The earliest Comet of which there is any historic record was a Comet
mentioned in the oldest cuneiform inscriptions of Babylonia several
thousand years before our Christian era, recently found on the north
bank of Nahr-al-Kalb, near Beyrut in Syria. This Comet is recorded to
have been visible to the naked eye for 29 nights.
At the time Lubienitius wrote his big “History of all the Comets” the
exact date of this Comet had not been fixed. Lubienitius, though, had
a record of this same Comet, the date of which he fixes at the year
2312 before Christ, the date computed by him and other writers for the
beginning of the deluge.
In modern times the great French astronomer Laplace credited a Comet
with causing huge floods at the time of the great Deluge.
Two hundred and eighty-eight years after the great Deluge, according to
the records of the Chaldean star gazers, there appeared another Comet.
This is the date, computed by Lubienitius, for the building of the
Tower of Babel and the confusion of tongues.
Two thousand and sixty-four years before Christ, another Comet
appeared, as recorded by the Chaldeans. This is the date given for the
birth of Abraham.
When Abraham was seventy years old, in the year 1949 B. C., a Comet was
seen shining over the Valley of Siddim for twenty-two nights. This is
the date given by Bible historians for the destruction of Sodom and
Gomorrah, the two cities of iniquity which lay in the Vale of Siddim.
Jewish annalists record a Comet in Egypt in the year corresponding to
B. C. 1841. This Comet shone at the time of the bitter persecution of
the Jews by the Egyptians.
Arabian star gazers have recorded a Comet shining over Arabia 1732 B.
C. In that year there was a terrible famine, of which mention is made
in the Old Testament.
The ancient Chinese year books record the appearance of a Comet over
northern China and Manchuria in the year corresponding to 1537 B.
C. The appearance of the Comet, so the Chinese chronicles tell, was
followed by a great flood and disastrous famine.
The next Comet of which we have any record, appeared 1515 B. C. This
was at the time of the expulsion of the Jews from Egypt.
In the year B. C. 1194, we are told by Hyginus that “On the fall of
Troy, one of the Pleiades group of stars rushed along the Heavens
toward the Arctic pole, where the star remained visible with
dishevelled hair, to which the name of Comet is applied.”
We are informed by Pliny, the Roman historian, that in B. C. 975, the
“Egyptians and Ethiopians suffered from a terrible famine, the dire
effects of a Comet. It appeared all on fire, and was twisted in the
form of a wreath, and had a hideous aspect. It seemed not to be a star,
but rather a knot of fire.”
Babylonian cuneiform inscriptions tell us that about 575 B. C., when
Nebuchadnezzar overran Elam, “a star arose whose head was bright as
day, while from its luminous body a tail extended like the sting of a
scorpion.”
According to Pliny, again, a Comet in the form of a horn was seen in
the year B. C. 480, just before the great invasion of Greece by Xerxes
ending in the bloody sea fight of Salamis.
The next Comet mentioned by Lubienitius appeared in B. C. 466, when it
was seen for 75 nights all over Greece. In that year Greece was ravaged
by war between the Spartans and Athenians, and the city of Sparta was
all but destroyed by an earthquake.
The next Comet appeared one generation later in 431 B. C., and was seen
through 60 nights all over the ancient world. This Comet was followed
by a terrible pestilence which swept over Aethiopia, Egypt, Athens, and
Rome. War broke out all over Greece. It was the beginning of the great
Peloponnesian War, which devastated Greece for a generation to follow.
In the year 394 B. C., there was another Comet seen in Greece, followed
by the great Corinthian War with the bloody battles of Knidus and
Koronea.
Aristotle records a Comet seen by him in his fifteenth year, 371 B. C.
The sight of it inspired the youth to a special study of astronomy.
The Comet was visible until the end of the first week of July. On July
eighth was fought the great battle between the Thebans and Spartans,
when Epaminondas, one of the greatest generals of antiquity, overthrew
the Spartans.
The next Comet, that of 338 B. C., which was likewise observed by
Aristotle, who had then become the teacher of Alexander the Great,
marked Alexander’s first public entry into the history of the world.
The Comet blazed its brightest on the eve of the bloody battle of
Chaeronea, Alexander’s first victory and achievement in war.
