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Crucifixion eclipse refers to a three-hour period of darkness that was reported by the synoptic gospels of the Christian Bible to have occurred during the Crucifixion of Jesus. It is referred to as an eclipse although such phenomena cannot reproduce the specific conditions described in the gospels and related accounts.
According to the Synoptic Gospels (Matthew, Mark and Luke), a period of darkness was associated with Jesus' crucifixion, which took place on the first day of Passover. The crucifixion narrative of the Gospel of John does not describe the loss of sunlight and places the day of crucifixion on Nisan 14, the day of preparation for the Passover, see also Quartodeciman. All three Synoptic Gospels reported that the darkness began around noon ("the sixth hour") and continued until 3 o'clock ("the ninth hour"):
A prophecy recorded by Amos predicted a cloudless day solar darkening that would commence at noon. It had been recorded during the reign of King Uzziah of Judah, several centuries before Jesus Christ. It has been interpreted as a prophecy for the crucifixion darkness:
Walvoord has argued that the following scripture would be a sign preceding the great and dreadful Day of the Lord:
Jeffrey indicated the solar darkening predicted in Revelation 6:12 will be caused by an act of God like the blackout that had accompanied the crucifixion. Lockyer connected Joel 2:31 and the crucifixion darkness with an aspect of Christian eschatology through the statement: "Such darkening of the sun was an earnest of 'the great and terrible day of the Lord'."
The 3rd-century Christian historian Sextus Julius Africanus, in a section of his work surviving in quotation by George Syncellus, stated that the chronicler Thallus had called the darkness during the crucifixion a solar eclipse. Africanus objected based on the fact that a solar eclipse could not occur during Passover; the earth was between the sun and the moon during that holiday.
The church historian Eusebius of Caesarea (264 – 340), in his Chronicle, cited a statement of the 2nd-century chronicler Phlegon of Tralles that during the fourth year of the 202nd Olympiad (AD 32/33) "a great eclipse of the sun occurred at the sixth hour that excelled every other before it, turning the day into such darkness of night that the stars could be seen in heaven, and the earth moved in Bithynia, toppling many buildings in the city of Nicaea". In the same passage, Eusebius cited another unnamed Greek source also recording earthquakes in the same locations and an eclipse. Eusebius argued the two records had documented events that were simultaneous with the crucifixion of Jesus.
Tertullian, in his Apologeticus, provided a brief description of the darkness that had commenced at noon during the crucifixion. He also indicated that those who were unaware of the prediction for the noontide onset of darkness had called it an eclipse.
The divisions in the apocryphal Gospel of Nicodemus, known as the Acts of Pilate, Christ’s Descent into Hell, and The Paradosis, refer to a variety of physical phenomena accompanying the crucifixion and the subsequent executive responses by Caesar. According to Chapter XI of the Acts of Pilate, the darkness had started at midday; lasted three hours, and had been caused by the darkening of the Sun. It also stated Pilate and his wife were disturbed by a report of what had happened. The Judeans he had summoned said it was an ordinary solar eclipse. The Christ’s Descent into Hell described the many dead men who had arisen and had appeared to many in Jerusalem shortly after the resurrection of Christ. And, the Paradosis presented the interrogations in Rome by Caesar and his subsequent decree of severe punishment against both Pilate and the Judeans for causing the darkness and earthquake that had fallen upon the whole world.
The Letter from Pontius Pilate to Tiberius claimed the darkness had started at the sixth hour, covered the whole world and, during the subsequent evening, the full moon resembled blood for the entire night. The Gospel of Peter contained another extra-biblical reference to the darkness, stating that the darkness began at midday, covered the whole of Judaea, and led people to go about with lamps believing it to be night.
Other aprocryphal works contain briefer accounts of the crucifixion darkness. The Gospel of Bartholomew stated darkness had accompanied the crucifixion of Christ. The division of The Acts of John known as the Revelation of the Mystery of the Cross stated the darkness had started at the sixth hour and had covered the whole world.
In a letter written under the name Dionysius the Areopagite (see Pseudo-Dionysius), the author claims to have observed a solar eclipse from Heliopolis, Egypt at the time of the crucifixion. The Archko Volume, a 19th-century forgery purporting to be a collection of ancient documents concerning Jesus, contains a report by Pontius Pilate about the crucifixion events.
Some writers contend that the account in the synoptic gospels is mythical and does not correspond to any historical event. During the nineteenth century, Kersey Graves argued the biblical account was “too incredible and too ludicrous to merit serious notice.” His arguments stemmed from Gibbon’s comments on the silence of Seneca and Pliny about the crucifixion darkness. Burton Mack suggests the story was an invention originated by the author of the Gospel of Mark. The unusually long length of time the eclipse is supposed to have lasted has been used an argument against its historicity, as has the lack of mention of the darkness in secular accounts and the Gospel of John.
