TheAssyrian eclipse, also known as theBur-Sagale eclipse, was asolar eclipse recorded inAssyrianeponym lists that most likely dates to the tenth year of the reign of kingAshur-dan III. The eclipse is identified with the one that occurred on 15 June763 BC in theproleptic Julian calendar.[1]
The entry from Assyrian records is short and reads:
The phrase used –shamash ("the sun")akallu ("bent", "twisted", "crooked", "distorted", "obscured") – has been interpreted as a reference to a solar eclipse since the firstdecipherment of cuneiform in the mid 19th century.The nameBur-Sagale (also renderedBur-Saggile, Pur-Sagale orPar-Sagale) is the name of thelimmu official in theeponymous year.
In 1867,Henry Rawlinson identified the near-total eclipse of 15 June 763 BC as the most likely candidate (the monthSimanu corresponding to the May/June lunation),[2] visible in northern Assyria just before noon. This date has been widely accepted ever since; the identification is also substantiated by other astronomical observations from the same period.[3]
This record is one of the crucial pieces of evidence that anchor the absolutechronology of the ancient Near East for the Assyrian period.
The Bur-Sagale eclipse occurred over the Assyrian capital city ofNineveh in the middle of the reign ofJeroboam II, who ruledIsrael from 786 to 746 B.C. According to 2 Kings 14:25, the prophetJonah lived and prophesied in Jeroboam's reign. The biblical scholarDonald Wiseman has speculated that the eclipse took place around when Jonah arrived in Nineveh and urged the people to repent, otherwise the city would be destroyed. This would explain the dramatic repentance of the people of Nineveh as described in theBook of Jonah. Ancient cultures, including Assyria, viewed eclipses as omens of imminent destruction, and the empire was in chaos at this time, struggling with revolts, famines and two separate outbreaks ofplague.[4][5][6]
This eclipse is perhaps also mentioned by the prophetAmos. Amos was also preaching during the reign of Jeroboam II and makes a possible allusion to the eclipse inAmos 5:8 and 8:9.[7] In these passages Amos uses the darkness of an eclipse as a prophecy of doom, and exhortsJudeans to repentance.
.jpg)
