Transcript The Star of Bethlehem - astrometria y fotometria cometaria

The Star of Bethlehem
and the Christmas Story
Myth, Fact and Reality
Fact and fiction I
• The New Testament is a mixture of history, hearsay and
preaching written some 90 years after the Nativity.
– Matthew about 80-100 AD
– Luke about 80-130AD
Sources differ widely about the exact dates.
• It is not strictly a historical record, but it is undoubtedly
based on something that was at least intended to be a
more or less factual account.
– We are not dealing with pure fantasy.
– It cannot be taken too literally, but no one can argue that
the Gospel narrative has no basis of historical fact.
Matthew’s Version of the Nativity
[1] Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judaea in the days of Herod the king, behold, there came wise men from the
east to Jerusalem,
[2] Saying, Where is he that is born King of the Jews? for we have seen his star in the east, and are come to worship him.
[3] When Herod the king had heard these things, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him.
[4] And when he had gathered all the chief priests and scribes of the people together, he demanded of them where Christ
should be born.
[5] And they said unto him, In Bethlehem of Judaea: for thus it is written by the prophet,
[6] And thou Bethlehem, in the land of Juda, art not the least among the princes of Juda: for out of thee shall come a
Governor, that shall rule my people Israel.
[7] Then Herod, when he had privily called the wise men, inquired of them diligently what time the star appeared.
[8] And he sent them to Bethlehem, and said, Go and search diligently for the young child; and when ye have found him,
bring me word again, that I may come and worship him also.
[9] When they had heard the king, they departed; and, lo, the star, which they saw in the east, went before them, till it came
and stood over where the young child was.
[10] When they saw the star, they rejoiced with exceeding great joy.
[11] And when they were come into the house, they saw the young child with Mary his mother, and fell down, and
worshipped him: and when they had opened their treasures, they presented unto him gifts; gold, and frankincense, and myrrh.
[12] And being warned of God in a dream that they should not return to Herod, they departed into their own country another
way.
[13] And when they were departed, behold, the angel of the Lord appeareth to Joseph in a dream, saying, Arise, and take the
young child and his mother, and flee into Egypt, and be thou there until I bring thee word: for Herod will seek the young
child to destroy him.
[14] When he arose, he took the young child and his mother by night, and departed into Egypt:
[15] And was there until the death of Herod: that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet, saying,
Out of Egypt have I called my son.
[16] Then Herod, when he saw that he was mocked of the wise men, was exceeding wroth, and sent forth, and slew all the
children that were in Bethlehem, and in all the coasts thereof, from two years old and under, according to the time which he
had diligently inquired of the wise men.
Luke’s Version of the Nativity
[1] And it came to pass in those days, that there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus, that all the world should be taxed.
[2] (And this taxing was first made when Cyrenius was governor of Syria.)
[3] And all went to be taxed, every one into his own city.
[4] And Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judaea, unto the city of David, which is called
Bethlehem; (because he was of the house and lineage of David:)
[5] To be taxed with Mary his espoused wife, being great with child.
[6] And so it was, that, while they were there, the days were accomplished that she should be delivered.
[7] And she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger; because there
was no room for them in the inn.
[8] And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night.
[9] And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore
afraid.
[10] And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people.
[11] For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.
[12] And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.
[13] And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying,
[14] Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.
[15] And it came to pass, as the angels were gone away from them into heaven, the shepherds said one to another, Let us now
go even unto Bethlehem, and see this thing which is come to pass, which the Lord hath made known unto us.
[16] And they came with haste, and found Mary, and Joseph, and the babe lying in a manger.
Differences between Matthew
and Luke
• Matthew:
–
–
–
–
• Luke:
– The census
– Caesar Augustus
– Quirinius (Cyrenius)
– The inn
– The shepherds
A cynic would say that it is hard to believe that Matthew and
Luke are describing the same event.
The Star
The Magi
King Herod
A house
However, it is likely that they were interested in different
aspects of the Nativity and wrote for a different audience:
• Matthew… an evangelist.
