MTG and the Solar Eclipse of 585 BC

I admit to being a tad ambivalent about the prospect of the solar eclipse of 4/8/24.

Growing up, I leaned toward History and English and away from anything related to dissecting frogs or smelling sulfur.

As a part-time numerologist, however, I was intrigued by the date (all even numbers: 2x4 = 8, and 2x2 = 4). Still, that alone did not motivate me to don a stupid-looking pair of sunglasses and stare at the heavens in hopes the clouds would part timely to allow me four minutes of something I could watch on YouTube whenever I wanted.[1]

A friend of mine insisted that I watch it.

“You can just put a lawn chair in your front yard, sit out there, and enjoy the show.”

I was embarrassed to admit that I didn’t own a lawn chair and did not feel it was prudent to purchase one just for this purpose.

But I did have some old dining room chairs, and I could drag one of them out on my front walk if the spirit moved me and the clouds cooperated.

After I heard that Marjorie Taylor Greene (a/k/a MTG) said that the solar eclipse was a “sign from God that we must repent,” I could no longer remain aloof.

After joining the ranks of the spectators, I wrote this letter to MTG:

Dear Marj,

Here’s a little history lesson just for you.

A few years ago, in fact, for centuries before 600 BC, the folks of Greece believed, as you do, that a solar eclipse, along with earthquakes and other unexpected events of nature, were whims, or “signs,” of the gods.

Along came a guy called “Thales of Miletus.”

Thales was a “natural philosopher.” [2]

The Greeks respected Thales so much that they named him one of the founding figures of Ancient Greece, known as the “Seven Sages.” [3]

It's hard to make comparisons, but Thales may have been on par with Isaac Newton or Albert Einstein.

Without going into all of the fantastic things Thales did during his day, for our purposes, the most relevant is that he predicted a solar eclipse that occurred on May 28, 585 BC.

Until then, even his fellow sages said it couldn’t be done.

No one could predict when the Gods (the Greeks were polytheistic) would send a sign.

It would take all the fun out of being a God if everyone knew what you would do before you did it.

After Thales, the secret was out.

We did not know it, but we could predict all sorts of natural phenomena: floods, seasons, droughts, and just about everything except Wall Street.

Issac Asimov characterized Thales’ solar eclipse prediction as the “birth of science.”

In almost any book you pick up on the history of philosophy, the first philosopher you find is Thales.

So, Marj, Thales debunked your “sign from God” theory about 2600 years ago. [4]

That has been well-publicized for hundreds of years.

Perhaps a retraction would be appropriate.

And, by the way, “repent” from what?

Give it some thought! [5]

Epilogue

The solar eclipse of 585 BC occurred during an important battle between the Lydians and the Medes. When the eclipse reached totality and the day became night, they stopped the struggle and negotiated a peace agreement.

I love happy endings – stupid politicians, not so much.

[1] It was amazing that they did in my area.

[2] That’s what they called scientists in those days.

[3] Miletus was located in what we would call Turkey, but let’s not be picky.

[4] I wanted to make sure that I calculated the years correctly, so I ran it by ChatGPT, and it gave me the wrong answer – twice. After a brief argument, the Bot agreed with me: a cautionary tale.

[5] I guess that was a dumb suggestion.