warm thanks to Robert R. Newton of the Applied Physics Laboratory, Johns Hopkins University, for providing me with a copy of his paper, “Two Uses of Ancient Astronomy,” for answering several queries, and for criticizing an earlier draft of this paper, thereby saving me from several errors, not all of them minor. My thanks also to Marion Johnson of the Centre of West African Studies, The University of Birmingham, and to Jan Vansina of The University of Wisconsin for their comments.

² H. Rider Haggard, King Solomon's Mines.Google Scholar

³ See especially Gray, Richard, “Eclipse maps,” Journal of African History, 6 (1965), 251–62;CrossRefGoogle Scholaridem., “Annular eclipse maps,” Journal of African History, 9 (1968), 147–57.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

⁴ Gray's work refined and amplified the data in earlier compilations, particularly Oppolzer, Theodor von, Canon der Finsternisse (Vienna, 1887), and made it easier for historians to use these data and—perhaps a mixed blessing—to draw inferences from them.Google Scholar

⁵ I have not discussed the extensive eclipse records in the Mesoamerican inscriptions and codices. Recent literature devoted to their identification and interpretation include: Caso, Alfonso, “De la necesidad de la crítica histórica para interpretar los eclipses de sol en los manuscriptos mexicanos,” Revista Mexicana de Estudios Antropológicos, 11 (1950), 15–22;Google ScholarBurland, C. A., “Eclipse data from a Mixtec codex,” Boletín de Estudios Oaxaquenos, no. 9 (1958), 1–7;Google ScholarSmiley, C. H., “Solar eclipse intervals in the Dresden Codex,” Journal of the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada, 59 (1965), 127–31;Google ScholarHarber, H., “Five Maya eclipses in 13 years,” Sky and Telescope, 37 (1969), 72–4;Google ScholarBurland, C. A., “Morning star at mid—day—a Mexican solar eclipse,” Akten des XXXVIII Internationalen Amerikanistenkongresses, Stuttgart—Miinchen, 1970, Pt. 2, 151–3;Google ScholarCline, Howard, Christian-native synchronologies in Codex Telleriano-Remensis, Sahagún's manuscripts, and Crónica Mexicayotl (Washington, 1970);Google ScholarHochleitner, Franz J., Semantic deciphering of 70 Mayan hieroglyphs of astronomical meaning (Juiz de Fora, 1970);Google Scholar see also the papers presented at the symposium “Archaeoastronomy in pre-Columbian America” held inMexico City,20–22 June 1973 under the auspices of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.Google Scholar Analysis of North American eclipse references has been rare but at least one interesting example for the Iroquois has been preserved: Canfield, William W., The legends of the Iroquois (New York, 1902), 198–9,Google Scholar based on Hale, Horatio, ed., Iroquois book of rites (Philadelphia, 1883), 178–80,Google Scholar avers that the possible mention of a solar eclipse (“a darkening of the Great Spirit’s smilingface”) in a single variant Seneca tradition alludes to “the eclipse of 28 June 1451” and that it was on this very day that “this wonderful union of republics [i.e., the Iroquois Confederacy] was founded.” Historians and archeologists tend now to date the establishment of the Confederacy shortly before 1600.

⁶ The Ts'ien Hou Han Shu in Dubs, H. H., ed. and tr., The History of the Former Han Dynasty (3 vols.: Baltimore, 1944–1955), 2:382.Google Scholar

⁷ Newton, Robert R., Ancient astronomical observations and the accelerations of the earth and moon [henceforth Newton, AAO] (Baltimore, 1970)Google Scholar and idem, Medieval chronicles and the rotation of the earth [henceforth Newton, MC] (Baltimore, 1972).Google Scholar These works, though written by an astronomer and intended to answer astronomers' questions, are characterized by a critical sense and include extensive verbatim extracts from the sources. In addition see Demandt, Alexander, Verformungstendenzen in der Überlieferung antiker Sonnen- und Mondfinsternisse [Abhandlungen der geistes- und sozialwissenschaftlichen Klasse der Akademie der Wissenschaften und der Literatur, 1970, no. 7] (Weisbaden, 1970).Google Scholar

⁸ For the Easter tables see Newton, , MC, 44–7;Google ScholarBarber, Richard, The figure of Arthur (London, 1972), 39–40;Google ScholarHarrison, K., “The beginning of the year in England, c. 500–900,” Anglo-Saxon England, 2 (1973), 51–.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

⁹ Even so, there existed a certain amount of “literary invention” to which moreattention will be given below.