In the year 344 B. C., there was another Comet, followed by another
war in Greece and Sicily. Diodorus of Sicily wrote of this Comet: “On
the departure of the expedition of Timoleon from Corinth for Sicily
with all his war ships, the Gods foretold success by an extraordinary
prodigy: A burning torch appeared in the Heavens for an entire night
and went before the fleet into Sicily.”
_The Comets of Carthage._
Nearly a hundred years passed before the appearance of another Comet in
240 B. C. This is the first recorded appearance of Halley’s Comet. By
the light of this Comet, Hamilcar, the great Carthaginian general, made
his young son Hannibal swear eternal enmity to the Romans. Hamilcar was
then in the midst of preparations for the war against Rome, which broke
out soon afterward.
Comets appear to have been stars of special omen to Hannibal and to his
native city, Carthage. Twenty years later, appeared another Comet which
shone over Carthage for 22 nights. Its appearance was followed by the
outbreak of the great war between Hannibal and the Romans, and by a
terrible earthquake in Greece.
The next Comet shone in 204 B. C., when Hannibal suffered his first
bloody defeat by Sempronius, while Scipio, Hannibal’s arch enemy, was
crossing over to Africa, for the first attack upon Carthage.
The appearance of the next Comet, twenty years later, 184 B. C., which
shone through 88 nights over Asia Minor “with a horrible lustre” was
followed by the death of Hannibal. Soothsayers at the court of King
Prusias of Bithynia, in Asia Minor, whither Hannibal had fled from
the Romans, told the King that the Comet betokened Hannibal’s early
death. This so wrought on Hannibal’s spirit that he ended his life with
poison.
In the year 150 B. C., appeared another Comet “of horrible size.” It
was seen for many nights running all over the Mediterranean Sea. Its
appearance was followed by the outbreak of the third great Punic War
between Rome and Carthage.
Within four years another Comet, blazing over northern Africa in 146 B.
C., was followed by the fall of Carthage, which was stormed and utterly
destroyed by the Romans.
_Mithridates’ Star._
Mithridates, King of Pontus, and conqueror of Asia Minor, another arch
foe of the Romans, having been born under a Comet, seems to have fallen
under the bane of Comets.
During the Winter of 134-135 B. C., preceding Mithridates’ birth, a
Comet of unusual lustre flared over Asia Minor through 72 days. This
Comet was so bright that its long, flaming tail was plainly visible
even in day time. The ancient historian Justinus thus described it:
“Its splendour eclipsed that of the midday sun and occupied the fourth
part of Heaven.”
The next Comet, burning through 72 nights again, preceded Mithridates’
accession to the throne of Pontus, 119 B. C.
Mithridates’ fourth Comet, now identified as Halley’s Comet, was seen
over Asia Minor through the Winter months of 87-88 B. C., just before
the horrible massacre of 150,000 Italians ordered by Mithridates.
Twenty-five years later, 63 B. C., Mithridates saw his Comet for the
last time when his own son rose up in arms against him. The omen of the
Comet so wrought on Mithridates that he first poisoned himself and then
had one of his own soldiers despatch him with his sword.
No other Comet is recorded in ancient history during this century,
except the one which was seen shining over Italy preceding the birth
(July 11, 100 B. C.) of Julius Caesar, destined to become “The foremost
man of all this world,” as Shakespeare calls him.
“Caesar’s Comet” as it came to be known (now identified as Halley’s
Comet) appeared again over Italy during the great Civil War between
Marius and Sylla, when Caesar was first entering into public affairs
and earned his spurs as a warrior.
“Caesar’s Comet” shone again over Rome in the year 60 B. C., when
Julius Caesar, together with Pompey and Crassus, took charge of the
government of Rome and presently seized supreme power as Consul of Rome.
Ten years later “Caesar’s Comet” was seen once more in Italy in the
Winter months of 49-50 B. C., when Caesar, returning from his conquest
of Gaul, crossed the Rubicon and began the great Civil War against his
rival for power, Pompey.
The last appearance of “Caesar’s Comet,” was in 44 B. C., on the
death of Caesar. Its coming was foreseen in a dream by Caesar’s wife
Calpurnia, who warned him of the omen, as immortalized in Shakespeare’s
lines, put into the mouth of Caesar’s wife:
“When beggars die, there are no Comets seen,
The Heavens themselves blaze forth the death of Princes”;
followed by Caesar’s famous answer, as culled from Plutarch by
Shakespeare:
“What can be avoided,
Whose end is purposed by the mighty gods?
