Omens in the ancient world but not in the modern world, which has become blind and deaf to the messages of the Celestial Gods.
The Babylonians considered them a premonitory message of an event, a sign from the Gods, sometimes beneficial, sometimes evil, because the Gods in ancient times communicated their will, the fate reserved for humans, through the stars.
Lunar eclipses were of particular interest for the duration of the rule of Kings over their Kingdoms.
Let us remember that the eclipse takes place when three celestial bodies align in a straight line, this line is called syzygy, from the Greek “súzugos”. From our terraces, for those who have one, we can sometimes see eclipses, which are divided into lunar and solar, and we can only see them sometimes because depending on the position of the Earth with respect to the point where we are, the eclipses can be total or partial.
The Babylonians also calculated about forty combinations of the syzygy which could take place over the course of about twenty years, the sequence of eclipses derived from the calculation of the so-called cycle. Babylonian takes the name of Saros Cycle.
In the Saros cycle the eclipses could predict the death of the King, they could but not always, given that the astrologers of the time, like the jurists of today, put the sacred celestial sign under interpretation based on discrepancies due to a set of parameters : clouds, wind, cold, scorching heat, lightning, night or day event, during a famine, or the concomitance of the eclipse with a star in its close vicinity.
In the Assyrian-Babylonian scroll “Enūma Anu Enlil” – “The Gods Anunaki and Enlil” – it is said that if the planet Jupiter was visible during the eclipse, then the King was in no danger.
As in Angel Heart, Elevator to Hell, Johnny Favorite disappears to deceive the Devil who had helped him to make a successful career as a solo singer, one day a Babylonian King, a certain Erra Imitti, thought of deceiving the Gods who had made him King but who presumed, advised by his astrologers, that when the new eclipse occurred the Gods would decree his end.
Just like Johnny Favorite, he replaced himself in the Pre-Eclipse propitiatory ritual with a beggar, his double, Enlil Bani, hoping that he would die in his place. But after the eclipse the King died, but not before giving orders that if anything happened to him Enlil Bani would be immediately found and executed. But Bani, with the help of members of the King’s mistreated court, killed the guards and proclaimed himself as the New King of Babylon. However, it didn’t end so well for the soldier used in the ritual by Favorite to deceive the devil. The Gods cannot be deceived.
But Mesopotamia was not the only example of omens and eclipses applied to society.
It is said that even in ancient China eclipses caused misfortune to Kings. And in the Aztec empire, as many will have admired in Mel Gibson’s film, Apocalypto.
In ancient times, eclipses unquestionably held the power to overthrow Kings. In the modern world, we cannot even compare them to electoral votes, given that rather than overthrowing Kings, votes spit out new Kings who are worse than the previous ones.
Totality: Eclipses of the Sun is a book co-authored by Mark Littmann, Ken Wilcox, and Fred Espenak. The book provides a unique treatment of solar eclipses, exploring the phenomenon of total solar eclipses. It is published by the University of Hawaii Press and offers insights into the science, history, and cultural significance of solar eclipses. The authors delve into the intricacies of solar eclipses, including their astronomical aspects, the impact on Earth, and the awe-inspiring experience of witnessing a total solar eclipse.
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