¹⁰ Gray, , “Eclipse maps,” 255, 257.Google Scholar

¹¹ Newton, , MC, 80.Google Scholar See also idem, AAO, 36–7.Google Scholar Local climatic factors, e.g., humidity, may influence the perception of an annular eclipse (or even of an eclipse as a solar phenomenon at all). In a dry climate people would never look at the sun, whereas in a humid climate it would be possible to do so to a limited extent.

¹² Newton, , MC, 80.Google Scholar

¹³ Ibid.,82.

¹⁴ O'Connor, F. J., “Solar eclipses visible in Ireland between A.D. 400 and A.D.1000,” Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy, 55A (1952/1953), 61–72.Google Scholar

¹⁵ For the interdependence of eclipse references in the Irish annals see Newton, , MC, 181–6.Google Scholar

¹⁶ Ibid.,541–2. Many of the earliest eclipse references in the medieval chronicles, i.e., the references to eclipses which occurred before the compilation of a given chronicle began, were borrowed from other chronicles. Schove, D. J., “The earliest British eclipse record (A.D. 400–600),” Journal of the British Astronomical Association, 65 (1954), 39, has characterized this borrowing process as “an international trade in marvels.” Similar exchanges of information may account for some African examples.Google Scholar

¹⁷ Extracts from O’Connor, ldquo;Solar eclipses,” 61–72.Google Scholar

¹⁸ Newton, MC, passim; idem, “Two uses of ancient astronomy,” in Hodson, F. R., ed., The place of astronomy in the ancient world: A joint symposium of the Royal Society and the British Academy (London, 1974), 39, 107.Google Scholar

¹⁹ For a summary of these references see Newton, , AAO, passim, and Demandt Verformungstendenzen, 45–55.Google Scholar Demandt, ibid., 1, concludes that “of the approximately 250 reports of solar and lunar eclipses in the ancient literature, more than 200 are either inaccurate or untrue.”

²⁰ For the Thales eclipse see below. I assume here only that Herodotus’ sources did remember an eclipse, although not necessarily in the circumstances he reported.

²¹ Hsien—tzu, Wen, “A statistical survey of eclipses in Chinese history,” Popular Astronomy, 42 (1934), 136–41.Google Scholar For the desirability of classifying annular eclipses as total see Newton, , MC, 67–8.Google Scholar

²² Ibid., 141, drawing the data from Oppolzer's Canon. I must apologize for the use of averages here. Obviously several factors can affect the application of the average for the entire universe of eclipses to those which may have been visible in China; for instance the tracks of only 98 of the 559 eclipses that occurred during the period of the Former Han dynasty crossed China. Dubs, H. H., “Solar eclipses during the Former Han period,” Osiris, 5 (1938), 499. Even so, it is unlikely that the deviation from the mean would have reached the order indicated.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

²³ lbid., 515–8.

²⁴ Ibid., 518.

²⁵ For more on Chinese eclipses see Needham, Joseph, Science and civilization in China, III, Mathematics and the sciences of the heavens and the earth (Cambridge, 1959), 409–22.Google Scholar

²⁶ Dubs, , “Solar eclipses,” 516. For another factor see below.Google Scholar

²⁷ See, e.g., Gray, , “Eclipse maps,” 255.Google Scholar

²⁸ Personal communication, 26 September 1973.Google Scholar

²⁹ Gray, , “Eclipse maps,” 253.Google Scholar

³⁰ Wilde, Oscar, The Importance of Being Earnest, Act II.Google Scholar

³¹ Gray, , “Eclipse maps,” 261.Google Scholar

³² Needham, , Science and civilization, 3: 171. Newton, personal communication dd 17 October 1973, argues that these honors belong to the Hellenistic astronomers.Google Scholar

