Scientists date solar eclipse from the times of ancient Egyptians

You know it’s a slow news day for Egypt in the international press when the top news story is that scientists have dated a biblical event that could possibly be the oldest datable solar eclipse recorded, according to a paper published in Astronomy & Geophysics. “A puzzling event in The Bible that mentions both the Moon and the Sun can be interpreted as describing a solar eclipse. We have dated it to 30 October 1207 BC, making it possibly the oldest datable solar eclipse recorded. This enables us to refine the dates of certain Egyptian pharaohs, including Ramses the Great. It also suggests that the expressions currently used for calculating changes in the Earth's rate of rotation can be reliably extended back 500 years, from 700 BC to 1200 BC.”