Book of Cosmogony and Prophecy

In the literature of India and China, mention of cycles of three thousand years each is frequently made. And it is further stated that the ancients computed the dark periods and light periods of a cycle, and used them as an index of prophecy. Alex. Von Humboldt seemed also to place value on the dark periods in a cosmological sense. Though he attributed them not to a’ji, but to some obstruction of sunlight. The Book of Cosmogony, however, shows how such an error might easily occur. –Ed.

Humboldt, vol. iv., p. 381, gives quotation to the following notes:

“45 B.C. At the death of Julius Caesar: after which event the Sun remained pale for a whole year, and gave less than its usual warmth; on which account the air was thick, cold and hazy, and fruit did not ripen. –Plutarch, in Jul. Caes. cap. 87; Dio Cass. xliv.; Virg. Georg. i., 466.

“33 A. D. The year of the Crucifixion. ̳Now from the sixth hour there was darkness all over the land till the ninth hour.’ (St. Matthew, xxvii., 45.) According to St. Luke, xxiii., 45, ̳the Sun was darkened.’ In order to explain and corroborate these narrations, Eusebius brings forward an eclipse of the Sun in the 202nd Olympiad, which had been noticed by the chronicler, Phlegon of Tralles. (Ideler, Handbuch der Mathem. Chronologie, Bd. ii., p. 417.) Wurm has, however, shown that the eclipse which occurred during this Olympiad, and was visible over the whole of Asia Minor, must have happened as early as the 24th of November, 29 A.D. The day of the Crucifixion corresponded with the Jewish Passover (Ideler, Bd. i., pp. 515-520), on the 14th of the month Nisan, and the Passover was always celebrated at the time of the full moon. The Sun cannot therefore have been darkened for three hours by the Moon. The Jesuit Schemer thinks the decrease in the light might be ascribed to the occurrence of large Sun-spots.

“358 A.D. A darkening continuing two hours, on the 22nd of August, before the fearful earthquake of Nicomedia, which also destroyed several other cities of Macedonia and Pontus. The darkness continued from two to three hours: ̳nec contigua vel adposita cernebantur.’ ̳Without either contiguous objects or those in juxtaposition being discernible.’ –Ammian. Marcell, xvii., 7.

“360 A.D. In all the eastern provinces of the Roman Empire, ̳per Eoos tractus,’ there was obscurity from early dawn till noon; ̳Caligo a primo aurorae exortu adusque meridiem,’ Ammian. Marcell, xx., 3; but the stars continued to shine: consequently, there could not have been any shower of ashes, nor, from the long duration of the phenomenon, could it be ascribed to the action of a total eclipse of the Sun, to which the historian refers it. ̳Cum lux coelestis operiretur, e mundi conspectu penitus luce abrepta, defecisse diutius solem pavidae mentes hominum aestimabant: primo attenuatum in lunae corniculantis effigiem, deinde in speciem auctum semenstrem, posteaque in integrum restitutum. Quod alias non evenit ita perspicue, nisi cum post inaequales cursus intermenstrum lunae ad idem revocatur.’ ̳When the light of heaven, suddenly and wholly concealed, was hidden from the world, trembling men thought the Sun had left them for a very long time; at first it assumed the form of a horned moon, then increased to half its proper size, and was finally restored to its integrity. But it did not appear so bright until, after all irregular motions were over, it returned.’ This description entirely corresponds with a true eclipse of the Sun; but how are we to explain its long duration, and the ̳caligo’ experienced in all provinces of the East?

“409 A.D. When Alaric appeared before Rome, there was so great a darkness, that the stars were seen by day. –Schnurrer, Chronik der Seuchen, Th. i., p. 113.

“536 A.D. ̳Justinianus I. Caesar imperavit annos triginta-octo (527 to 565). Anno imperii nono deliquium lucis passus est Sol, quod annum integrum et duos amplius menses duravit, adeo ut parum admodum de luce ipsius appareret; dixeruntque homines Soli aliquid accidisse, quod nunquam ab eo recederet.’ ̳In the ninth year of the reign of Justinian I., who reigned thirty-eight years, the Sun suffered an eclipse, which lasted a whole year and two months, so that very little of his light was seen; men said that something had clung to the Sun, from which it would never be able to disentangle itself.’ –Gregorius Abu’l–Faragius, Supplementum Historiae Dynastiarum, ed. Edw. Pocock, 1663, p. 94. This phenomenon appears to be very similar to one observed in 1783, which, although it has received a name (Hohenrauch), has in many cases not been satisfactorily explained.

“567 A.D. ̳Justinus II. annos 13 imperavit (565-578). Anno imperii ipsius secundo apparuit in coelo ignis flammans juxta polum arcticum, qui annum integrum permansit; obtexeruntque tenebrae mundum ab hora diei nona noctem usque, adeo ut nemo quicquam videret; deciditque ex aere quoddam pulveri minuto et cineri simile.’ ̳In the second year of the reign of Justin II., who reigned thirteen years, there appeared a flame of fire in the heavens, near the North Pole, and it remained there for a whole year; darkness was cast ever the world from three o’clock until night, so that nothing could be seen: and something resembling dust and ashes fell down from sky.’ –Abu’l-Farag. l. c. p. 95. Could this phenomenon have continued for a whole year like a perpetual northern light (magnetic storm) and been succeeded by darkness and showers of meteoric dust?

