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Message:: [QUOTE="kaparthy, post: 3276938, member: 57463"]I have two such coins.[ATTACH=full]865539[/ATTACH] TOP:  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. Author’s collection Bottom: Antioch in Syria. 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.” Author’s collection. The Christmas Star has been debated on many levels. The International Planetarium Society website (ww.ips-planetarium.org)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 ArchaeologyVol. 51, No. 6 (Nov/Dec 1998), Anthony F. Aveni cited 250 “major scholarly articles” about the Star of Bethlehem. For 1500 years, the Christmas Star was accepted as a miracle without need of explanation. The Renaissance brought a new world view. The scholarly tradition of explaining the Star of Bethlehem with scientific evidence apparently began with Johannes Kepler. In 1604, he publishedThe New Star in the Foot of the Serpent(De stella nova in pede serpentarii: et qui sub ejus exortum de novo iniit, trigono igneo…). In that tract, he examined a triple conjunction, as well as a nova, which he attributed causally 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. (See “Common Errors in ‘Star of Bethlehem’ Planetarium Shows,” by John Mosley, The Planetarian, Third Quarter 1981.) The triple conjunction of 7 BCE occurred in Pisces. Some astrological lore identified that constellation with Judaea. Other traditions give Pisces to the Libyans, among others. However, back in the 1960s, at the Cleveland Museum of Science, planetarium director Dan Snow, told us of the Pisces connection. Over the centuries, the Christmas Star has been explained as a comet, a meteor or meteor shower, but the conjunction theory has been the most popular. In 1999, Rutgers Press published The Star of Bethlehem: the Legacy of the Magiby 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. It is important to note that Jesus was not the only king, and his reign was not the only new age. Julius Caesar was assassinated March 15, 44 BCE. In May through July, a comet appeared, a singular event, not Halley’s or any other recurring comet. The people of Rome accepted it as obvious fact that the soul of Julius Caesar had ascended to the heavens. Julius Caesar was the first historical Roman deified by the Senate. His adopted heir, Gaius Octavius, became at once Gaius Julius Caesar Octavianus, and also, Divi Filius: son of the divine. This must be included into any broader narrative about the Greek king of Egypt, Ptolemy Soter (Savior) and the appelation found of Roman coins honoring Juno Sospita (Savior). Moreover, although he was born 23 September and therefore a Libra, Octavian Augustus took Capricorn as his personal symbol. Capricorn is the zodiacal sign of the winter solstice, of course, and therefore the symbol of the new year – ultimately, a new age. Molnar’s book offers images of the Caesar Comet coin and Augustus’s Capricorn on a coin. The centerpieces, however, are the coins of Antioch (the Roman mint closest to Judaea) and the astronomical interpretation of them. 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. I believe that the iconography indicates a New Age as the Vernal Equinox moved from Aries to Pisces, thus the "Lamb of God" became IXTHEOS the Fish: Jesus Christ Son of God Our Saviour. And 2000 years later, we are moving into the Age of Aquarius. Moreover, all of this discussion centers on the interpretation of a religious text. You can believe what you want.[/QUOTE]

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