Case file · Cosmic event
The Bur-Sagale eclipse
The Assyrian eponym list notes, for the year of Bur-Sagale, 'revolt in the city of Ashur; in the month Simanu the sun was eclipsed' — the total eclipse of 15 June 763 BC.
763 BCE · 35.46, 43.26 · status: official
The account
Because astronomers can date the eclipse exactly, it anchors the whole chronology of the ancient Near East. Assyrian scholars treated eclipses as omens of danger to the king, and the year was marked by revolts and plague.
The sceptical view
The record is solid; the link between eclipse and unrest was the scribes' own reading.