Well, the eclipse was a bit of a non-event in Nova Scotia, but I saw some amazing pictures people took in areas where the total eclipse was visible. And here, from a time before cameras, is a fanciful depiction of an eclipse which is found in the the Nuremberg Chronicle, a book from the Middle Ages which contains an illustrated paraphrase of the Bible and history of the world. Also, here is an account of an eclipse from Herodotus' The Histories which he wrote in 440 BC. Herodotus claims in it that the advent of the eclipse put a stop to a battle between two warring factions: the Medes and the Lydians. According to people who study that sort of thing, the eclipse he was describing took place in 585 BC, and Herodotus claims that it was accurately predicted by a Greek philosopher of the time period, Thales of Miletus. He doesn't explain how Thales figured out that there was an eclipse coming, and some modern scholars have questioned whether he actually did. However, Diogenes Laertius, a 3rd century AD biographer of Greek philosophers, makes the same claim, saying that Xenophanes, a philosopher who was a contemporary of Thales, was impressed by the accurate prediction. Diogenes also includes accounts of the incident from two other Greek philosophers, Heraclitus and Democritus. If this is actually true, it would be the first time in history that we know of someone accurately calculating the arrival of an eclipse. Here is Herodotus' writings on the subject: "Afterwards, on the refusal of Alyattes to give up his suppliants when Cyaxares sent to demand them of him, war broke out between the Lydians and the Medes, and continued for five years, with various success. In the course of it the Medes gained many victories over the Lydians, and the Lydians also gained many victories over the Medes. Among their other battles there was one night engagement. As, however, the balance had not inclined in favour of either nation, another combat took place in the sixth year, in the course of which, just as the battle was growing warm, day was on a sudden changed into night. This event had been foretold by Thales, the Milesian, who forewarned the Ionians of it, fixing for it the very year in which it actually took place. The Medes and Lydians, when they observed the change, ceased fighting, and were alike anxious to have terms of peace agreed on." - Herodotus, The Histories
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