User:EyeTruth/sandbox/Battle of Halys

The Battle of Halys, also known as the Battle of the Eclipse, was the final battle of a six-year war between Alyattes II of Lydia and Cyaxares of the Medes that took place at the River Halys in what is modern day Turkey. The battle ended abruptly due to a total solar eclipse. The short account of the battle recorded by Herodotus is the primary source of information on the battle.

Cause
Herodotus states that the main reason for the war was a motive of revenge. His account of the prelude reads: A tribe of wandering Scythians separated itself from the rest, and escaped into Median territory. This was then ruled by Cyaxares, son of Phraortes, son of Deioces. Cyaxares at first treated the Scythians kindly, as suppliants for his mercy; and, as he had a high regard for them, he entrusted boys to their tutelage to be taught their language and the skill of archery. As time went on, it happened that the Scythians, who were accustomed to go hunting and always to bring something back, once had taken nothing, and when they returned empty-handed, Cyaxares treated them very roughly and contemptuously (being, as appears from this, prone to anger). The Scythians feeling themselves wronged by the treatment they had from Cyaxares, planned to take one of the boys who were their pupils and cut him in pieces; then, dressing the flesh as they were accustomed to dress the animals which they killed, to bring and give it to Cyaxares as if it were the spoils of the hunt; and after that, to make their way with all speed to Alyattes son of Sadyattes at Sardis. All this they did. Cyaxares and the guests who ate with him dined on the boy’s flesh, and the Scythians having done as they planned, fled to Alyattes for protection.

The battle
Herodotus narrated the circumstances of the battle as follows:

After this, since Alyattes would not give up the Scythians to Cyaxares at his demand, there was war between the Lydians and the Medes for five years; each won many victories over the other, and once they fought a battle by night. They were still warring with equal success, when it happened, at an encounter which occurred in the sixth year, that during the battle the day was suddenly turned to night. Thales of Miletus had foretold this loss of daylight to the Ionians, fixing it within the year in which the change did indeed happen. So when the Lydians and Medes saw the day turned to night, they stopped fighting, and both were the more eager to make peace.

Aftermath
Following the end of the battle, a peace treaty was hastily arranged. As part of the terms of the treaty, Alyattes's daughter Aryenis was married to Cyaxares's son Astyages, and the river Halys was declared to be the border of the two warring powers.

The eclipse
Attempts have been made to identify the eclipse mentioned in this battle with several solar eclipses that are known to have been visible in Anatolia during the 6th Century BC.

28 May 585 BC
The total eclipse that occurred in Anatolia on 28 May 585 BC is widely identified with the eclipse of the battle. According to NASA, the eclipse peaked over the Atlantic Ocean at 37.9°N, -46.2°W and the umbral path reached south-western Anatolia in the evening hours, and the Halys River is just within the error margin for delta-T provided.

Other dates
An alternative theory regarding the date of the battle suggests that Herodotos was recounting carelessly events that he did not witness personally and furthermore the solar eclipse story is a misinterpretation of his text. According to this view, what happened could have been a lunar eclipse right before moonrise, at dusk. If the warriors had planned their battle activities expecting a full moon as in the previous few days, it would have been quite a shock to have dusk fall suddenly as an occluded moon rose. If this theory is correct, the battle's date would be not 585 BC (date given by Pliny based on date of solar eclipse), but possibly 3 Sept 609 BC or 4 July 587 BC, dates when such dusk-time lunar eclipses did occur.