The Greek philosopher Thales of Miletus is traditionally credited with predicting a solar eclipse that occurred in 585 BCE, famously said to have interrupted a battle between the Lydians and the Medes, who took the sudden darkness as a divine sign to make peace — though modern historians debate whether Thales genuinely predicted the eclipse's timing or simply knew from Babylonian records that eclipses recurred periodically in that region.
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The Greek philosopher Thales of Miletus is traditionally credited with predicting a solar eclipse that occurred in 585 BCE, famously said to have interrupted a battle between the Lydians and the Medes, who took the sudden darkness as a divine sign to make peace — though modern historians debate whether Thales genuinely predicted the eclipse's timing or simply knew from Babylonian records that eclipses recurred periodically in that region.
The year of the earliest solar eclipse traditionally credited to a named individual as having been predicted in advance, per ancient historical accounts.
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Limits Registry. LR-FIRST-ECLIPSE-PREDICTION. First recorded prediction of a solar eclipse. 2026.