In northern Mesopotamia, by the 10th century B.C. at the height of the Neo-Assyrian Empire, the priests knew that if the planet Jupiter was visible as the eclipse passed overhead, the king was doomed.

This 8th-century miniature, by the Spanish monk Beatus of Liébana, depicts the Bible story of Babylonian King Nebuchadrezzar eating grass as divine punishment. Photograph by Granger Collection ...