• Luke… probably a doctor and an amateur historian.
Differences between Matthew
and Luke
• Matthew:
– Jesus as a young child
– A house: permanent
accommodation
• Luke:
– Baby Jesus
– The stable: temporary
emergency
accommodation.
Luke seems to be describing events immediately around the
birth of Jesus.
Matthew is talking of events weeks or months later.
Matthew’s Version of the Star
[1] Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judaea in the days of Herod the king, behold,
there came wise men from the east to Jerusalem,
[2] Saying, Where is he that is born King of the Jews? for we have seen his star in the east, and
are come to worship him.
[3] When Herod the king had heard these things, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him.
[7] Then Herod, when he had privily called the wise men, inquired of them diligently what time
the star appeared.
[8] And he sent them to Bethlehem, and said, Go and search diligently for the young child; and
when ye have found him, bring me word again, that I may come and worship him also.
[9] When they had heard the king, they departed; and, lo, the star, which they saw in the east,
went before them, till it came and stood over where the young child was.
[10] When they saw the star, they rejoiced with exceeding great joy.
[11] And when they were come into the house, they saw the young child with Mary his mother,
and fell down, and worshipped him: and when they had opened their treasures, they presented
unto him gifts; gold, and frankincense, and myrrh.
[16] Then Herod, when he saw that he was mocked of the wise men, was exceeding wroth, and
sent forth, and slew all the children that were in Bethlehem, and in all the coasts thereof, from
two years old and under, according to the time which he had diligently inquired of the wise men.
Explaining the Star
• There are three generic explanations
1. It was a miraculous event
•
Science plays no part in the explanation
2. It never existed
•
Matthew simply added the Star to his account. End of
story.
3. It was a natural event of some kind.
•
Science can explain it.
Here explanation “3” is assumed. Otherwise this
would be a very short talk.
The oldest mystery in
astronomy?
• What was the Star mentioned
by Matthew?
– We can only deal with
probabilities, never certainty…
– Sadly, it is vanishingly unlikely
that any completely new
information about the Star will
ever come to light.
– But absence of proof is not
proof of absence!
Matthew’s Gospel – French illuminated
bible, c. 1250-1260
A Popular Misconception
• It is not true that the Star is only mentioned in
Matthew.
– The Star is mentioned in other contemporary documents.
– The Apocryphal Gospel of James (purportedly written as an
eye-witness account) mentions the Star in somewhat more
detail than Matthew, but this book was not incorporated into
the “official” version of the Bible around the 3rd Century.
– The Star was also mentioned in a letter by Ignatius to the
Ephesians written after Matthew, but about 2 centuries
before the New Testament was compiled.
• Both Matthew and James apparently used an
earlier, lost text “Q” as the source of their accounts.
Fact and fiction II
• The New Testament has at least some basis of
historical fact.
• Many of the personalities and places associated
with the Nativity genuinely existed at the time of
the Nativity and are known about in some detail.
• For example…
Known historical facts
• Bethlehem – shepherds still graze their flocks on the
hills around the town (as in this photograph).
Known historical facts
• King Herod – was the last ruler
of a united Judea under the
Romans, before the Kingdom was
divided in three on his death.
Known historical facts
• Jerusalem – much of
Jerusalem is little
changed. The sites of
such monuments as
the Temple and
Herod’s Palace are
well known.
Known historical facts
• Emperor Caesar
Augustus – was
emperor at the time of
the Nativity and
ordered global
censuses in 28BC,
8BC and 14AD.
Known historical facts
• Quirinius
– is thought to have spent
two periods in the region
and was charged by
Caesar Augustus with
carrying out a census.
– The tablet shows the
results for a census in
Lebanon organised at an
unknown date by
Quirinius (described as
“Emperor’s Legate”, not
“Governor”).
The date problem
• Luke’s Gospel is problematic:
– Quirinius was Governor of Syria in 67AD.
