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Important Dates in the Lives of Jesus and Mary

 0012   May 09  19:05     0.953    4.4N   102.6W

Central and South America

 0012   Nov 02

16:07     1.049   11.5S   63.7W

South America

 0013   Apr 28

19:35     0.951   41.7N   132.5W

North America

 0013   Oct 23

07:10    1.019   44.6S   46.0E

Antarctica

 0014   Mar 19

12:57     0.186   60.9S   80.5E

Antarctica

 0014   Apr 18

00:01     0.528   61.2N   71.1E

Russia

 0014   Sep 13

02:12     0.105   60.8N   115.1W

Alaska, Western Canada

 0014   Oct 12

17:23     0.298   61.0S   173.7E

Antarctica

    The first two columns above are the year, month, and day of the solar eclipse. The next column is the time,

using a 24 hour clock, in Universal Time (essentially equivalent to Greenwich Mean Time). The time in Rome

would be 1 hour later than U.T.; the time in Jerusalem would be 2 hours later than U.T. The time of the

eclipse is given at the point when the eclipse is greatest. The next column is the magnitude of the eclipse. If the

magnitude is 1.0 or greater, the eclipse is a total eclipse. The next columns have the location of the eclipse, in

latitude and longitude, at the time of its greatest magnitude. The last column is the location on earth from

which the eclipse was visible, at any point in time during the eclipse. Please note that an eclipse whose latitude

and longitude places it in one location during its greatest magnitude could easily be visible from other

locations before and after the time of its greatest magnitude. The last column's information was determined

using RedShift 3 software to view a simulation of the surface of the earth during the entire solar eclipse.

    Only two eclipses were visible from anywhere in the Roman empire during the years

A.D.

 10 to 14. Both of

those eclipses occurred in

A.D.

 10. The first was the eclipse of June 30,

A.D.

 10, which was visible from Italy

and most of Europe. This total eclipse would have been seen from most of the Roman empire as a partial, but

still substantial, eclipse. It occurred less then two months prior to my revised date for the death of Augustus,

August 19 of

A.D.

 10. This is the only eclipse from

A.D.

 10 to 14 which fits Dio's description of the eclipse

before Augustus' death.

    The second eclipse visible from Europe during that time period occurred on Nov. 24 of

A.D.

 10. It was a

very partial eclipse, at best covering less than 12% of the visible disk of the sun. This eclipse was visible from

northern Europe, specifically from England, northern France, and Germany. It was not visible from most of

Italy, nor from Spain. In the areas of the Roman empire where it was visible, it would have affected much less

than 12% of the sun's visible disk and been a very brief, very partial eclipse. A brief, very partial eclipse does

not fit Dio's description of a substantial eclipse.

 Since this eclipse occurred after August 19, not before, it

does not fit Dio's description of a solar eclipse which preceded the death of Augustus.

Lunar Eclipses and Herod the Great's Death

    As discussed in chapter 12 of this book, Josephus describes a lunar eclipse occurring after the fast day (Yom

Kippur; the Day of Atonement) and well before the Passover. The following is a list of every lunar eclipse from

B.C.

to

A.D.

 1. The list is taken from the  Five  Millennium Catalog of Lunar Eclipses.

 This data was also

compared to simulations of these eclipses in the astronomy software, RedShift 3.

       Date

U.T.

Pen. /Umb. Mag.

S.D. Partial/Total

 0009 Jan 19    00:43  0.305   0.713

 0009 Jun 15    22:08  0.741   0.348

 0009 Dec 10    04:58  1.691  0.697

82m

 0008 Jun 03    23:12  2.147  1.075

106m  22m

 0008 Nov 28    19:02  2.844  1.813

109m  50m

 0007 May 24    05:51  2.202  1.181

104m  32m

 0007 Nov 18    03:15  1.544  0.455

75m

 0006 Apr 14    12:17     0.267   0.698

 0006 May 13    19:26     0.843   0.129

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