The lore and lure of eclipses: Blood, sex and some snacking
Posted August 19, 2017 7:00 am
WASHINGTON (AP) - For thousands of years, people have made up stories to explain why the sun suddenly disappears during the middle of the day.
We now know they are solar eclipses. But the myths and history of eclipses tell us a little bit about cultures gone by.
The tales often involve the sun being eaten. There's also sex and violence. Eclipses have even stopped battles.
A total solar eclipse will sweep across the U.S. on Monday.
FILE - In this Wednesday, Aug. 11, 1999 file photo, shepherd Heinz Greiner watches the beginning of a total solar eclipse near Augsburg, southern Germany. A German myth has the cold and lazy male moon, ignoring the fiery passionate female sun during the day most of the time, except for a few bits of passion during an eclipse and then theyâd squabble again and the sun would resume shining again, Mark Littmann of the University of Tennessee says. (AP Photo/Frank Boxler)
The Associated Press
FILE - In this July 29, 1933 file photo, a teacher and students stand next to an astronomical instrument at the Ancient Observatory in Peking, now Beijing. The facility was built in the 1400s. The Babylonians, the Maya and the Chinese all hundreds and even thousands of years ago noticed a mathematical pattern in when eclipses showed up and started calculating them in advance. (AP Photo)
The Associated Press
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