– Herod died 9 years earlier, so Quirinius
could not have been Governor while
Herod was alive.
– There was no global census at the time
that Quirinius was Governor.
• Most experts believe that the census
mentioned by Luke was that of 8BC.
• But this creates even more problems:
Judea was a Protectorate, not part of the
Empire. Joseph would not have been
bound to participate in the census.
• It was not until 14AD that Rome took
over Judea. Only the 14AD census
decree would have applied to Judea.
We three Kings?
• Matthew does not state that
the Magi were kings, nor does
he state that there were three
of them.
– People associate the three
(symbolic) gifts with three
Magi.
– Matthew simply uses the plural
to describe them.
– In the oldest representations
sometimes they were two,
sometimes four and, in the
Orthodox tradition, twelve.
We three Kings?
• The Magi were not
always kings.
• It was the church that
elevated the Magi to
royalty in the 6th Century
AD.
– It was a political decision.
– The “King of kings” must
have been visited by kings.
We three Kings?
• The names – Melchior,
Baltasar and Gaspar –
are even more recent.
• They date from the 8th
Century, but were not
commonly used until
the 10th Century.
• The names symbolise
the three races of Earth
– African, Asian and
European.
Who were the Magi?
• Magi
– A sect of Zoroastrian
priests among the Medes
in Persia were known as
the Magi.
– Zoroastrianism made
Messianic prophesies
similar to those of the
Jews.
– The Magi were most
probably from northern
Persia, close to the
Caspian Sea.
The Magi and the
Persian Horde
• In 614AD the Persian armies
invaded and sacked northern
Italy.
• In Ravenna, the church of
San Vitale was spared
because the Persian horde
saw the images on the walls
of the Magi in Persian dress
and treated them as their own
sacred religious symbols.
• The oldest images of the
Magi often depict them as
Persians.
The real Magi?
• In the 13th Century
Marco Polo carried
out his legendary
voyage to Cathay...
The real Magi
• In the small town of
Saveh in northern
Persia the natives
assured him that this
had been the home
town of the Magi and
from where they had
seen the Star.
An odd “coincidence”?
• Why should the 13th
Century inhabitants of this
tiny and unknown town,
half way to China, regale
Marco Polo with tales of
events that never happened
and, what is more, events in
a country more than
1500km away, with which
they had no obvious
affinity?
When was the Nativity?
• The date of the Nativity
was set in 525AD by the
Scythian monk Dionisius
Exiguus.
• His choice was not
arbitrary, but we know
that the date given by
Dionisius was almost
certainly not the correct
one.
Herod family tomb
A historical
fact
• Historians and biblical
scholars agree that King
Herod died in late
March or early April
4BC, shortly after a
partial lunar eclipse
observed from Jericho.
• Thus the Nativity
occurred before 4BC,
probably not long before
his death.
More odd “coincidences”
• It is well known that when Dionysius Exiguus
established the Christian calendar in the 6th Century,
he committed two “errors”:
– He did not include a year zero (the Romans did not use
the number zero!); the calendar jumps directly from 1BC
to 1AD and the Nativity was on December 25th 1AD.
– He forgot to factor in the 4 years during which Augustus
Caesar ruled under his given name of Octavian.
• In the corrected Dionysian calendar the Nativity
happened in 5BC, one year before Herod’s
unlamented death.
Coincidence or design?
• Is it just a coincidence that the revised Dionisian
calendar gives a year for the Nativity consistent
with the known date of the death of Herod?
• Critics suggest that maybe Dionisius committed
more errors and that the Nativity really happened
even earlier, perhaps in 6 or 7BC.
– This has been used to support some theories of the Star of
Bethlehem.
– But, nobody has ever suggested what those errors may
have been.
The First Christmas
• Why do we celebrate
Christmas on
December 25th?
• It is quite certain that
the Nativity did not
happen on December
25th.
The clue of the shepherds
• Why would the shepherds be
watching their flocks at night?