³³ Hsien—tzu, Wen, “Statistical survey,” 141.Google Scholar See also Dubs, , “Solar eclipses,” 515–22.Google Scholar

³⁴ Bielenstein, Hans, “An interpretation of the portents in the Ts‘ien Han Shu,” Bulletin of the Museum of Far Eastern Antiquities, 22 (1950), 132, 141–3.Google Scholar

³⁵ Ibid., 141; Wang, Yu-ch’uan, “An outline of the central government of the Former Han dynasty,” Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies, 12 (1949), 164–5.Google Scholar

³⁶ Bielenstein, , “Interpretation,” 141.Google Scholar

³⁷ Needham, , Science and civilization, 3: 418.Google Scholar

³⁸ Bielenstein, , “Interpretation,” 141–2.Google Scholar

³⁹ Needham, , Science and civilization, 3: 419.Google Scholar For the Astronomical Bureau in Ming times see Peng-yoke, Ho, “The Astronomical Bureau in Ming China,” Journal of Asian History, 3 (1969), 137–53.Google Scholar

⁴⁰ Rufus, W. Carl, “Astronomy in Korea,” Journal of the Korean Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, n.s. 26 (1936), 8–29;Google ScholarNakayama, Shigeru, A history of Japanese astronomy (Cambridge, Mass., 1969), 50–4.Google Scholar

⁴¹ The fullest study of this episode is Esbroeck, Guy van, “The so-called eclipse in the Shu King,” Le Muséon, 84 (1971), 225–73.Google Scholar For briefer summaries see Newton, , AAO, 62–9;Google ScholarNeedham, , Science and civilization, 3: 186–9;Google ScholarFotheringham, J. K., “The story of Hi and Ho,” Journal of the British Astronomical Association, 43 (1932), 245–57.Google Scholar

⁴² Cordier, Henry, Histoire générate de la Chine (4 vols.: Paris, 1920–1921), 1: 105,Google Scholar and sources cited there. See also Newton, , AAO, 64–5.Google Scholar

⁴³ Esbroeck, , “So-called eclipse,” 225–7.Google Scholar

⁴⁴ Ibid., 227–9, 257–8; Newton, , AAO, 62–5.Google Scholar

⁴⁵ Needham, , Science and civilization, 3: 186–8.Google Scholar

⁴⁶ Rowton, M. B., “The date of Hammurabi,” Journal of Near Eastern Studies, 17 (1958), 97–111;CrossRefGoogle ScholarLangdon, S. H. and Fotheringham, I. K., The Venus tablets of Ammizaduga (London, 1928).Google Scholar For the importance of astronomical data in dating the XVIII and XIX dynasties of Egypt see Schmidt, John D., Ramesses II: a chronological structure of his reign (Baltimore, 1973), 1–4 and sources cited there.Google Scholar

⁴⁷ King, L. W., Chronicles concerning early Babylonian kings (2 vols.: London, 1907), 1: 232–40; 2: 76.Google Scholar

⁴⁸ Brinkman, J. A., A political history of post-Kassite Babylonia, 1158–722 (Rome, 1968), 68n.Google Scholar

⁴⁹ Ibid., 31; Fotheringham, J. K., “A solution of ancient eclipses of the sun,” Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 81 (1920), 105.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

⁵⁰ Cowell, P. H., “On the secular accelerations of the moon’s longitude and node,” Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 65 (1904/1905), 861. Cowell rejected the eclipse in B.C. 1067 because its magnitude in Babylonia was only 0.65.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

⁵¹ See the opinion of S. H. Langdon quoted in Fortheringham, , “Solution,” 105–7.Google Scholar

⁵² Rowton, M. B., ”The ‘Era of Menophres’ and Mesopotamian chronology,” Iraq, 8 (1946), 106.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

⁵³ Ibid.

