This is the farthest back that the appearances of Halley’s Comet
have been traced in history. For earlier appearances there are no
sufficiently trustworthy computations or records.
Dion Cassius in his “History of Rome” has recorded “a Comet which hung
suspended over the City of Rome just before the death of Agrippa,” who
ruled over the Roman Empire during the absence of Augustus in Greece
and Asia. Agrippa was so universally beloved, and his death was held to
be such a loss to Rome that he was buried with imperial honours in the
tomb intended for Augustus.
The death of Agrippa occurred in the year 12, shortly after the
disappearance of the Comet which Hind has identified with Halley’s.
* * * * *
This completes the record of all the known appearances of Halley’s
Comet. The record fully justifies Chambers’ dictum, that the “Comet
known as Halley’s is by far the most interesting of all the Comets
recorded in history.”
This historic record also appears to justify in no small measure the
popular beliefs of the last two thousand years concerning Comets, as
expressed by Leonard Digges in his book on Prognostics, published 350
years ago:
“Cometes signifie corruption of the ayre. They are
signs of earthquakes, of warres, of changying of
Kyngdomes, great dearth of food, yea a common death
of man and beast from pestilence.”