It turns out there’s a dark side to the solar eclipse.
At least there was in the Assyrian Empire, which was based in what is now northern Iraq and southeastern Turkey. Since the kingdom worshiped the sun god, the moon god and other celestial deities, a total eclipse of the sun held powerful spiritual and political significance.
Anything that happened in the sky was thought to be an omen from the gods, foreshadowing either good or bad. And because the total solar eclipse was so dramatic, Assyrian priests were convinced that some eclipses signalled the impending death of their king.
As far back as 1500 B.C., Babylonian-Assyrian scribes and scholars put together a star chart describing celestial alignments and the specific events they could trigger on earth. One tablet details how a spring eclipse will doom the king if it coincides with certain planetary positions.
Since Assyrian priests knew how to predict an eclipse, the empire was on edge in June of 763 B.C. as the event approached. So the royal court enacted a measure called šar pūḫ, as it had many times before. Here’s how it worked.
Just before the eclipse, the king would go into hiding and a replacement would take his place, anywhere from a few days to three months. The substitute received the best food and drink, lavish gifts, and — according to some........