'Now from the sixth hour until the ninth hour there was darkness over all the land..... And Jesus cried out again with a loud voice, and yielded up his spirit..... So when the centurion and those with him, who were guarding Jesus, saw the earthquake and the things that happened, they feared greatly, saying, "Truly this was the Son of God!" ~ (Matthew 27:45-54)
Oh yeah...In addition to the “darkness,” I forgot, there was an earthquake too!
Check out “The Face of Jesus” on the History Channel. A two-hour fascinating look at the Shroud of Turin.
At Passover, there is a full moon. Hence, no eclipse.
I’m a bit confused. Were all these historians believers or were there Pagan sources too?
This is the exact theory developed by the late Anthony Alfieri in his book The Darkness at the Crucifixion.
Sadly, the book was self-published and the author passed away before being able to make arrangements for its publication after his death.
If a Roman centurion feared greatly, it would have been one scary, eerie event.
Sometimes I think we are so familiar with the Easter event that its impact slips by us too quickly.
An eclipse lasting three hours? Sure. The sun stood still so the moon could get into position and hang out. That made the earth unstable so it wobbled a lot.
Easy-peasy.
;o]
As your Scripture notes . . . the darkness was FAR too long for a mere eclipse to have anything to do with it.