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<p>[QUOTE="kaparthy, post: 3956976, member: 57463"]<font face="Georgia"><font size="5">The Christmas Star has been debated on many levels. The International Planetarium Society website (<i>ww.ips-planetarium.org)</i> lists over 100 citations to the Star of Bethlehem. Some of those articles and letters were part of a multifaceted decades-long argument among at least five astronomers and one editor. Writing in <i>Archaeology</i> Vol. 51, No. 6 (Nov/Dec 1998), Anthony F. Aveni cited 250 “major scholarly articles” about the Star of Bethlehem. </font></font></p><p><font face="Georgia"><font size="5"><br /></font></font></p><p><font face="Georgia"><font size="5">For about 1500 years, the story of the Star of Bethlehem was accepted as historically accurate because it was divine truth. With the Renaissance, a new way of looking at the world evolved. The scholarly tradition of explaining the Star of Bethlehem with scientific evidence apparently began with Johannes Kepler. In 1604, he published<i> The New Star in the Foot of the Serpent</i> <i>(De stella nova in pede serpentarii: et qui sub ejus exortum de novo iniit, trigono igneo…</i>). In that tract, he examined a triple conjunction, as well as a nova, which he attributed <b>by cause </b>to the conjunction. He was not alone in that kind of a belief. Others expected the conjunction to cause a comet. Reviewing the facts in 1614, Kepler said that the Star of Bethlehem was a nova in 4 BCE caused by a triple conjunction in 7 BCE. </font></font></p><p><font face="Georgia"><font size="5">[ATTACH=full]1042354[/ATTACH] </font></font></p><p><font face="Arial"><font size="4"><b>Antioch ad Orontem “About 51 AD coin of Antioch ad Orontem (eastern side of the metropolis). Year is Rho Eta or 105 of Roman rule. (“et” is the abbreviation for “etios” = “year”.) Crescent Moon and Jupiter to the West of Aries.</b></font></font></p><p><font face="Georgia"><font size="5"><br /></font></font></p><p><font face="Georgia"><font size="5">In 1999, Rutgers Press published <i>The Star of Bethlehem: the Legacy of the Magi</i> by Dr. Michael R. Molnar. In addition to his achievements as an astronomer, Molnar is a numismatist. He was attracted to a series of coins from Antioch in the first century of the present era. They show a star, a crescent moon, and a Ram, among other symbols and legends. </font></font></p><p><font face="Georgia"><font size="5"><br /></font></font></p><p><font face="Georgia"><font size="5">Molnar’s book goes into detail on the use of coinages as communication media in ancient times. His narratives are for the non-numismatist, as those assumptions are widely accepted by professionals in the field. People back then read coins the way we now read web pages: the symbols spoke thousands of words.</font></font></p><p><font face="Georgia"><font size="5">[ATTACH=full]1042355[/ATTACH] </font></font></p><p><font face="Arial"><font size="4"><b>Antioch Ram. “About 50 AD coin of Antioch in Syria shows Jupiter to west of Aries. (EPI KOUDRATROU = “of Quadratus (the name of the Roman legate). Year is Rho Delta = 104 of Roman rule.” </b></font></font></p><p><font face="Georgia"><font size="5"><br /></font></font></p><p><font face="Georgia"><font size="5"> It is important to understand that while some were struck during the accepted lifetime of Jesus, the series is broader than that. What was meant at the detail level to the people of the time must remain at least somewhat conjectural.</font></font>[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>
[QUOTE="kaparthy, post: 3956976, member: 57463"][FONT=Georgia][SIZE=5]The Christmas Star has been debated on many levels. The International Planetarium Society website ([I]ww.ips-planetarium.org)[/I] lists over 100 citations to the Star of Bethlehem. Some of those articles and letters were part of a multifaceted decades-long argument among at least five astronomers and one editor. Writing in [I]Archaeology[/I] Vol. 51, No. 6 (Nov/Dec 1998), Anthony F. Aveni cited 250 “major scholarly articles” about the Star of Bethlehem. For about 1500 years, the story of the Star of Bethlehem was accepted as historically accurate because it was divine truth. With the Renaissance, a new way of looking at the world evolved. The scholarly tradition of explaining the Star of Bethlehem with scientific evidence apparently began with Johannes Kepler. In 1604, he published[I] The New Star in the Foot of the Serpent[/I] [I](De stella nova in pede serpentarii: et qui sub ejus exortum de novo iniit, trigono igneo…[/I]). In that tract, he examined a triple conjunction, as well as a nova, which he attributed [B]by cause [/B]to the conjunction. He was not alone in that kind of a belief. Others expected the conjunction to cause a comet. Reviewing the facts in 1614, Kepler said that the Star of Bethlehem was a nova in 4 BCE caused by a triple conjunction in 7 BCE. [ATTACH=full]1042354[/ATTACH] [/SIZE][/FONT] [FONT=Arial][SIZE=4][B]Antioch ad Orontem “About 51 AD coin of Antioch ad Orontem (eastern side of the metropolis). Year is Rho Eta or 105 of Roman rule. (“et” is the abbreviation for “etios” = “year”.) Crescent Moon and Jupiter to the West of Aries.[/B][/SIZE][/FONT] [FONT=Georgia][SIZE=5] In 1999, Rutgers Press published [I]The Star of Bethlehem: the Legacy of the Magi[/I] by Dr. Michael R. Molnar. In addition to his achievements as an astronomer, Molnar is a numismatist. He was attracted to a series of coins from Antioch in the first century of the present era. They show a star, a crescent moon, and a Ram, among other symbols and legends. Molnar’s book goes into detail on the use of coinages as communication media in ancient times. His narratives are for the non-numismatist, as those assumptions are widely accepted by professionals in the field. People back then read coins the way we now read web pages: the symbols spoke thousands of words. [ATTACH=full]1042355[/ATTACH] [/SIZE][/FONT] [FONT=Arial][SIZE=4][B]Antioch Ram. “About 50 AD coin of Antioch in Syria shows Jupiter to west of Aries. (EPI KOUDRATROU = “of Quadratus (the name of the Roman legate). Year is Rho Delta = 104 of Roman rule.” [/B][/SIZE][/FONT] [FONT=Georgia][SIZE=5] It is important to understand that while some were struck during the accepted lifetime of Jesus, the series is broader than that. What was meant at the detail level to the people of the time must remain at least somewhat conjectural.[/SIZE][/FONT][/QUOTE]
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