The Double Eclipse at the Downfall of Old Babylon

TL;DR

This paper investigates ancient eclipse accounts from Old Babylon using astronomical data to refine historical chronologies, favoring the Long Chronology and considering Earth's rotational variations.

Contribution

It introduces a detailed analysis of eclipse texts to improve dating of ancient Babylonian history, considering multiple interpretations and Earth's rotational shifts.

Findings

Eclipse data support the Long Chronology for Babylon

The third interpretation aligns best with historical timelines

Earth's rotational deceleration affects ancient eclipse visibility

Abstract

For many decades scholars converse how to correctly include the Old Babylonian Empire into the absolute timeline of history. A cuneiform text from the series Enuma Anu Enlil (EAE #20) reports on the destruction of Babylon after a lunar and solar eclipse. Eclipses provide a great tool for examining historic events, and this account will be our basis for the investigation of eclipse pairs to be fitted into the various chronologies proposed. We consider three interpretations of that text: literal understanding, the inverted sequence of the two eclipse types, and a relocation of the setting to Akkad. All variants show imperfections. The least complications emerge when the account draws upon the third option, i.e. if it is allotted to 2161 BCE, as the year would mark the end of the Gutian rule in Akkad. But in any case the account seems to support rather the Long Chronology than any other. When dealing with eclipses such far back in time, we also allow for the shift of the visibility zone in regard to the irregular deceleration of Earth's rotation.