⁵⁴ Odyssey, xx, 356–7, in Murray, A. T., tr., The Odyssey [Loeb Classical Library’ (London, 1919), 2: 301.Google Scholar

⁵⁵ Macdonald, T. L., “The season of the Odyssey,” Journal of the British Astronomical Association, 77 (1967), 324. One might suppose that an eclipse could have been found to support almost any date advanced for the Trojan war.Google Scholar

⁵⁶ Bowra, C. H., Pindar (Oxford, 1964), 378.Google Scholar For a discussion of the textual problems with this passage see Farnell, L. R., The works of Pindar translated, with literary and critical commentaries (London, 1932), 412–3.Google Scholar

⁵⁷ Bowra, , Pindar, 411.Google ScholarFotheringham, , “Solution,” 109, accepted the eclipse of B.C. 462 as the event described by Pindar.Google Scholar

⁵⁸ Bowra, , Pindar, 378–9.Google Scholar

⁵⁹ The approximate magnitude of this eclipse at Thebes was provided by R. R. Newton in a personal communication dd 17 October 1973. Vivante, Pedro, “On time in Pindar,” Arethusa, 5 (1972), 107–31, provides helpful insights into this aspect of Pindar's work.Google Scholar

⁶⁰ See Newton, , AAO, 92–3, 114–7;Google Scholaridem, “Secular accelerations of the earth and moon,” Science, 166 (1969), 826, 828–9.Google Scholar

⁶¹ Herodotus, , The Persian Wars, 1: 74.Google Scholar

⁶² For a summary of the arguments on this point see Fotheringham, , “Solution,” 108–9;Google ScholarBlanche, L., “L'éclipse de Thalès et ses problèmes,” Revue philosophique de France et de l'étranger, 158 (1968), 188–95;Google ScholarHartner, W., “Eclipse periods and Thales' prediction of a solar eclipse: historical truth and modern myth,” Centaurus, 14 (1969), 65–9;CrossRefGoogle ScholarDicks, D. R., Early Greek astronomy to Aristotle (London, 1970), 43–4, 225 n45;Google ScholarO'Brien, D., “Derived light and elipses in the fifth century,” Journal of Hellenic Studies, 88 (1968), 114–5.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

⁶³ Froissart, Jean, Buchon, J. A. C., ed., Les chroniques de Sire Jean Froissart (2 vols.: Paris, 1840), 1: 237.Google Scholar

⁶⁴ Ibid., 237n. In this one is reminded of the descriptions in many early Arabic sources of the battle of Qadisiyya between the Arabs and the Persians in 636/7.

⁶⁵ Johnson, Samuel J., Historical and future eclipses (London, 1896), 50–1;Google ScholarLingard, John, The history of England (10 vols.: London, 1854–1855) 3: 157.Google Scholar

⁶⁶ Arrianus, Flavius, The Anabasis of Alexander, III, 7, 6.Google Scholar

⁶⁷ Quintus Curtius Rufus, IV, x, 2–7.Google Scholar

⁶⁸ Demandt, , Verformungstendenzen, 47;Google ScholarBudge, E. A. W., ed. and trans., The history of Alexander the Great; being the Syriac version of the Pseudo-Callisthenes (Cambridge, 1889), 53.Google ScholarWolohojian, A. M., ed. and trans., The romance of Alexander the Great by the pseudo-Calisthenes (New York, 1969), 64–5. The original Romance, a forgery attributed to Calisthenes, a member of Alexander’s army, was composed in Alexandria in the third or fourth century A.D. and enjoyed translations and variants in almost every important European language.Google Scholar

⁶⁹ These include the seige of Larissa described by Xenophon, the Persian invasion of the Pelopennesus in B.C. 480, Caesar's crossing of the Rubicon (itself probably mythical), the battle of Roncesvalles (later primarily associated with the death of Roland), and the battle of Stiklestad in 1030 in which king (later St.) Olafr Helgi of Norway was slain.

