This is the transcript for my Youtube video with the same

title.

This is part seven of my video series about Daniel 9’s

seventy weeks prophecy. The death of Xerxes I was dated
by historians on the 14th of Av, 465 BC which corresponds
to August 2 Julian calendar or July 28 Gregorian calendar
of that year. This was based on scholars’ interpretation of
the astronomical tablet BM32234 which reports a lunar
eclipse on the third month of Sivan in the same year a king
supposedly named Xerxes was killed by his son on the
14th of the fifth month of Av. This eclipse was dated by
historians on June 5, 465 BC, Julian calendar. And here is
what the tablet has to say regarding this eclipse:

At 18° … 40° onset, maximal phase and clearing. The garment of the sky
was there. In the area of the 4 rear stars of Sagittarius it was eclipsed.

The tablet mentioned 18° along with some unreadable

text. The scholars who interpreted this astronomical
observation did not or could not explain this part of the
tablet. Now the globe is divided into 360° longitude and 24
hours or 1440 minutes time zones, so that there are 4
minute time zones per degree of longitude.

Scholars explain that the “40° onset, maximal phase, and

clearing” mentioned in the tablet refers to the entire
duration of the eclipse from beginning to end which is
equivalent to 160 minutes duration using the 4 minutes per
degree conversion factor I just mentioned. Now compare
this to the 184 minutes partial eclipse duration that
happened on June 6, 465 BC according to the NASA
Catalog of Lunar Eclipses. Obviously, the actual duration
of this eclipse is 24 minutes longer than what the tablet
observed. But according to these scholars the June 6, 465
BC partial lunar eclipse which had an umbral duration of
184 minutes, was observed by the astronomer for only 40°
or 160 minutes before it was covered by “the garment of
the sky”. These scholars claim that the expression
“garment of the sky” refers to clouds.

However I beg to disagree, because a subsequent

observation on Month VIII, the 14th, says “13° [or 52
minutes] after sunset, the moon came out of a cloud”. In
other words, the same ancient astronomer used plain
language when talking about clouds in the sky instead of
referring to clouds as “garments” of the sky.

In my humble opinion, the garment of the sky refers to the

horizon instead, which covers the eclipsed Moon like a
garment as soon as its entire diameter sets below the
horizon. And 40° or 160 minutes refers to the observable
duration of the eclipse from onset until moonset.

In the first video of this series I said that planetary

movements are cyclical and their exact relative positions
can be repeated over a period of time. And this means
astronomical positions which scholars believe happened in
the reign of one king can repeat itself in the reign of
another king. And errors in dating can happen in this case
if the tablet either does not mention the name of the king
or the name of the king is unreadable.

But didn’t the tablet mention Xerxes as the name of the

king? Actually, no it did not. What the tablet actually said
was “Xerxes his son killed him”, but the translators
hyphenated it as “Xerxes - his son killed him” to make it
look like Xerxes was killed by his unnamed son. In my
opinion, the statement should be read as is, in other words
the unnamed king was killed by his son named Xerxes!
And in fact, Xerxes I was not murdered by his son, it was
Artabanus, the commander of the royal bodyguard and the
most powerful official in the Persian court, who
assassinated Xerxes I with the help of a eunuch,
Aspamitres. And according to Aristotle (in Politics
5.1311b), after Artaxerxes I (Xerxes I’s immediate
successor) discovered the murder, he killed Artabanus
and his sons.

Now a lunar eclipse similar to the one that occurred on

June 5, 465 BC happened 46 years later, and specifically
on June 8, 419 BC, which when observed and described
also matches what BM32234 said about the eclipsed
Moon being observed at the area of the 4 rear stars of
Sagittarius. And in my revised interpretation and dating of
this tablet, the unnamed king who died was Artaxerxes I,
which according to BM32234 was killed by his son Xerxes
II who was also his immediate successor.

In part 6 of this video series titled “Redating the historical

eclipses during Xerxes the Great's reign”, I said
Artaxerxes I first sat on his throne on Kislev 18, 462 BC
which corresponds to December 1 Julian calendar or
November 26 Gregorian calendar of that year. However,
his regnal year started counting on the first day of the first
month of the following year which was Nisan 1, 461 BC.
Now according to the historian Ctesias, Artaxerxes I’s
reign lasted 42 years, which means his reign ended in 419
BC. This is why In my opinion the June 8, 419 BC lunar
eclipse was the eclipse described in BM32234 and that
the unnamed king was Artaxerxes I, whose assassin was
his son and immediate successor Xerxes II. So where was
Artaxerxes the Great when this astronomical observation
was made? This is what the tablet has to say regarding
this lunar eclipse:

At 18° … 40° onset, maximal phase and clearing. The garment of the sky
was there. In the area of the 4 rear stars of Sagittarius it was eclipsed.

