Blood red moon – Lunar eclipse and the Fall of the Byzantine Empire
- Lunar Eclipse – a blood-red moon
Tonight it will be possible to witness a lunar eclipse across Australasia, southern Japan, a large area of Asia, India, Africa, Europe and the eastern part of South America.
A previous lunar eclipse was seen on May 22, 1453. during the siege which ended the Eastern Roman Empire, also known as the Byzantine Empire; when Byzantium / Constantinople fell to the Ottomans, which effectively split Eurasia in half and ended the last imperial system of the Ancient World in the Northern Hemisphere.
The siege lasted from Thursday, 5 April 1453 until Tuesday, 29 May 1453, after which the city fell ; the lunar eclipse and the ensuing blood-moon was considered to be part of the fulfilment of a prophecy concerning the city’s demise.