Records of solar eclipses have been kept since ancient times. Eclipse dates can be used for chronological dating of historical records. A Syrian clay tablet records a solar eclipse which occurred on March 5, 1223 B.C., while Paul Griffin argues that a stone in Ireland records an eclipse on November 30, 3340 B.C. Positing classical-era astronomers' use of Babylonian eclipse records mostly from the 13th century BC provides a feasible and mathematically consistent explanation for the Greek finding all three lunar mean motions (synodic, anomalistic, draconitic) to a precision of about one part in a million or better. Chinese historical records of solar eclipses date back over 4,000 years and have been used to measure changes in the Earth's rate of spin.
By the 1600s, European astronomers were publishing books with diagrams explaining how lunar and solar eclipses occurred. In order to disseminate this information to a broader audience and decrease fear of the consequences of eclipses, booksellers printed broadsides explaining the event either using the science or via astrology.