Area : I_UFO

Date : Oct 01 '95, 17:43                                                       
From : LadyNada                                                  114:1/0
To   : ALL                                 
Subj : Pt 1/2: star east -1996=new millenium?                                
ÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ

From: "LadyNada" 
Subject: star east -1996=new millenium?
Message-ID: <199510012043.NAA21789@ix5.ix.netcom.com>
Date: Sun, 1 Oct 1995 16:43:57 +0000

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---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Fri, 29 Sep 1995 07:24:01 AST
From: Thomas M. Simms 
To: snet@world.std.com
Subject: Re: star east


                        STAR OF THE EAST

  Every wonder needs an explanation.  To begin to explain the Star
of Bethlehem, we must go forward from its time sixteen hundred
years.  Scientific inquiry about the event did not begin before
then.
  Johannes Kepler, the noted German astronomer, flourished about
the first quarter of the Seventeenth Century.  He calculated that
a conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn occurred in 7 B.C.  He
speculated that a retrogression of one to the other in addition to
the conjunction may have happened.   
  The arrival of Halley's comet had stirred him to action.  He did
not solve the mystery of Halley's comet but he solved many other 
mysteries of the heavens.  Among those achievements, he set
out laws concerning the motions of planets.  Another astronomer,
Edmund Halley, an Englishman, proved the periodicity of the comet
at its next appearance.  For doing so we named the comet for
Halley.
  Now, let us go back in time.  Halley's Comet appeared in 12 B.C. 
According to Babylonian records its previous appearance in 87 B.C.
was noteworthy.  Its path was roughly perpendicular to the horizon. 
It appeared to stand in one place evening after evening.  Perhaps
it followed a similar path on its next visit.  We simply don't
know.
  Perhaps that visit's path led to the conjunction or regressed
conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn as later proposed by Kepler.  If
these events happened it would astound the students of the skies.
  Perhaps also a strange star appeared in the midst of the
conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn.  This would lead the astrologers
of Babylon and Persian to foretell the rising of a King in Israel. 
Kepler argued from the astrologers' records he had at that time
that Jupiter and Saturn referred specifically to Israel.  Halley's
Comet could have been the wandering star.  However, we must
consider other candidates.
  Halley'sComet on its most recent appearance was a bit of a bust
to us.  In 1910, it was nearly twice as close to earth as on this
past flyby.  On the earlier appearance the Comet was much bigger
and brighter, exciting among many people panic and fear.  Many of
its previous appearances were also spectacular and often associated
with great events.
  The Comet appeared in 1066 A.D. when the Normans invaded England. 
In 66 A.D. when it appeared, the Romans were beginning the
subjugation of Judea leading up to the destruction of the Temple
in Jerusalem in 70 A.D. and fortress Masada in 74 A.D.
  In 316 B.C. people took its appearance after Alexander the
Great's death in 322 B.C. as an omen of his greatness.  Its
disappearance allowed his successors to continue fighting among
themselves.
  Recently the Comet was `found' in the British Museum on previous-
ly untranslated clay tablets.  Until 1985, scholars had inves-
tigated carefully and made observations of Halley's Comet's every
appearance only as far back as 12 B.C.
  The Greeks and Romans had poorly recorded earlier dates.  Chinese
records were fragmentary.  Calculations allowed the years of
appearances to be 87 B.C., 164 B.C., 240 B.C., and 316 B.C.  The
exact times were lacking.
  The translation of the clay tablets, almanacs from Babylon
covering from 700 B.C. to 40 B.C. with some continuity, allowed
scholars to call the exact dates for Halley's Comet in 87 B.C. and
164 B.C.  They estimated its path through the constellations
reliably.
  Some have taken Halley's appearance in 12 B.C. to be the Star of
Bethlehem.  They do this because the change from B.C. to A.D. is
in error.
  In 525 A.D. the monk Dionysius Exiguus calculated the beginning
of the Christian Era.  In 1605 A.D. a Pole, Laurentius Suslyga,
showed that the monk was in error by four years.  Johannes Kepler,
astronomer and mathematician to Rudolph II, Holy Roman Emperor, as
already noted, calculated that the 7 B.C. `great conjunction' had
been a `triple conjunction'.  Kepler did this shortly before
Suslyga announced the error.  A four year error leads to the date
of 5 B.C. for the birth of Jesus.  (If this is so, and the year 1
A.D. is 5 B.C., then the next Millennium or 2001 actually is, let's
see, counting back, say, 2000, 1999, 1998, 1997, and 1996.  1995
ends the second Millennium.  1996 begins the Third Millennium!) 
This encouraged him and others to discuss the possibility of the
conjunction being the Star of Bethlehem.  Kepler realized his
error.  Others have not, even until today.
  Two or more planets may move to within several moon diameters
of each other in the sky.  Astronomers call such an event a
conjunction.  A conjunction occurring three times in a year, is a
triple conjunction.  The conjunctions of Jupiter and Saturn in 7
B.C. occurred on 27 May, 6 October, and 1 December, according to
modern calculations.
  As the court astrologer, the meaning of such events deeply
interested Kepler.  In his day such a conjunction had preceded the
appearance of a supernova in the same vicinity.  He wrote several
tracts about this event.  Unfortunately, many thought he meant that
