A cuneiform record connects ancient and modern astronomy

Reconstructed eclipse paths allow researchers to compare the annal with the expected visibility from ancient Zheng.

When an ancient observation has a secure place and date, its timing can constrain how Earth's rotation has slowed over millennia.

The Bur-Sagale eclipse was entered in the Assyrian eponym lists and is securely identified with 15 June 763 BCE.

The astronomical identification provides a fixed date for rulers and events recorded in Assyrian year-name lists.

Mesopotamian scribes accumulated long sequences of celestial records used to recognize cycles and interpret unusual events.

Herodotus associated a sudden darkness during battle with an eclipse reconstructed for 28 May 585 BCE.

The claim became famous, but surviving evidence does not establish what method he used or whether the prediction was precise.

The eclipse was later said to have prompted peace, illustrating how celestial events acquired political and religious meanings.

Modern calculations verify an eclipse, while the prediction narrative must be treated more cautiously than the astronomical date.

The parameters of the Aryabhatiya are reckoned for mean noon at Ujjain on 21 March 499, providing a precise base date for calculations.