28. Many eclipses, many Saros

A Saros cycle generally peters out after a few centuries and new cycles come into being. Moreover, not all eclipses of a Saros cycle are visible. The changing pattern of eclipses led Babylonian astronomers to organize their observation in a multiplicity of Saros cycle configurations.

Still, the Grand Saros Canon is noteworthy. Except for two low magnitude lunar eclipses that Babylonian astronomers may have missed, the Grand Canon correctly predicts every eclipse possibility over 400 years, from -746 to -314.

A document akin to the Grand Saros may have been source of Ptolemy's eclipse data from Babylon.