⁷⁰ See Newton, , AAO, 72–3, 78–86, 97–9;Google ScholarXenophon, , Anabasis, III, iv, 7.Google Scholar The Stiklestad reference in a twelfth-century poem is very much in the nature of the literary allusions discussed earlier. A noted example is the account in the Book of Joshua that the sun “halted in the middle of the sky” and remained there “for a whole day.” Sawyer, J. F. A., “Joshua 10: 12–14 and the solar eclipse of 30 September 1131 B.C.,” Palestine Exploration Quarterly, 104 (1972), 139–45,CrossRefGoogle Scholar argues that this referred to a solar eclipse that must have been total in the Palestine area. However, the examples used in this paper would suggest that “non-technical and ambiguous” descriptions and the association of eclipses and similar phenomena with epochal events (as in the case of Joshua) render it unlikely that identifying the eclipse of 1131 with the Biblical account makes, in Sawyer’s words, “good sense.” Manfred Weippert, The settlement of the Israelite tribes in Palestine (Naperville, III., 1971), 30n.Google Scholar reviews the recent literature on this subject and concludes appositejy that “the labour which has been expended on astronomical or physical ‘explanations’ of the ‘sun miracle’ is wasted effort.”

⁷¹ Livy, , de Sélincourt, Aubrey, trans., The early history of Rome (Baltimore, 1965), 35.Google Scholar

⁷² Florus, , Roman History [Loeb Classical Library] (London, 1925), 15;Google ScholarSeneca, , Ad Lucilium Epistulae Morales, cviii, 32 [Loeb Classical Library] (3 vols.: London, 1925), 3: 250–1. Both authors used the standard Latin phrase (defectio solis) for a solar eclipse.Google Scholar

⁷³ Cicero, , De Re Publica, vi, 22 [Loeb Classical Library] (London, 1959), 277. For Plutarch's account of this event see below.Google Scholar

⁷⁴ For the work of J. J. Scaliger, the best of the early modern chronographers, see Erasmus, H. J., The origins of Rome in historiography from Petrarch to Perizonius (Assen, ‘1962’), 40–2.Google Scholar

⁷⁵ See, for instance, John of Florence, The chronicle of John of Florence, 1118–1140 (Cambridge, 1908), 37–8,Google Scholar and examples cited in Newton, , MC, 160–3.Google Scholar

⁷⁶ The Peterborough Chronicle, Rositzke, H. A., ed. and trans. (New York, 1951),158.Google Scholar

⁷⁷ Ibid. There has been controversy over the meaning of this passage. See Bradley, Henry, “Trêson in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle,” Modern Language Review, 12 (1917), 72–4,CrossRefGoogle Scholar and Ker, N. R., “Some notes on the Peterborough Chronicle,” Medium Aevum, 3 (1934), 136–7.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

⁷⁸ Peterborough Chronicle, 6.Google Scholar

⁷⁹ Candidus, Hugh, C., and Mellows, W. T., trans., The Peterborough Chronicle (Peterborough, 1941), 54.Google Scholar

⁸⁰ Ibid.

⁸¹ For this phenomenon, commonly called the eclipse of Phlegon, see Fotheringham, , “Solution,” 112;Google ScholarNewton, , AAO, 112–3;Google Scholar and Sawyer, J. F. A., “Why is a solar eclipse mentioned in the Passion narrative?”, New Testament Studies, n.s. 23 (1972), 124–8.Google Scholar Sawyer argues that the author of the Gospel of Luke witnessed the total eclipse of 24 November 29 A.D. and associated it with the Crucifixion because “darkness was a conventional concomitant of divine intervention.”

⁸² Carter, F. W., Dubrovnik(Ragusa): a classic city state (London, 1972), 16,Google Scholar citing Gelcich, G., Istituzioni Maritime e Sanitare della Repubblica di Ragusa(Trieste, 1892), 37.Google Scholar

⁸³ Bede, , Historia Ecclesiastica, III, 27.Google Scholar

⁸⁴ Jones, C. W., Bedae Opera de Temporibus (Cambridge, Mass., 1943), 361.Google Scholar

⁸⁵ For the chronicles see Freeman, E. A., History of the Norman conquest of England (2d rev. ed., 5 vols.: London, 1875), 3: 70–3, 645–50.Google Scholar

⁸⁶ Gibbs—Smith, C. H., The Bayeux tapestry (London, 1973), 4, 12, plates 26 and 27.Google Scholar The comet appears in the panel between that depicting the coronation of Harold and that showing a ship arriving in Normandy with news of this. Frank Stenton, “The historical background,” in idem, ed., The Bayeux Tapestry: a comprehensive survey (London, 1947), 18–9, argued that the panels in this section are presented in a casual rather than a strictly chronological order, but the argument is weak since the juxtaposition of comet and coronation suited perfectly the tenor and purposes of the tapestry.

