SEYFFARTH — OX THE THEORY OF THE MOON'S MOTIONS. 487 



6. We proceed now to the famous total eclipse of Xerxes, ob- 

 served near Sardes (Smyrna), about sunrise, in the early spring. 

 Herodotus (vii, 37), who was born about the same time, reports 

 as follows : 6 y^/io^ kxM-wi^ rr^v ix roit obfiavoh idftav dipai'ifji; 

 jjv, OUT iTzevscpeXitoii iduroju, aidptr^^ rs ra fidkcaza ' \4vTe ^[is- 

 pa^ T£ !/•>? iyei^szo. Aristides (Or. 46, p. 241 Din.) calls the 

 same eclipse a total one (jj roit ^Xio'j aojiTzdaa ixAK^'n;)^ and the 

 scholiast to Aristides (p. 222 Fr.) likewise refers the obscuration 

 to sunrise (i^ di/aro/^c), and to the vicinit}^ of the Hellespont. 

 Herodotus (viii 5r), the Parian Marble (Ep. 52), Dionysius (ix. 

 17, 38), and Diodor (xi. i) put the eclipse a few months prior to 

 Archon Calliades (June, 478), and Thucydides (i. 18) counts ten 

 years from the battle at Marathon, of which the date ( — 488, 

 Aug. 6) is fixed with mathematical certainty (p. 408-4 ro) down 

 to the eclipse of Xerxes. Moreover, a short time after this eclipse 

 the battle at Salamis (according to Plutarch) on the i6th day of 

 Munychion (March 19) was fought in — 477 ; and from Xerxes' 

 eclipse to the Olympian games in — 477, during which the battle 

 at Thermopylae took place, Herodotus (,vii. 206) counts about 18 

 months. Even Plutarch (Ages. ii. 1) and Nepos (Ages. 4) also 

 specify i year 6 months from Xerxes' passage over the Helles- 

 pont to the Olympian games. Thus the date of the eclijDse near 

 Smyrna is both mathematically and historically 'ascertained. 

 About that time, during spring, only one eclipse coincided with 

 sunrise in Smyrna (29° 26' E., 38° 28' N.), viz. that in — 478, 

 Feb. 27th, i5h.3om. P.T., U 17° E., curve touching 39°, 57°, 1°. 

 According to our Table (p. 429), however, the conjunction occur- 

 red 3h. 46m. later, i.e. about 7h. lom. a.m. Paris time, i.e. 9h. 

 Smyrna time. The parallax makes the obscuration of the sun 

 nearly two hours earlier (7h. local time), and about the same mo- 

 ment the sun rose on Feb. 27th in Smyrna. The U, moreover, 

 lay (p. 429) 5° 49' nearer to the sun, i.e. 12° E., and hence the 

 eclipse must have been total near Smyrna. Finally, in the pre- 

 ceding and following years no other eclipse coincided, as Pingre's 

 computations demonstrate, with sunrise. Petavius being unable 

 to produce, about that time, a total eclipse of the sun coinciding 

 with sunrise, did not hesitate, in spite of all ancient authorities, 

 to declare this eclipse to have been "a supernatural phenomenon." 

 Hind recurred to the eclipse in — 477, Feb. 17th, iih. 10m. a.m., 