the Star of Bethlehem was that great conjunction.  However, Kepler
felt the Star of Bethlehem was a nova or supernova, a newly
appearing or suddenly brightening star. (Novas and supernovas are
suns in far off galaxies exploding for various reasons.)
  Now we must go ahead from Kepler's and Halley's times to today
so we may then go back two thousand years or so.  Chinese astro-
nomical records ceased to be fragmentary in the First Century B.C. 
The records only recently became widely available outside of China. 
They recorded a nova of forty days duration appearing near Alpha
and Beta Capricorn in the spring of 5 B.C.  Had Kepler known, he
would have cried with delight!  This event is too late for the
present find of Babylonian tablets now at hand.  The Babylonians
likely noted it.  We just haven't found the records.
  For another way of looking at the skies, recent publications of
Omen Texts from Nineveh of the Seventh Century B.C. outline the
meanings of planetary conjunctions as they concern events in Amurru
(Greater Syria).  The texts concern a time near the Babylonian
Captivity of the Jews.  More recent finds confirm that the planet
Jupiter was the King planet and Saturn, the planet of the Saturday,
or the Sabbath.  The latter point still persists in the day's
modern name.  The connection to a King rising from people cele-
brating the Sabbath cannot be resisted.
  These conjuctions fit in with Kepler's Seventeenth Century
astrological assessment that such astronomical events meant a king
would arise in Greater Syria.
  Herod the Great had become King of Judea under the military
influence of Rome and by marriage to a Jewish Princess, descendant
of the Maccabees.  At first, the Jews viewed him as an usurper. 
But he overawed the Sanhedrin by his bodyguard.  Then he restored,
rebuilt and enlarged the Temple, while scrupulously following the
ritual Law.  The Wailing Wall in Jerusalem today is the remains of
the west foundation of his Temple.  These works lessened his
people's hatred of him, but did not end it.
  Near the end of his reign, Herod the Great greatly feared con-
spiracy against him within his family.  He had his two sons by the
Jewish Princess executed.  Then fearing more plotting, he killed
his eldest son just five days before his death in 4 B.C.  The
Slaughter of the Innocents related in the New Testament has a clear
foundation in history.  The Gospel tale merits serious comparison
with Herod's murderous actions.
  Now consider the following.  Magi were Zoroastrian priests who,
in the days of the Persian Great Kings, marched with their fire
altars at the head of the armies.  They were expert astronomers,
relying on the long Babylonian experience.  In addition, they were
adept astrologers and learned in the occult arts.  We get our word
`magician' from `Magi'.
  (Zoroastrians were monotheists whose influence on both Judaism
and Christianity was important.)
  The appearance of Halley's Comet would excite such Magi to expect
some great event.  The movement of the Comet through the constell-
ations of that particular visit might tell us what the Magi
expected if we knew the significance to them of the omens of those
constellations.  However, that knowledge may be beyond recovery.
  The triple conjunction of 7 B.C. would really alert them! By the
time 6 B.C. was over and they had sorted out all the omens, they
would be on their way to Amurru, Greater Syria.
  Matthew has the Wise Men say, "Where is he that is born King of
the Jews?  For we have seen his star in the east, and we are come
to worship him".
  Such words would inflame a king who slaughtered and schemed his
way to the throne.  But such is speculation.
  If the Magi arrived in the spring of 5 B.C., the appearance of
the nova as reported by the Chinese would amaze them if they had
come for the astrological reasons already described.  Certainly,
the event would confirm for them the wisdom of making the trip.
  But then again, they may have come at the nova's appearance. 
They may simply have expected to receive much from a proud father-
king.  Fortune tellers always do when they bring good news.  Herod
the Great was old.  His sons were grown.  The Maccabean and Davidic
lines of descent claims were equally good.  Perhaps the Magi knew
of Herod's dynastic worries. 
  Many in an aroused population were hostile to Herod.  With
Bethlehem only a step from Jerusalem, the Eastern Magi would
quickly learn of a scion of David newly arrived.  Perhaps they knew
of one before they came?
  As priests, the Magi, like Greek actors sacred to Dionysos, would
enjoy diplomatic immunity.  This was so even though they came from
a region not subject to Rome and not friendly to her expansions.
  In fact, if the Christmas story had not related to these times,
historians knowing of this trip would have assumed that the Magi
were on a serious diplomatic mission.  The Parthian Kings, who now
ruled east of Rome's sway, and their Wise Men had control in Iran. 
These Kings would likely know of unrest in Palestine.  They might
suppose their emissaries might find legitimate claimants to the
throne of Judea.
  The new star of the spring of 5 B.C. was a nova.  The men of the
East would not have known it would appear.  The idea of a con-
spiracy is not possible.  Taking advantage of an unexpected and
unusual event would be good politics.
  There is another point to consider.  Very recent speculation
suggests that Auroras, or Northern Lights, often appearing with
eerie sounds, may have been the angel choirs of the Bible. 
Conjunctions of major planets visible only from the sun might have
disturbed the solar winds and surface storms enough to cause
Auroras as far South as Palestine.  If computer reconstructions

