The Great American Eclipse of August 21, 2017, certainly was one for the record books. It became a huge media event, and hotels and even state and national parks were booked to capacity in anticipation. But total solar eclipses have not always been seen with the same kind of awe and wonder. In ancient times, people often experienced great fear and trepidation, and they viewed such events as omens or portents of change.
The earliest verifiable eclipse observation was made June 15, 763 b.c., by the Assyrians. This was soon followed by well-documented viewings recorded by the Chinese and Greeks. But it was the Chaldean astronomers of the Neo-Babylonian Empire who first deduced the sun-moon eclipse connection known as the saros cycle.
This period, 6,585.3211 days, is the length of time after one total solar eclipse when a nearly identical eclipse will occur. Armed with this new knowledge, the Chaldeans, and later the Greeks and Romans, could explain the cause of eclipses and — more importantly — predict when they would happen. This allowed the Romans to use eclipses as a propaganda device to promote military campaigns or political agendas.
The mints open
Around the same time, the Greeks came up with a pretty nifty invention — coinage. At first the designs were quite crude, but in the span of a few generations, they became nothing less than works of art. The sheer variety of themes soon rivaled the number of Greek city-states scattered throughout the Mediterranean world.
