It is ascertainable by calculation that the time occupied by the Moon in passing over the Sun, in the way it did during this eclipse, was about 2½ hours. But from the time of central conjunction, when the obscuration was the greatest and the point of light depressed the most, to the time when the uppermost portion of the Sun’s disc was released by the eastward motion of the Moon, and the light from that uppermost portion was again manifest, was about 20 minutes, and this, therefore, was the time during which the phenomenon of retrogression on the “steps” would have been exhibited to the King’s eyes. Assuming then that the time when the ascending shadow had travelled upwards to the tenth step coincided, or nearly so, with the time when the Sun had reached its highest altitude for the day, at noon, we infer that the time of central conjunction during this eclipse was not later than from 20 to 15 minutes before noon. It could not have been much earlier, because the phenomenon of the resting of the shadow for a time at its _apparently_ highest point for the day (which preceded the promise that it should rise ten steps) has also to be accounted for, and this cessation of its motion upwards could not have taken place till about 25 minutes before noon, when the decreasing motion of the Sun in altitude (or its slackening motion upwards as it approached mid-day) would have become counteracted by the coming on of the eclipse. Now at 11.35 A.M. the sun’s disc would have risen to the altitude of 35° 8′; and the highest visible point of light would, owing to the eclipse, then have been about 35° 4′; and at 11.40 A.M., being the time of greatest obscuration, the extreme cusps of light produced by the intervention of the Moon would still have stood at about 35° 4′, just 23′ below the highest point of light at noon (Fig. 12). _The whole disc of the sun had now risen above the gnomon, yet no motion of the shadow on the steps had been observed for fully five minutes. The time shown by the dial was seemingly mid-day._ [Illustration: FIG. 12.—ECLIPSE OF THE SUN, JANUARY 11, 689 B.C., AT JERUSALEM.] Sun’s apparent semi-diameter 16′ 13″ Moon’s " " 15′ 13″ Moon’s relative hourly motion in declination 5′ 44″ northward. Right ascension, 29′ 33″ eastward. Corrected for Jerusalem, 19′ 42″ eastward. Altitude of the Gnomon, 34° 41′ 13″. SUN’S ALTITUDE BEFORE AND AT NOON. [Illustration: Phase at 20 minutes before noon.] [Illustration: Phase at noon.]