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Area : I_UFO

Date : Oct 01 '95, 17:43                                                       
From : i_ufo-l                                                   114:1/0
To   : ALL                                 
Subj : Pt 2/2: star east -1996=new millenium?                                
ÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ

make such storms possible for that spring, the date is even more
likely.
  A hostile foreign king could create real disorder by his men
acting on and pointing out omens and portents in the stars.  He
could find a pretender and set him up in exile.  Then he could hope
to reap the benefits.
  Damascus had a large Jewish population and Babylon an even larger
one.  Only a small proportion of Jews returned after the Exile. 
Egypt had large colonies of them.  Jews made up the largest group
of the population of Ptolemaic Alexandria.  Throughout the whole
region the enemies of Rome must have known the real state of
affairs in Judea.
  By now some will object.  We celebrate Christmas in December. 
But the fact is, shepherds did not tend their flocks in the winter
in Palestine, even if the sheep could take the cold.  This fact
brings Luke's tale of the Shepherds into harmony with the advent
of a new star in the spring of 5 B.C.
  Here is a clincher.  Matthew wrote the Magi said, "...for we have
seen his star in the east, ...,".  Without laying out the arguments
about the meaning of the Greek and of the Aramaic on which it is
based, translators take the meaning to be, "in the eastern sky". 
The Nova appeared for its forty days in the midst of Alpha and Beta
Capricorn.  The Magi would use the conventions of astronomy of that
time.  They would say the star was in the eastern quarter of the
sky.
  The date of 25 December fell into use early because people
celebrated then the natal day of both the pagan gods Mithras and
Sol Invictus.  Christians could celebrate unnoticed among the
pagans.  The Saturnalia of the Romans began on 21 December.  It
went on wildly for five days.  This provided more cover for the
followers of the new religion.
  Philocalus gave December 25 as the day of birth in his calendar
of 366 A.D.  The notice shows how early people lost the real date. 
In Rome, people knew nothing of the habits of shepherds in the
hills outside of Bethlehem.  Neither did they know anything about
the star nova in the spring of 5 B.C.  Rome's unawareness made the
traditional date quite wrong.
  Historians, however, have to concern themselves always with
conflation in ancient tales, post factum syncresis.  Matthew wrote
about 80 A.D. or shortly after.  Halley's Comet had returned within
his memory.  Tiradates the Parthian King had taken Magi on an
embassy to Nero in 40 A.D.  Matthew and his people must have known
this.
  This doesn't cut out the star and Wise Men story.  They remem-
bered the events of 5 B.C.  `Just as' they remembered more recent
events.  They quickly left out `just as'.  Such conflation makes
the detail of Matthew's account suspect.  It doesn't destroy the
star appearance or Wise Men visit.  Holy Family visit stories occur
in legend everywhere in Egypt.  They happen too often for it not
to have taken place.
  The Wise Men's gifts were plenty for a trip to Egypt and a long
sojourn there, sort of an American Express card of those days for
a young family.  The traditions of the Coptic Church in Egypt about
the stay there ought to receive more attention.

Tom Simms 

"Behind The Bible" - surprisingly new historical material about Bible events.
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