Using Stellarium and setting the Algorithm of delta T to

JPL Horizons, and the location at 37° 15' 17.4" N, 58° 19'
5.4" E, and the date to June 7, 419 BC (or -418 in
astronomical year numbering) at 22:10:54 UTC, one can
see that the penumbral eclipse started exactly 40° or 160
minutes before Moonset, just as the tablet says.

It had a maximum eclipse magnitude of 52.3% which

occurred 15.5° or 62 minutes before Moonset.
I believe the unreadable part of the tablet which says “At
18°” was meant to say “At 18° (or 72 minutes) before
Moonset, maximal phase”. The tablet observation for
when the maximal phase occurred was 10 minutes earlier
than what Stellarium calculated for this eclipse. However
Stellarium defines Moonset as when the lower half of the
Moon is below the horizon instead of its entire diameter.
Allowing an additional 3 minutes for the upper half of the
Moon to set below the horizon, we get only a 7 minutes
difference between what the tablet says against what
Stellarium calculates.

A penumbral lunar eclipse takes place when the Moon

moves through the faint, outer part of the Earth's shadow,
the penumbra. This type of eclipse is not as dramatic as
other types of lunar eclipses and is often mistaken for a
regular Full Moon. Because Earth’s penumbral shadow is
light, it can be hard to spot as it moves across the face of
the Moon. The best time to try and catch it is around
maximum eclipse, when one edge of the Moon may
appear slightly darker than the other. And if the BM32234
tablet was indeed describing a penumbral eclipse, it is
imperative that the time when the maximum eclipse was
observed should be noted. Also, since penumbral eclipses
are very hard to observe, a seven minutes error by an
ancient astronomer is easy to understand.

37° 15' 17.40" N, 58° 19' 5.40" E, the observational site for
the eclipse, is located in a region called Hyrcania.
According to Ctesias, Artaxerxes I appointed his
illegitimate son Ochus as satrap of Hyrcania in 425 BC
(Ochus later assumed the throne as Darius II). Historians
believe Artaxerxes I died in 424 BC, so it means this
appointment happened one year before Artaxerxes I died.
Also according to Ctesias, Artaxerxes I’s reign lasted 42
years. But, there are many tablets that say Ochus or
Darius II ascended the throne in the 41st year of
Artaxerxes I.The only way to explain this is that Artaxerxes
I made Ochus his coregent the year before he died and on
the same year he made Ochus satrap of Hyrcania.
Xerxes II, the immediate successor of Artaxerxes I was
the only legitimate son of Artaxerxes I and Damaspia, and
is known to have served as crown prince. For unknown
reasons, Artaxerxes I must have disowned Xerxes II if
Artaxerxes I made his illegitimate son Ochus as his
coregent instead. However, the fact that Xerxes II became
the immediate successor of Artaxerxes I instead of Ochus,
meant that this succession was illegal, and according to
tablet BM32234, this was due to Xerxes II murdering his
father Artaxerxes I. Xerxes II reigned for only forty-five
days as he was assassinated in the same year by his half-
brother Sogdianus (another illegitimate son of Artaxerxes
I), who in turn was murdered by Darius II or Ochus six
months later.

So what was Artaxerxes I doing in Hyrcania during a

penumbral eclipse just two months before he was
assassinated? This question can be answered by knowing
where exactly Artaxerxes I died, or was murdered by his
son Xerxes II. In Thucydides The History of the
Peloponnesian War, Chapter XIII we read that Artaxerxes
I sent his ambassador Artaphernes to Sparta, an enemy
state of the Athenians. Artaxerxes I wanted the Spartans
to send envoys to him so they can speak to him in person.
Unfortunately Artaphernes was arrested by the Athenians
on his way but was later freed and “sent back to Ephesus”,
together with envoys who heard there of the death of King
Artaxerxes. It is very clear from this account that the news
of Artaxerxes I’s death came from Ephesus.

Because Artaxerxes I was embarking on a long voyage to

Ephesus, two months before arriving there, he first met
with his coregent Ochus aka Darius II, most likely to give
Ochus full control of the Persian empire while he was
away. This angered Xerxes II, formerly the crown prince of
Artaxerxes I, who then murdered his own father in
Ephesus, while they were far from the Persian heartland.