  The search of a rational explanation of eclipses pervades the beginnings of
philosophical and scientific thought. Within this intellectual frame, the
knowledge of the "saros cycle" (a cycle of 18 years, 10 or 11 days and 1/3 of a
day that separates two successive sun or moon eclipses of similar features),
inherited by the Greeks from the Babylonians, favored important theoretical
developments in the West. The purpose of this paper is to present, briefly and
schematically, a) the ancient theorizations on the causes of eclipses, b) the
range of predictability of eclipses in Antiquity, c) the warnings -transmitted
by some classical writers- to those who want to observe in naked eyes a solar
eclipse, and d) the popular beliefs and social practices upon the occurrence of
unexpected eclipses in ancient times.
