The following table of lunar eclipses are each associated with some historical event of note. When selected, each eclipse date links to a figure showing the Moon's path though Earth's shadows along with the Greenwich times of each phase of the eclipse. Below the path figure is a world map showing the region of visibility for each phase of the eclipse. These figures are described in greater detail in the Key to Lunar Eclipse Maps. Each figure is stored as a GIF of 65 kilobytes.
Sources and/or literary references to many of these eclipses may be found at:
Ancient and Early Medieval Eclipses in European Sources
The references at the bottom of this page are also recommended for information on lunar eclipses of historical interest. Those who are unfamiliar with the basic astronomy of lunar eclipses may want to visit Lunar Eclipses for Beginners. A complementary web page Solar Eclipses of Historical Interest is also available.
This web site is a work in progress. If you know of an historic eclipse of interest, please email the date and a little information or reference about the event to espenak@gsfc.nasa.gov. I will generate a map for the eclipse and add it to this page.
| Lunar Eclipses: 2000 BCE to 1 BCE[3] | ||||||
| Date | Eclipse Type |
Umbral Magnitude[1] |
Eclipse Duration[2] |
Description/Event | ||
| -0424 Oct 09 (425 Oct 09 BCE) |
Total | 1.404 | 03h40m [01h28m] |
The choice of Cleon | ||
| -0412 Aug 28 ( 413 Aug 28 BCE) |
Total | 1.092 | 03h23m [00h46m] |
Siege of Syracuse | ||
| -0405 Apr 15 ( 406 Apr 15 BCE) |
Total | 1.279 | 03h25m [01h14m] |
Fire in the temple of Athena | ||
| -0330 Sep 20 ( 331 Sep 20 BCE) |
Total | 1.211 | 03h18m [01h04m] |
Eclipse before Arbela battle of Alexander the Great |
||
| -0167 Jun 21 ( 168 Jun 21 BCE) |
Total | 1.251 | 03h42m [01h16m] |
Gallus explains lunar eclipse before the battle |
||
| -0128 Nov 05 ( 129 Nov 05 BCE) |
Partial | 0.620 | 02h51m | Death of Carneades | ||
| -0004 Mar 23 ( 5 Mar 23 BCE) |
Total | 1.818 | 03h43m [01h43m] |
Death of Herod | ||
| Lunar Eclipses: 1 CE to 2000 CE[3] | ||||||
| Date | Eclipse Type | Umbral Magnitude[1] | Eclipse Duration[2] | Description/Event | ||
| 0014 Sep 27 | Total | 1.666 | 03h36m [01h38m] |
Death of Augustus | ||
| 0033 Apr 03 | Partial | 0.586 | 02h52m | Crucifixion of Christ? | ||
| 0071 Mar 04 | Partial | 0.408 | 02h19m | Pliny - Two Eclipses in 15 Days | ||
| 1433 Jul 02 | Partial | 0.517 | 02h43m | Two Eclipses in 15 Days | ||
| 1453 May 22 | Partial | 0.749 | 02h59m | Fall of Constantinople | ||
| 1504 Mar 01 | Total | 1.100 | 03h26m [00h49m] |
Columbus' Eclipse | ||
| 1776 Jul 31 | Total | 1.597 | 03h33m [01h36m] |
James Cook's Lunar Eclipse - 1 | ||
| 1777 Jan 23 | Partial | 0.600 | 02h48m | James Cook's Lunar Eclipse - 2 | ||
| 1777 Jul 20 | Partial | 0.115 | 01h18m | James Cook's Lunar Eclipse - 3 | ||
| 1778 Dec 04 | Partial | 0.510 | 02h25m | James Cook's Lunar Eclipse - 4 | ||
| 1805 Jan 15 | Total | 1.747 | 03h34m [01h39m] |
The Lewis and Clark Eclipse | ||
| 1863 Nov 25 | Partial | 0.957 | 03h21m | Gordon's Eclipse | ||
| 1917 Jul 04 | Total | 1.624 | 03h33m [01h37m] |
Lawrence of Arabia's Eclipse | ||
[1]Umbral magnitude is the fraction of the Moon's diameter obscured by Earth's Umbra. For partial eclipses, the umbral magnitude is always greater than 0 and less than 1. For total eclipses, the umbral magnitude is always greater than or equal to 1.
[2]Eclipse Duration is the duration of the partial eclipse. Total eclipses have a partial phase both before and after the total phase. Thus, two eclipse durations are listed for total eclipses. The first duration is for the entire eclipse (partial and total phases combined) and the second duration (in '[ ]') is for the total phase only.
[3]BCE and CE are abbreviations for "Before Common Era" and "Common Era," respectively. They are the secular equivalents to the BC and AD dating conventions. (See: Year Dating Conventions)
Eclipse predictions presented here are based on j=2 ephemerides for the Sun (Newcomb, 1895) and Moon (Brown, 1919, and Eckert, Jones and Clark, 1954). A revised value used for the Moon's secular acceleration is n-dot = -26 arc-sec/cy*cy, as deduced by Morrison and Ward (1975) from 250 years of Mercury transit observations.
The largest uncertainty in the position of eclipse paths is caused by fluctuations in Earth's rotation due primarily to tidal friction of the Moon.
For more information on eclipses of historic interest, see the following:
Brewer, B., Eclipse, Earth View, Seattle, 1991
Humphreys, Colin J. and Waddington, W. G., "Dating the Crucifixion", Nature, Vol. 306, No. 5945, p.743-746, 22 December 1983
Littmann, M., Willcox, K., and Espenak, F. Totality - Eclipses of the Sun, Oxford University Press, New York, 1999
Schaefer, Bradley E., "Solar Eclipses That Changed the World", Sky and Telescope, May, 1994, p.36-39
Schaefer, Bradley E., "Lunar Eclipses That Changed the World", Sky and Telescope, December, 1992, p.639-642
Schaefer, Bradley E., "Dating the Crucifixion", Sky and Telescope, April, 1989, p.374
Schaefer, Bradley E., "Lunar Visibility and the Crucifixion", Q.Jl. R. astr. Soc., 1990, 31, p.53-67
Steel, Duncan, "Eclipse", 1999
