The Year the Sun Went Dim
In the year 536, a historian in Constantinople wrote that the Sun shone without brightness, like the Moon, for a whole year. Crops failed across the world.
What was reported
The Byzantine historian Procopius wrote that in 536 'the sun gave forth its light without brightness, like the moon, during this whole year'. Other writers in Europe and the Middle East described a dim, bluish Sun, and Chinese records tell of summer snow and famine.
Temperatures dropped across the northern hemisphere, and the cold lasted for years. Some historians have called 536 the worst year to be alive.
Explanations offered
Ice cores from Greenland and Antarctica show a huge volcanic eruption around 536, possibly in Iceland, followed by another in 540. The haze blocked sunlight for years. The cold, crop failures and the plague that followed in 541 changed the course of history.
- When
- 536
- Where
- Constantinople (Istanbul), Türkiye
- Witnesses
- Writers in Constantinople, Rome, China and beyond
- Status
- Mostly explained
Famous cases are real, widely reported events. Each file sets out what witnesses said and the explanations that have been offered, without taking a side.
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