28th May 585 BCE: Eclipse of Thales ends the Battle of Halys between Media and Lydia

A solar eclipse during the Battle of Halys led to a truce between the kingdoms of Media and Lydia, making it the earliest historical event that can be precisely dated. The Eclipse of Thales was recorded in The Histories of the Greek historian Herodotus. He claims that the philosopher Thales of Miletus accurately predicted the eclipse in advance, marking what science writer Isaac Asimov later described as ‘the birth of science’. Herodotus writes that the Lydians under King Alyattes II and the...