“Some people see a partial eclipse and wonder why others talk so much about a total eclipse. Seeing a partial eclipse and saying that you have seen an eclipse is like standing outside an opera house and saying that you have seen the opera; in both cases, you have missed the main event,” says Jay Pasachoff, Williams College Solar Astronomer. Today Egyptians will be looking up in the sky to watch the total lunar eclipse that will last for over 200 minutes, starting at 8:22 pm until 12:02 am. The moon that has served as a special inspiration for poets, writers and lovers, especially in Eastern cultures, will eclipse tonight for 200 minutes, with Egyptians in a perfect location to stare up into the sky. The eclipse of this kind will not be seen again for 65 years, so even for those who may live to see it again, it might be wise not to miss the show. For ancient people, eclipses were in most cases a frightening event. Several historical events coincided with solar or lunar eclipses: battles, crowning or dethroning of emperors, peace treaties and so forth. Solar and lunar eclipses were usually regarded as a disturbance in the natural order of the sky, an indication to some of divine anger. People also feared that the sun's light had been lost, and that such darkness might last forever. Different cultures have given different explanations for lunar and solar eclipses.For the ancient Chinese, the eclipse resembled an invisible dragon in the sky. This dragon was angry with them and would devour the sun. Whenever this happened, they would follow rituals intended to scare the dragon away and make the sun reappear. One of these tactics was to bang drums and pots and generally make loud noises during eclipses in order to frighten the dragon away. Even more recently, in the nineteenth century, the Chinese navy fired cannons during a lunar eclipse to scare the dragon that was eating the moon. The Athenians, in ancient Greece, considered an eclipse (solar or lunar) to be caused by angry Gods. Eclipses were therefore regarded as bad omens. In Egyptian mythology one story of the eclipse of the moon is when the god of chaos, Seth, stole the Moon Eye of Horus, god of the sky. Thoth, god of learning and mathematics, searched in the darkness and restored it to its place in the heavens. Until Thoth brought the eye back, the Egyptians would spend the time praying to avoid evil as the lunar eclipse was always related to bad luck and outbreaks of illness. For Muslims, an eclipse is an event that calls for “eclipse prayer.” They believe it is sent from God and they turn their face towards God as it occurs. Eclipses are sometimes interpreted as lucky signals coming from the sky. This was the case with Alexander the Great (356-323 BCE) after conquering Egypt. Just some eleven days before the victory of Alexander over Darius he knew that the moon had been totally eclipsed. An excerpt of Plutarch, in Life of Alexander reads: “there happened an eclipse of the moon, about the beginning of the festival of the great mysteries at Athens. The eleventh night after that eclipse, the two armies being in view of each other, Darius kept his men under arms, and took a general review of his troops by torch-light.” This unexpected occurrence seems to have created considerable tumult in an alarmed Assyrian camp, a fact noticed by Alexander. His friends suggested an attack on the enemy's camp at night, but Alexander preferred that his enemies should have rest. The eclipse happened on 20 September, 331 BCE, and the celebrated Battle of Arbela, by its turn, was fought on 1 October, 331 BCE. As Egypt witnesses a turning point in its history after the January 25 revolution, people are crossing their fingers that this full lunar eclipse brings good luck for Egyptians for the second time. The American University in Cairo (AUC) is hosting an event “total lunar eclipse and community science night” at Tahrir campus, downtown. The event will include science entertainment activities for kids, youth and families, as well as telescope viewings and science videos. The event is organized by the School of Sciences and Engineering and the Physics Department, in collaboration with the Office of Student Development.