– The hills around Bethlehem
reach altitudes up to almost
800m.
– In winter the animals would
usually be under cover,
especially in bad weather.
The clue of the shepherds
• The weather in Bethlehem in
December, January and February is
cold and humid. Only a shepherd
who wanted to risk pneumonia
would sleep in the open.
– It starts to improve in March when the
shepherds would start to sleep out with
their flocks.
– At lambing time (March-April) they
would have needed to keep watch
intensely by night to help ewes in
distress.
– If there were large predators (e.g.
wolves) they would sleep with their
flocks, from March to September.
Why then December?
• Sol Invictus was the most
important festivity in Rome.
• It marked the shortest day.
• It had been celebrated by the
Celts from at least 1000BC.
• Rather than abolish a popular
holiday, the early Christian
church adopted it and adapted
it as their own second most
important celebration.
Why then December?
• The Roman celebrations of
Sol Invictus were marked
by:
– The most important public
holiday of the year.
– Parades in the streets.
– Giving and receiving of gifts.
– Special meals and feasts.
– Decorating houses with green
bows.
• Does this sound familiar???
The true date of the Nativity
• Other contextual clues (e.g.
the inn being full) suggest
that the Nativity occurred at
a “special” time of year,
with many people in transit.
• Passover – Like lambing
time, in March or April
according to the year – fits
the bill.
There are good contextual and historical reasons to believe that the
Nativity may have occurred in March or April 5BC.
Consequences?
1. The entire basis of our
western calendar is
wrong (the millennium
was not 2001 but, in
fact, 1996).
2. Christmas should be
around Easter.
3. If we are looking for a
Star of Bethlehem it
had to appear no later
than 5BC.
Where did I go
wrong???
Popular (wrong) theories
• Venus
– Visible low in the
dawn sky this
Christmas and in the
evening sky in 2007.
– The oldest known
observations are of
Venus.
– If the Wise Men were
fooled by Venus they
could not have been
very wise.
Popular (wrong)
theories
– Appeared in 12BC and
was extensively
observed by the
Chinese.
– If this was the Star of
Bethlehem the Magi
were obviously in no
hurry to get to
Bethlehem.
Popular (wrong) theories
• A conjunction
– There are about 10
conjunctions of bright
planets each year.
– The most spectacular
around the Nativity
was in 2BC.
– The Magi either used a
time machine, or
earned huge quantities
of “Frequent Camelrider Miles”.
Popular (wrong) theories
• A meteor
– Can be very bright,
impressive and move
in the sky.
– But, typically only
visible 1-2 seconds.
– Did the Magi have
rocket-propelled
camels?
Popular (wrong) theories
• Don’t even
THINK it!
Ancient chronicles: Babylon
• Ancient chronicles have been
carefully scrutinised to see what
celestial phenomena were
recorded that may have been the
Star.
• However there are few known
records.
• Tablet BM014 in the British
Museum is a Babylonian
observing log from 7BC.
• It describes, in the driest language,
the triple conjunction of Jupiter
and Saturn in 7BC and the
planetary massing of Mars, Jupiter
and Saturn in February 6BC.
• This was not a spectacular
event. The two planets
barely got within 1º of each
other.
• Triple conjunctions are
rare: only 7 happened in
the last millennium BC.
• Like those of 980/979 &
861/860BC it took place in
Pisces, a constellation often
associated with the Jews.
Ancient chronicles: China and Korea
• Nor are there many
oriental records from
this epoch.
• Between 20BC and
1BC there are just 4
catalogued events.
–
–
–
–
12BC
10BC
5BC
4BC
Ancient chronicles: China and Korea
• The 12BC event is
known to be Halley.
• The 10BC event is a
“ghost event” – another
observation of Halley
with the wrong year.
• The 5 & 4BC events are
interesting but, for years,
caused confusion.
