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According to the calculations of Zech and Hofmann (cf. Busolt, ii. 662, 715) five eclipses took place in the years (481-478): (1) Total, April 18, 481, visible on the Indian Ocean (and at Susa). (2) Total, April 8, 480, visible from New Zealand to South America. (3) Partial, October, 480, visible in Corinth and at Sardis; this eclipse is mentioned by H., ix. 10. 3. (4) Partial, Feb. 27, 479, visible in Siberia and the Polar Seas. (5) Annular, Feb. 16, 478, visible in Sardis. Since this is the only one visible in Sardis in spring it has usually been held that it was erroneously pre-dated in local tradition to connect it with the expedition, superstition naturally converting such phenomena into omens (cf. i. 74 and vi. 98). The chronology cannot be altered to suit the eclipse of 478, since its accuracy is guaranteed by the eclipse in the autumn of 480 (cf. ix. 10. 3), and by the fact that the expedition of Xerxes took place in an Olympic year (vii. 206. 2; viii. 26. 2, 72). Meyer (iii, ยง 205 n.) follows Judeich (Hist. Zeit. xlii, 148) in the probable suggestion that the error consists in the transference of the eclipse seen at Susa in 481 to Sardis in 480. If so the connexion with Pythius would be due to a false combination by H., but the error would be trifling compared with that of pre-dating the eclipse of 478.

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