| Popis: |
Since the most ancient of times, eclipses—solar eclipses in particular—have been viewed as harbingers of misfortune. It was for this reason that in Babylonian times enormous efforts were made to predict eclipses and avert their most ill-starred effects on the King, who was the earthly representative of the god who is represented in the sky by the Sun. The existence of a Mesopotamian ritual for warding off the evil consequences of eclipses (documented particularly under the reigns of Asarhaddon from 680 to 669 BCE, and Assurbanipal from 668 to 627 BCE) and the legendary tale, traditionally dated to 509 BCE, of the Kings being chased out of Rome reveal a similar conceptual approach by two civilizations which, as history would have it, never came into contact. |
