(Ancient Classical History at About.com)
"Nothing there is beyond hope, nothing that can be sworn impossible, nothing wonderful, since Zeus, father of the Olympians,
made night from mid-day, hiding the light of the shining Sun, and sore fear came upon men."
Archilochus
We may know there's a scientific explanation for them, but solar eclipses continue to exert an almost magical power over us. It's not at all clear we've decreased in gullibility since the days when Columbus used his fore-knowledge of an eclipse to hoodwink the Jamaicans.
And even though we know better, during each total solar eclipse, there
will be people blinded by the too tempting sight of an eclipsed sun.
read on (Image: Thales of Miletus)
Manuscript: Macrobius, Commentarii in Somnium Scipionis.
Folio 49 verso. Diagrams showing solar and lunar eclipses.
Images courtesy Wikimedia Commons