Research to determine the exact date of the crucifixion of Jesus Christ by means of solar eclipses, has yielded inconclusive results. Astronomical determinations of the date of the crucifixion have been derived from calculating the dates when the crescent of the new moon would be first visible from Jerusalem, which was used by the Jews to mark the first day of a lunar month, for example Nisan 1. Popular estimates have been April 7, 30 AD, April 3, 33 AD, and April 23, 34 AD.
Extra-biblical records have been incorporated with the determinations of the year of the crucifixion. Eusebius connected the solar darkening with the 18th year of Tiberius’ reign and the earthquakes to the year of the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. Since Tiberius Claudius Nero (42 BC – 37 AD) ascended the throne in 14 AD, the 18th year of his reign would have occurred in 32 AD(31 AD inclusive). Also, the darkening recorded by Phlegon yielded 32 AD. The fourth year of the 202nd Olympiad is 32 AD because the first Olympiad occurred in 776 BC. The Olympics had been conducted every four years after 796 BC until 394 AD.
Africanus had connected the date of the crucifixion with the fulfillment of one of Daniel’s prophecies. Those predictions indicated the number of years, in groups of sevens, that would transpire between the command to rebuild Jerusalem and the Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem (Palm Sunday) of Jesus Christ. Sir Robert Anderson determined 32 AD as the year of the crucifixion of Jesus Christ from an examination of that prophecy. His calculation used March 14, 445 BC as the date of the decree by Artaxerxes Longimus to rebuild Jerusalem. It served as the start date for the fulfillment of Daniel 9:24-27.His work received concurrences. Their works yielded April 6, 32 AD as the date of the Triumphal Entry.
Records of solar blackouts exceeding a half hour have been attributed to total solar eclipses. For example, the T’ang Dynasty and Anglo-Saxon Chronicle’s accounts of the hour long solar darkness of 879 AD were attributed to the total solar eclipse of October 29, 878 AD. Attempts to attribute the crucifixion darkness to a solar eclipse have been unsuccessful. Several astrophysical features contradict the recorded characteristics of the solar blackout.
As mentioned above, solar eclipse could not have occurred on or near 14th of Nisan, because solar eclipses only occur during the new moon phase, and 14th of Nisan always corresponds to a full moon.
Solar eclipses are too brief to account for the crucifixion darkness. The length of the crucifixion darkness described by biblical and extra-biblical sources was more than a full order of magnitude for the totality of solar eclipses. Seven minutes and thirty-one seconds has been the established maximum limit of solar eclipse totality. The maximum duration of the total eclipse of November 3, 31 AD, was only one minute and four seconds. The maximum duration of the total eclipse of March 19, 33 AD, was only four minutes six seconds. Neither one had paths of totality passing near Jerusalem. Eclipses lasting at least six minutes, that were close to the crucifixion year, occurred on July 22, 27 AD, for a maximum duration of six minutes and thirty-one seconds and on August 1, 45 AD, for a maximum duration of six minutes and thirty seconds.
Mark Kidger, Instituto de Astrofisica de Canarias, Tenerife, Spain, compared the Apocryphal Gospel of Peter passage with historical eclipses. He indicated the total eclipse of November 24, 29 AD had the greatest geographical proximity to the site of the crucifixion. He determined its path of totality had passed slightly north of Jerusalem at 11:05 AM (see the NASA diagram of the path of totality for that eclipse). Kidger indicated the maximum level of darkness at totality was just 95% for the eclipsed over Jerusalem. His research indicated that level of darkness would have been unnoticeable for people outdoors. His calculations indicated the eclipse had been total in Nazareth and Galilee for one minute and forty-nine seconds. Kidger concluded the population in Jerusalem lacked the necessity and the time to light their lamps for that total solar eclipse. Their behavior, as recorded in the Apocryphal Gospel of Peter, had been caused by a considerably longer period of darkness.
Some speculation had been put forth to explain the crucifixion eclipse in terms of heavy cloud cover. Humphreys and Waddington suggested a meteorological darkening followed by a lunar eclipse could have been interpreted as fulfillment of Joel’s prophecy. Subsequently, they set the date of the crucifixion to be April 3, 33 AD. Schaefer’s calculations indicated that lunar eclipse could not have been seen from Jerusalem. Gaskel had argued a lunar eclipse during the day of the crucifixion could have received significant attention.
A clear sky, three-hour solar blackout documented in Coimbra, Portugal; Toledo, Spain; Montpellier, France; Marola, Florence, Siena, Arezzo, and Cesena, Italy; and Split, Croatia was attributed to the total solar eclipse of June 3, 1239. The description from Marola is an inscription on a pillar. The author of the account from Coimbra stated the day of the blackout was Good Friday and the time of the start and ending of the darkness matched that of the crucifixion. The chronicler in Siena stated people lit their lamps. And, the writer in Split said it was not mentioned in Asia and Africa even though it had been witnessed throughout Europe.