The Battle of the EclipseKevin Leloux: ''The Battle of the Eclipse (May 28, 585 BC): A Discussion of the Lydo-Median Treaty and the Halys Border.'' In: ''Polemos.'' Volume 19, no. 2, 2016, , pp. 31–54, in particular 37–39, 49
online
(or Battle of Halys) was fought in the early 6th century BC in

Anatolia Anatolia, tr, Anadolu Yarımadası), and the Anatolian plateau, also known as Asia Minor, is a large peninsula in Western Asia and the westernmost protrusion of the Asian continent. It constitutes the major part of modern-day Turkey. The re ...

(present-day Turkey) between the

Medes The Medes (Old Persian: ; Akkadian: , ; Ancient Greek: ; Latin: ) were an ancient Iranian people who spoke the Median language and who inhabited an area known as Media between western and northern Iran. Around the 11th century BC, the ...

and the

Lydia Lydia (Lydian language, Lydian: ‎𐤮𐤱𐤠𐤭𐤣𐤠, ''Śfarda''; Aramaic: ''Lydia''; el, Λυδία, ''Lȳdíā''; tr, Lidya) was an Iron Age Monarchy, kingdom of western Asia Minor located generally east of ancient Ionia in the mod ...

ns. According to ancient Greek historian

Herodotus Herodotus ( ; grc, , }; BC) was an ancient Greek historian and geographer from the Greek city of Halicarnassus, part of the Persian Empire (now Bodrum, Turkey) and a later citizen of Thurii in modern Calabria ( Italy). He is known f ...

, the battle was interrupted by "day turning into night" – presumably a

solar eclipse A solar eclipse occurs when the Moon passes between Earth and the Sun, thereby obscuring the view of the Sun from a small part of the Earth, totally or partially. Such an alignment occurs during an eclipse season, approximately every six month ...

– and the result was a draw which led to both parties negotiating a peace treaty and ending a six-year war.

Herodotus' account

writes that in the sixth year of the war, the Lydians and the Medes were engaged in an indecisive battle when suddenly day turned into night, leading to both parties halting the fighting and negotiating a peace agreement. Herodotus also mentions that the loss of daylight had been predicted by

Thales of Miletus Thales of Miletus ( ; grc-gre, Θαλῆς; ) was a Greek mathematician, astronomer, statesman, and pre-Socratic philosopher from Miletus in Ionia, Asia Minor. He was one of the Seven Sages of Greece. Many, most notably Aristotle, regarded him ...

. He does not, however, mention the location of the battle. As part of the terms of the peace agreement, Alyattes's daughter

Aryenis Aryenis of Lydia (Ancient Greek: ; Latin: ) was, according to Herodotus, the daughter of King Alyattes of Lydia and the sister of King Croesus of Lydia.Astyages Astyages (Median: ; Akkadian: ; Ancient Greek: grc, Αστυαγης, Astuagēs, , romanized: , , romanized: ; la, Astyages, , ; reigned 585–550 BC) was the last king of the Median Empire. The son of Cyaxares; he was dethroned in 550 BC by h ...

, and the

Halys River Halys may refer to: * Health-adjusted life years (HALYs), a type of disability-adjusted life year which are used in attempts to quantify the burden of disease or disability in populations * Halys River, a western name for the Kızılırmak River (T ...

(present-day Kızılırmak River) was declared to be the border of the two warring nations.'

Modern interpretations

If one reads the description by Herodotus of the event as a solar eclipse, then based on modern astronomical calculations it can be identified with the solar eclipse of May 28, 585 BC (known as Eclipse of Thales), hence yielding the exact date of the battle. For the location of the battle, some scholars assume the Halys River as it was located in the border region between both kingdoms. As

Isaac Asimov yi, יצחק אזימאװ , birth_date = , birth_place = Petrovichi, Russian SFSR , spouse = , relatives = , children = 2 , death_date = , death_place = Manhattan, New York City, U.S. , nationality = Russian (1920–1922)Soviet (192 ...

notes, this would be the earliest recorded eclipse the date of which was accurately determined in advance of its occurrence. However, such a reading is for a variety of reasons rather problematic and hence disputed by various scholars. For example, the known astronomical knowledge available of that time was not sufficient for Thales to predict the eclipse. Also, the eclipse would have occurred shortly before sunset at any plausible site of the battle, and it was very uncommon for battles to take place at that time of day. Furthermore, based on the list of Medean kings and their regnal lengths reported elsewhere by Herodotus, Cyaxares died 10 years before the eclipse.

Otta Wenskus Otta Wenskus (born 29 May 1955, in Marburg/Lahn) is a German Classical philologist currently residing in Austria. Wenskus, daughter of historian Reinhard Wenskus, studied Classical philology and linguistics at the Universities of Göttingen, Fl ...

''Die angebliche Vorhersage einer Sonnenfinsternis durch Thales von Milet. Warum sich diese Legende so hartnäckig hält und warum es wichtig ist, ihr nicht zu glauben.''
In: ''Hermes.'' vol. 144, no. 1, 2016, pp. 2–17 (German). An alternative theory regarding the date of the battle suggests that Herodotus was carelessly recounting events that he did not personally witness, and that furthermore the solar eclipse story is a misinterpretation of his text.Thomas D. Worthen, "Herodotus's Report on Thales's Eclipse," ''Electronic Antiquity'' vol. 3.7 (May 1997)

and Thomas De Voe Worthen,
The Eclipse of 585 BCE
" According to this view, what happened could have been a ''lunar'' eclipse right before moonrise, at dusk. If the warriors had planned their battle activities expecting a full moon as in the previous few days, it would have been quite a shock to have dusk fall suddenly as an occluded moon rose. If this theory is correct, the battle's date would not be 585 BC (date given by Pliny based on date of solar eclipse), but possibly 3 September 609 BC or 4 July 587 BC, dates when such dusk-time lunar eclipses did occur.

Notes

{{Reflist 6th-century BC conflicts Battles involving Lydia Battles involving the Medes 6th century BC