⁸⁷ Torday, Emil, On the trail of the Bushongo (London, 1925), 142, referring to the Kuba tradition of an eclipse discussed below.Google Scholar

⁸⁸ See fn. 3.

⁸⁹ Parrinder, E. G., The story of Ketu (Ibadan, 1956), 34–5.Google Scholar

⁹⁰ Dunglas, E., “Contribution à l'histoire du Moyen-Dahomey (royaumes d’Abomey, de Kétou et de Ouidah),” Etudes Dahomeennes, 19 (1957), 68. Parrinder’s work is essentially a translated abridgement of Dunglas.Google Scholar

⁹¹ Ibid., 69.

⁹² Herisse, A. Le, L'ancien royaume du Dahomey: moeurs, religion, histoire (Paris, 1911), 308.Google Scholar

⁹³ Crowther, S. A., “Ketu, in the Yoruba country,” Church Missionary Intelligencer (Nov., 1853), 244.Google Scholar

⁹⁴ The doubt arises from the fact that the Ketu king Crowther visited died soon after his departure but in time for notice of it to be included in his report. The account of the visit is in diary form, and it is not clear whether Crowther edited it on learning of the king's death. If he did, the reference would be to Akebioru; if not, then to Ande.

⁹⁵ Dalzel, Archibald, The history of Dahomy, an inland kingdom of Africa (London, 1793).Google Scholar

⁹⁶ Ibid., vi.

⁹⁷ Ibid., 201–2.

⁹⁸ Gray, , “Annular eclipse maps,” 156.Google Scholar

⁹⁹ For this eclipse see Gray, , “Eclipse maps,” 258.Google Scholar

¹⁰⁰ Pliny, , Natural History, II, xxxi;Google ScholarNewton, , MC, 739–55.Google Scholar

¹⁰¹ Brooke, Richard, Visits to the fields of battle in England of the fifteenth century (London, 1857), 72–3.Google Scholar

¹⁰² Henry VI, part 3, act. 2, scene 1.

¹⁰³ For Fátima see Grande enciclopédia portuguesa e brasileira (40 vols.: Lisbon and Rio de Janeiro, [1935’–1960), 10: 992,Google Scholar and Cerbeland-Salagnac, G., Fatima et notre temps (Paris, 1967), 168–82, 279–83.Google Scholar For a similar incident in Mexico in 1953 see Shibutani, T., Improvised news: a sociological study of rumor (Indianapolis, 1966), 114–5.Google Scholar

¹⁰⁴ Dunglas, , “Contribution,” 6–7, 12–14.Google Scholar

¹⁰⁵ idem., “Contribution,” Etudes Dahoméennes, 20 (1957), 25.Google ScholarCornevin, R., Histoire du Dahomey (Paris, 1962), 114,Google Scholar is more cautious in his acceptance of the eclipse reference.

¹⁰⁶ Hunt, D. R., “An account of the Bapedi,” Bantu Studies, 5 (1931), 284.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

¹⁰⁷ Cited in Gray, , “Annular eclipse maps,” 150–1, from a translation of a vernacular text.Google Scholar

¹⁰⁸ Ibid., 150.

¹⁰⁹ Kaggwa, Apolo, Ekitabo kya Basekabaka be Buganda (London, 1912), 316.Google Scholar

¹¹⁰ My thanks to Moses Musoke for translating this passage for me.

¹¹¹ K. W., , “The kings of Bunyoro-Kitara,” Uganda Journal, 4 (1936), 79;Google ScholarNyakatura, J. W., Abakama ba Bunyoro-Kitara (St-Justin, Quebec, 1947).Google Scholar An English version of Nyakatura's work (Uzoigwe, G. N., ed.) entitled Anatomy of an African kingdom (Garden City, N.Y., 1973)Google Scholar is now available. For the argument that much of K. W.'s and Nyakatura's work is derived from early published traditions see my “Reflections on early interlacustrine chronology: an essay in source criticism,” Journal of African History, 15 (1974), 27–46.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