“626 A.D. According also to Abu’l-Farag. (Hist. Dynast., pp. 94, 99), half of the Sun’s disc continued [to be] obscured for eight months.

“733 A.D. One year after the Arabs had been driven back across the Pyrenees after the battle of Tours, the Sun was so much darkened on the 19th of August as to excite universal terror. –Schnurrer, Chron. theil i., p. 164.

“807 A.D. A Sun-spot was observed, which was believed to be the planet Mercury. – Reuber, Vet. Script., p. 58 (see p. 375).

“840 A.D. From the 28th of May to the 26th of August (Assemani singularly enough gives the date of May, 839), the so-called transit of Venus across the Sun’s disc was observed. (See above, pp. 379-380.) The Chalif Al-Motassem reigned from 834 to 841, when he was succeeded by Harun-el-Watek, the ninth Chalif.

“934 A.D. In the valuable work, Historia de Portugal, by Faria y Souza, 1730, p. 147, I find the following passage: ̳En Portugal se vio sin luz la tierra por dos meses. Avia el Sol perdido su splendor.’ The Earth was without light for two months in Portugal, for the Sun had lost its brightness. The heavens were then opened in fissures, ̳por fractura,’ by strong flashes of lightning, when there was suddenly bright Sun-light.

“1091 A.D. On the 21st of September, the Sun was darkened for three hours, and when the obscuration had ceased, the Sun’s disc still retained a peculiar color. ̳Fuit eclipsis Solis. 11 Kal. Octob. fere tres horas: Sol circa meridiem dire nigrescebat.’ – Martin Crusius, Annales Suevici, Francof. 1595, tom. i., p. 279; Schnurrer, th. i., p. 279.

“1096 A.D. Sun-spots were seen by the naked eye on the 3rd of March. ̳Signum in Sole apparuit V, Nono Marcii feria secunda incipientis quadragesimae.’ Joh. Staindelii, Presbyteri Pataviensis, Chronicon generale in Oefelii Rerum Boicarum Scriptores, tom. i., 1763, p. 485.

“1206 A.D. On the last day of February, there was, according to Joaquin de Villalba (Epidemiologia espanola, Madr. 1803, tom., i., p. 30), complete darkness for six hours, turning the day into night. This phenomenon was succeeded by long-continued and abundant rains. ̳El dia ultimo del mes de Febrero hubo un eclipse de Sol que duro seis horas con tanto obscuridad como si fuera media noche. Siguieron a este fenomeno abundantes y continuas lluvias.’ A very singular phenomenon is recorded for June, 1191, by Schnurrer, th. i., pp. 258, 265

“1241 A.D. Five months after the Mongolian battle at Liegnitz, the Sun was darkened (in some places?), and such darkness caused that the stars could be seen in the heavens at three o’clock on Michaelmas day. ̳Obscuratus est Sol (in quibusdam locis?), et facte sunt tenebrae, ita ut stellae viderentur in coelo, circa festum S. Michaelis hora nona.’ Chronicon Claustro-Neoburgense (of the Monastery of Neuberg, at Vienna; this chronicle comprises the annals of the period from the year 218 A.D. to 1348 [A.D.]), Pez, Scriptores rerum Austriacarum, Lips. 1721, tom. i., p. 458.

“1547 A.D. The 23rd, 24th and 25th of April, consequently the days preceding, and immediately succeeding the battle of Muhlbach, in which the Elector John Frederick was taken prisoner. Kepler says in Paralipom. ad Vitellium, quibus Astronomiae pars Optica traditur, 1604, p. 259, ̳The elder and younger Gemma record that in the year 1547, before the battle between Charles V. and the Duke of Saxony, the Sun appeared for three days as if it were suffused by blood, while at the same time many stars were visible at noon.’ ̳Refert Gemma, pater et filius, anno 1547, ante conflictum Caroli V. cum Saxoniae Duce, Solem per tres dies ceu sanguine perfusum comparuisse, ut etiam stellae pleraque in meridie conspicerentur.’ Kepler (in Stella Nova in Serpentario, p. 113) further expresses his uncertainty as to the cause of the phenomenon; he asks whether the diminution of the Sun’s light be owing to some celestial causes: ̳Solis lumen ob causas quasdam sublimes hebetari,’ Whether it be owing to the wide diffusion of some cometary substance, ̳materia cometica latius sparsa,’ for the cause cannot have originated in our atmosphere, since the stars were visible at noon.’ Schnurrer (Chronik der Seuchen, th. ii., p. 93) thinks notwithstanding the visibility of the stars, that the phenomenon must have been the same as the so-called ̳Hohenrauch;’ for Charles V. complained before the battle, ̳that the Sun was always obscured when he was about to engage with the enemy.’ ̳Semper se nebulae densitate infestari, quoties sibi cum hoste pugnandum sit.’ (Lambert, Hortens de bello german, lib. vi., p. 182.) Horrebow (Basis Astronomiae, 1735, § 226) makes use of the same expression. Solar light, according to him, is ̳a perpetual Northern-light within the Sun’s atmosphere, produced by the agency of powerful magnetic forces.’ (See Hanow, in Joh. Dan. Titius’ Gemeinnutzige Abhandlungen uber naturliche Dinge, 1768, p. 102.)” ~~~~~~~~