“The sun will be eclipsed, and the day will be darkened, in the year that is coming.”
— Thales of MiletusParaphrase of the eclipse prediction reported in Herodotus 1.74; not a verbatim saying
Commentary
This paraphrase reflects Herodotus' report that Thales predicted a solar eclipse that interrupted a battle between the Lydians and the Medes, an event he dates to around 585 BCE. The account is the most celebrated of the stories about Thales' astronomical knowledge, though Herodotus presents it as a report rather than as a verified record. G. S. Kirk, J. E. Raven, and M. Schofield note that the prediction is one of the few specific achievements attributed to Thales with some confidence, and they discuss the question of whether he had Babylonian sources. Charles Kahn argues that the prediction, if made, would have depended on knowledge of eclipse cycles that Thales may have acquired from Mesopotamian astronomers. Jonathan Barnes cautions that the details of the story may have been embellished. W. K. C. Guthrie treats the report as the earliest evidence for Greek scientific prediction. The sentence is a paraphrase, not a quotation, and should be labelled as such.
Commentary
This paraphrase reflects Herodotus' report that Thales predicted a solar eclipse that interrupted a battle between the Lydians and the Medes, an event he dates to around 585 BCE. The account is the most celebrated of the stories about Thales' astronomical knowledge, though Herodotus presents it as a report rather than as a verified record. G. S. Kirk, J. E. Raven, and M. Schofield note that the prediction is one of the few specific achievements attributed to Thales with some confidence, and they discuss the question of whether he had Babylonian sources. Charles Kahn argues that the prediction, if made, would have depended on knowledge of eclipse cycles that Thales may have acquired from Mesopotamian astronomers. Jonathan Barnes cautions that the details of the story may have been embellished. W. K. C. Guthrie treats the report as the earliest evidence for Greek scientific prediction. The sentence is a paraphrase, not a quotation, and should be labelled as such.