486 TRANS. ST. LOUIS ACAD. SCIENCE. 



— 621. About that time only one total eclipse was possible near 

 the southern Halys, viz. that in -621, May 17th, 2oh. 15m., ft 2° 

 46' E., curve -25°, 2°, _6°. According to our Table (p. 429), 

 however, the ft lay 40 W. of the sun, and hence the obscuration 

 of the sun near the 39° N. Lat. must have been total. The eclipse 

 happened on the Halys, as Pingre states, about noon, but, accord- 

 ing to our Table (p. 429-30), 4h. 14m. later, which agrees with 

 Herodotus, who reports the eclipse to have taken place in the 

 course of the battle {oifc fiayofxzvolai). Oltmanns, it is true, had 

 reference to the eclipse in -609, Sept. 29th, 2ih. P. T., ft 4° W., 

 curve -|-, 55°, 22° ; but this eclipse was not total on the Halys, 

 and the battle-field would have been nearly the middle of the 

 Black Sea. Moreover, according to this eclipse, Mandane would 

 have been born in _6o8, and, since Cyrus was born in -596, 

 Mandane, aged eleven years, would have been married to Cyrus's 

 father. Who is able to believe that, 2470 years ago, girls of 11 

 years were ''marriageable virgins"? Prof. Hind, however, as 

 well as Prof. Airy, took the eclipse in -583, May 17th, 2oh., for 

 that on the Halys witnessed by Herodotus ; but this eclipse was 

 total only between Sardes, Iconium, Tarsus, Issus, Ancyra, and 

 not on the Halys. By the way, since Mandane, according to this 

 eclipse, was born in -582, whilst Cyrus was born in -596, the 

 wonderful discovery is made that Cyrus was born fourteen years 

 prior to his mother. 



S. The Fasti Siculi (Chronicon Pashale, p. 144 Par.) refer 

 a solar eclipse, probably observed in Greece, to Ol. 59, 4 {^Xio^j 

 ixXc(pc^ iyiuero). In the year — 538, Nov. 22d, I9h., ft 80W., 

 curve 12°, _ 26°, _ 25°, the longitude of the ft was shorter by 6° 6' 

 (p. 429) ; consequently the obscuration of the sun must have been 

 great in Greece. Two years earlier no solar eclipse occurred. 



5. The same Fasti (p. 146) refer a solar eclipse (ix/.:<j['i:; i^kcou 

 iysv£To) to 01. 65, I. In — 519, Nov. 22d, i7h , ft 7° W., curve 

 52°, 17°, 16° ; the conjunction happened 3h. 54m. later, and the 

 longitude of the ft was shorter by about 6° (p. 429), and hence 

 this obscuration of the sun in Greece must have been great. Two 

 years earlier no eclipse of the sun occurred in Greece. Hence it 

 is evident that the Fasti Siculi counted the Olympiads from —773 

 correctly. , 