Oriental answers: China
The “Ch'ien-han-shu” states:
"In the second year of the period of Ch'ien-p'ing, second month, a hui-hsing
appeared in Ch'ien-niu for more than 70 days"
This can be translated as:
“During the interval between March 10th and April 7th of 5 BC, a comet that was
visible for more than 70 days appeared close to Alpha and Beta Capricornii”
• The chronicle gives a fixed position over two and a half months, not
reasonable if the object really was a comet. The Chinese though often used
“hui-hsing” to describe bright novae such as Tycho’s Star.
• May is monsoon season in China so bad weather would almost certainly have
curtailed further observations – the Star was almost certainly visible for longer,
hence the phrase “more than 70 days”.
•
•
•
It starts first and is
worst in the south.
From May 50% of
days are rainy in
Hong Kong.
Observations of the
sky would have been
almost impossible.
Oriental answers: Korea
A second record is found in the Korean
“History of Three Kingdoms- the
Chronicle of Silla (Samguk Sagi)”
“Year 54 of Hyokkose Wang, second
month, (day) Chi-yu, a po-hsing
appeared in Ho-Ku”
As the date given was inexistent, like
February 30th, it is believed that "Chiyu" really should be "I-yu", a
character written in an almost identical
fashion in Chinese and easily confused
with it.
If so, this can be translated as:
“On March 31st of 4 BC a bushy star
appeared close to Altair”
Oriental answers?
Another remarkable “coincidence”:
Either two separate, notable objects appeared at the same time
of the year to the south of Aquila in consecutive years or, more
probably, a single, bright nova appeared to the north of the star
 Capricornii in March 5BC.
This is exactly the most probable date of the Nativity.
Ho-Ku & Ch’ienNu
• Ho-Ku is Altair and some
fainter stars in southern
Aquila.
• Ch’ien-Niu is an area of
faint stars in northern
Capricorn.
• Some authors make
much of this
disagreement.
The Ho-Ku date clue
• But, on the date given by
the Koreans (March 31st),
the nova would have been
in conjunction with the
waning gibbous moon.
• Only the brightest stars in
the region, such as Altair,
would have remained
visible, hence the position
given.
• Probably the Koreans
elected this reference date
deliberately.
Ko-hsing confusion
• The Chinese had a word “Kohsing” (Guest Star) for novae.
• But it was not consistently
used.
– Bright novae and supernovae,
including Tycho’s Star, were
often described as comets.
• European astronomers tended
to do the same.
– Tycho Brahe said, on first
seeing the supernova “I am
sure that yesterday this comet
was not in the sky”.
Why a nova and not a comet?
• A “new star” would symbolise a
birth.
– The Chinese star did not move in the
sky.
– It appeared in the Milky Way where
almost all novae appear.
• Comets have been almost
universally regarded as bad
omens.
– Comets were associated with deaths,
not with births.
– An apparition of Halley’s Comet was
said (correctly!) to foretell the fall of
Jerusalem.
• The Jews thus had no reason to
regard comets with other than fear.
The nova would have appeared low in the east in the pre-dawn sky.
The Star went before them…
• Modern translations of the Bible
say that the Star was seen “at its
rising” – in other words its first
appearance in the dawn sky.
• This is exactly how the nova
would have appeared in the sky.
• But the Star “went before the Magi”
on the road between Jerusalem and
Bethlehem.
– The Star must have been in the south
at that time to appear OVER
Bethlehem.
– Where would the nova have been
after the 8 weeks the Magi would
have taken to arrive from Persia?
By then the nova would have been almost exactly due south at dawn, leading the
Magi to Bethlehem from Jerusalem.
Why complicate things?
• The Chinese nova of March 5BC offers a simple,
plausible explanation of the Star.
• It fits in with the Biblical and other contemporary
accounts of the Star and with historical
knowledge.
• It would have appeared suddenly, unexpectedly,
shining brightly in the dawn sky at just the right
time.
• What better sign of the birth of a new-born king
than a bright (absolutely real), new star?