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¹¹³ For the arguments see Sykes, J., “The eclipse at Biharwe,” Uganda Journal, 23 (1959), 44–50;Google ScholarHaddon, E. B., “Kibuka,” Uganda Journal, 21 (1957), 111–9;Google ScholarGray, J. M., “The solar eclipse in Ankole,” Uganda Journal, 27 (1963), 217–22.Google Scholar For the genealogical evidence see Roland Oliver, “Discernible developments in the interior, c. 1500 to 1840,” in Oliver, R. and Mathew, G., eds., History of East Africa (Oxford, 1963), 180–7,Google Scholar and Cohen, D. W., “A survey of interlacustrine chronology,” Journal of African History, 11 (1970), 177–88.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

¹¹⁴ Henige, , “Reflections,” 33–7 discusses the Biharwe eclipse in more detail.Google Scholar

¹¹⁵ Kaggwa, A., Kiwanuka, M. S. M., trans., The kings of Buganda (Dar es Salaam, 1971), 48–9. This is a translation of Basekabaka but does not include the non-Ganda traditions in the last two editions of the original.Google Scholar

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¹¹⁹ Torday, and Joyce, , Notes ethnographiques, 36;Google ScholarTorday, , Bushong, 141–2.Google ScholarGray, , “Eclipse maps,” 259n. notes this.Google Scholar

¹²⁰ Torday, and Joyce, , Notes ethnographiques, 36.Google Scholar

¹²¹ Dr. Thorndyke in R. Austin Freeman, The Mystery of 31, New Inn.

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¹²⁴ Gray, , “Annular eclipse maps,” 155,156.Google Scholar

¹²⁵ Other miraculous events are associated with Mbakam Mbomancyeel, but Vansina feels that this springs from the fact that an eclipse occurred during his reign, personal communication dd 10 November 1973.

¹²⁶ Vansina, J., “Kuba chronology revisited,” in Henige, D. P., ed., Essays in African oral chronology, forthcomingGoogle Scholar

¹²⁷ See the literature cited in fn. 113.

¹²⁸ In this I exclude the Biharwe eclipse because of the interpretative problems created by its acceptance.

¹²⁹ Gray, , “Eclipse maps,” 261.Google Scholar

¹³⁰ The reactions of members of traditional African societies have not often been recorded. Two instances in 1874 and 1875 cited by Cameron, V. L., Across Africa (London, 1885), 210, 430–1, suggest that, even when the effect was perceptible, the reactions were not as profound as traditional accounts sometimes describe. “Awestricken” reactions to eclipses may have been more the concomitants of European expectations of African behavior than of the behavior itself; the eclipses described by Cameron evidently were of greater importance to him than to the people, a point not to be lost on historians working with eclipse references.Google Scholar

¹³¹ Plutarch, , Lives, Dryden, John, trans. (3 vols.: London, 1910), 1: 52.Google Scholar

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¹³³ Plutarch, , Lives, J., and Langhorne, W., trans. (6 vols.: London, 1823), 1: 117.Google Scholar

¹³⁴ Plutarch, , Lives, anonymous trans. (5 vols.: London, 1711), 1: 111.Google Scholar

¹³⁵ Plutarch, , Vies, , Flaciliére, et al. , trans. (7 vols.: Paris, 1957–1972), 1: 95.Google Scholar

¹³⁶ Plutarch, , Les vies des hommes illustres (Ricard, , trans.) (4 vols.: Paris, 1862), 1:71.Google Scholar

¹³⁷ Plutarch, , Vidas paralelas (2 vols.: Mexico City, 1923), 1: 90.Google Scholar

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¹³⁹ See above.

¹⁴⁰ The following two articles were not able to be used in preparing this paper but are cited here because they are relevant to the discussion: Stephenson, F. R., “Astronomical verification and dating of the Old Testament passages referring to solar eclipses,” Palestine Exploration Quarterly, 1975, 107–20;Google ScholarMuller, P. M. and Stephenson, F.R., “The accelerations of the earth and moon from early astronomical observations” in Rosenberg, G. D. and Runcorn, S. K., eds., Growth rhythms and the history of earth's rotation (London, 1975), 459–534.Google Scholar