which was partial
at Jerusalem in 689 B.C.

The first solar eclipse, recorded during the Christian Era, is known as
the "Eclipse of Phlegon," from the fact that we are indebted for the
account to a pagan writer of that name. This eclipse took place in A.D.
29, and the total phase was visible a little to the north of Palestine.
It has sometimes been confounded with the "darkness of the Crucifixion,"
which event took place near the date in question; but it is sufficient
here to say that the Crucifixion is well known to have occurred during
the Passover of the Jews, which is always celebrated at the _full_ moon,
whereas an eclipse of the sun can only take place at _new_ moon.

Dion Cassius, commenting on the Emperor Claudius about the year A.D. 45,
writes as follows:--

"As there was going to be an eclipse on his birthday, through fear of a
disturbance, as there had been other prodigies, he put forth a public
notice, not only that the obscuration would take place, and about the
time and magnitude of it, but also about the causes that produce such an
event."

This is a remarkable piece of information; for the Romans, an
essentially military nation, appear hitherto to have troubled themselves
very little about astronomical matters, and were content, as we have
seen, to look upon phenomena, like eclipses, as mere celestial
prodigies.

What is thought to be the first definite mention of the solar corona
occurs in a passage of Plutarch. The eclipse to which he refers is
probably one which took place in A.D. 71. He says that the obscuration
caused by the moon "has no time to last and no extensiveness, but some
light shows itself round the sun's circumference, which does not allow
the darkness to become deep and complete." No further reference to this
phenomenon occurs until near the end of the sixteenth century. It
should, however, be here mentioned that Mr. E.W. Maunder has pointed
out the probability[6] that we have a very ancient symbolic
representation of the corona in the "winged circle," "winged disc," or
"ring with wings," as it is variously called, which appears so often
upon Assyrian and Egyptian monuments, as the symbol of the Deity (Fig.
7).

[Illustration: FIG. 7.--The "Ring with Wings." The upper is the Assyrian
form of the symbol, the lower the Egyptian. (From _Knowledge_.) Compare
the form of the corona on Plate VII. (B), p. 142.]

The first solar eclipse recorded to have been seen in England is that of