The gods had abandoned them.

At least that was how the ancient Greeks interpreted the signs in the sky.

Earlier in the day, everything had seemed normal and fine, but hours later the sun had grown

dark as if covered by a great disc.

The Greeks refer to this as a great abandonment when their greatest fears had come to life,

the gods had forsaken them.

It was a sign that great disaster was about to arrive, either from war or disease or

even the death of their king.

And the word for it, Eclipo, is still with us today.

We just call it an eclipse.

The Greeks weren't alone in how they interpreted rare natural events.

Over 4,000 years ago in China, the royal astronomers failed to predict an eclipse and the emperor

had them executed for the error.

Why?

Because the ancient Chinese believe that an eclipse happened when a dragon ate the sun

and predicting it meant having a chance to get ready.

Interestingly, the earliest word for eclipse in Chinese is she, which means to eat.

And the list goes on and on.

In ancient Egypt, the event signified a battle between Opep, the serpent of death in chaos,

and Ra, the sun god.

Thankfully Ra always won, and the sun would return.

In the mythology of a number of Native American tribes, an eclipse happened when a little boy

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