Solar eclipse of 1207 BC helps to date pharaohs

Astronomy & Geophysics, Volume 58, Issue 5, 1 October 2017, Pages 5.39–5.42, ^ | Colin Humphreys Graeme Waddington

[BenLurkin]

According to the book of Joshua in the Old Testament, after an all-night march from Gilgal, the Israelites attacked the Amorites at Gibeon, they then pursued them to Azekah and then to Makkedah. We have evidence from historical geography of where these places were: Gibeon was about 10 km northwest of Jerusalem, Azekah about 30 km southwest of Gibeon and Makkedah about 20 km south of Azekah. Because the eclipse occurred in the afternoon, it was probably seen from near Azekah, from where the partial eclipse would have started at 15:27 (local apparent time as given by a sundial), with annularity occurring between 16:48 and 16:53. The Sun would still have been partially eclipsed at sunset, which occurred at 17:38. During annularity, 86% of the solar disc's area was covered by the Moon.

An interesting feature of the Joshua text is the observation that it is stated that not only did the Sun stop (shining) but that the Moon also stopped (shining). As the Moon is in conjunction at the time of a solar eclipse it is effectively absent from the sky for a couple of days (it has “stopped shining”). As the Israelites used an observationally based lunar calendar they would have been well aware of this monthly period of lunar invisibility and so could have timed their surprise night-time attack at Gibeon to take advantage of the lack of natural night-time illumination at this time.

After reporting that the Sun stopped (shining), the book of Joshua states further that “The Sun did not hurry to set for about a whole day” (Joshua 10:13, NRSV), which has given rise to the term “Joshua's Long Day”. What did the writer mean?

[SunkenCiv]

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