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    A five year war between the Medes and the Lydians was brought to an end when, Herodotus tells us, the day suddenly turned into night. This ‘Battle of the Eclipse’, as it became known, was fought on May 28th, 585 BC.
     The eclipse itself, according to Herodotus, was predicted to the Ionians by Thales and was taken as a sign that the two empires should make peace. The Iron Age city on Kerkenes can very probably be identified with ancient Pteria which was almost certainly the base from which the Medes conducted their war and governed the western part of their empire.
     Both the battle and the eclipse would surely have been visible from the city. The ensuing international treaty fixed the border between the two empires at the Kizilirmak and was sealed by royal marriages.