Yet Caesar shall go forth; for these predictions
Are to the world in general as to Caesar.”
On the following morning Caesar was murdered at the foot of Pompey’s
statue in the Curia.
Immediately after Caesar’s death, records the Roman historian Suetonius
in his “Life of Caesar”: “A Comet blazed for seven nights together,
rising always about eleven o’clock, visible to all in Rome. It was
taken by all to be the soul of Caesar, now received into Heaven; for
which reason, accordingly, Caesar is represented in his statue with a
star on his brow.”
Only one more Comet is recorded in ancient history before the birth of
Christ. This was the Comet, now identified as Halley’s Comet, which
shone over the dense forests of Germany, eleven years before the birth
of Christ, when Drusus, the brother of Tiberius, was warring against
the ancient Germans and robbing them of their last vestige of liberty.
At the same time fell the death of Agrippa, who ruled over the Roman
Empire in the absence of Augustus.
_THE STAR OF BETHLEHEM_
The coming of the Messia, according to the sacred legends of the Jews,
was to be foretold by a flaming star.
Many sacred writers have held, and many still hold, as did the
distinguished American astronomer R. A. Proctor, that the “Star of
Bethlehem,” whose shining trail guided the Wise Men from The East, was
a Comet. Lubienitius in his “History of Comets” expressly mentions the
Star of Bethlehem as the most important Comet of history.
As a matter of fact our modern astronomical computations prove that a
Comet appeared in that year so as to be visible to the naked eye over
Arabia, Syria, and the Holy Land.
When this Comet appeared Herod was King of Judea. On the appearance of
the Comet, Herod consulted the oracle of the Sibyl in Rome. She told
him that the Comet shone in token of a boy destined to be far greater
than he.
Herod grew so afraid at this that he caused to be murdered his own
two infant sons, Aristobolus and Alexander, and after that his eldest
son, the boy Antipater. Herod further ordered the massacre of all
male infants born in Judea under this Comet, as told in the Gospel of
Matthew (Chap. II., Verse 1). As the Comet kept on blazing in the sky,
Herod, becoming desperate, tried to kill himself. Five days after this
he died of a loathsome disease.
Christian painters and writers from olden times until now, accordingly
have pictured the Star of Bethlehem as a Comet.
Take for instance this description of “The Light in the Sky” as given
by Lew Wallace in his “Ben Hur: A Tale of the Christ”:
“About midnight some one on the roof cried out:
‘What light is that in the sky? Awake, brethren,
awake and see!’
The people, half asleep, sat up and looked; then
they became wide awake, though wonder struck....
Soon the entire tenantry of the house and court and
enclosure were out gazing at the sky.
And this is what they saw: A ray of light, beginning
at a height immeasurably beyond the nearest stars,
and dropping obliquely to the earth; at its top, a
diminishing point; at its base, many furlongs in
width; its sides blending softly with the darkness
of night; its core a roseate electrical splendour.
The apparition seemed to rest on the nearest mountain
southeast of the town, making a pale corona along the
line of the summit. The khan was touched luminously
so that those upon the roof saw each others’ faces
all filled with wonder.
Steadily the ray lingered....
‘Saw you ever the like?’ asked one.
‘Can it be that a star has burst and fallen?’ asked
another, his tongue faltering.
‘When a star falls its light goes out.’
* * * * *
After that there was silence on the housetop, broken
but once again while the mystery continued.
‘Brethren!’ exclaimed a Jew of venerable mien, ‘what
we see is the ladder our father Jacob saw in his
dream. Blessed be the Lord God of Our Fathers!’”
Meanwhile the Wise Men from the East, as described in the same story,
were travelling over the desert, on the alert for the apparition of the
star, whose coming had been revealed to them.
“Suddenly, in the air before them, not farther up
than a low hill-top,” writes Lew Wallace, “flared a
lambent flame; as they looked at it, the apparition
contracted into a focus of dazzling lustre. Their
hearts beat fast; their souls thrilled; and they
shouted as with one voice: ‘The Star! the Star! God
is with us!’”