History, Part II

One of the more enjoyable things that I did, last week, was to cross index what I was reading about the ancient Mesopotamian empires with timeline reference books and the Bible. It's a really cool exercise, and I got a far better insight into the people and events which I had only read about in...well, let’s not go there.



Case in point: During the week, I also watched the movie, the 300. I know, you’re snickering because it’s based on a comic book; but, it is “sort of” about real events in a real time. Besides, it was fun. So cut me some slack already. I’ll admit it. I was enjoying the eye candy. However, I also happened to remember something that I hadn’t thought of for many years, and wouldn’t have now if it weren’t for the cross indexing which I’d been doing.

Did you ever wonder why Xerxes, King of the Persian Empire, went after those poor little Greeks? There is always a reason. Stop and think about it, and while you’re at it, check out the crazy costume. Think that the real Xerxes would’ve been caught dead in that get up? I don’t think so. LOL

Anyway, Xerxes had the world by the tail. He had the best of everything: money, power, taxes, trade routes, taxes, people, taxes, lands, money. You get the picture. Why would he ever go half way across the world to mess with some mean, freedom loving, hairy, smelly Greek savages, who hadn’t been out of their caves for more than a few weeks by Persian standards. The Greeks had nothing which the Persians needed or even really wanted. So far, I haven’t found where history gives us sufficient reason for the wealthy, urbane Xerxes to whoop up on the Greek hillbillies. This simply never made sense to me. The economics of supplying his army, by itself, gives me a headache.

So I decided to play my favorite game, “What If?” What reason could possibly pull Xerxes out of his cities and palaces and make him go to a far off land to attack some nobodies? But first, I had to get inside Xerxes’ brain.

When I started connecting the dots from my various reference books, and linked them to what I was finding in the Bible, I came up with what I think might be a plausible reason for a potentate to suddenly travel a great distance just to beat up on a bunch of squabbling rustics.

I think that it would make a pretty good plot point for a novel.

“To be continued,” she said laughing maniacally. *VEG*

Come back for a visit, and happy reading and writing,

Frances

Writing Science Fiction Romance

Real Love in a Real Future

Night Sky: March 2009

In the spring of any year, not just the Year of Astronomy, there are lots of things to look for in the night sky. It’s a great time for the backyard astronomer in us all. Among the notable astronomy events are: Venus is leaving the evening sky; old constellations are at zenith; new constellations are visible; and the Vernal or Spring Equinox is about to occur. If you click on the pictures in this post, you will be able to see them in a larger size which will be easy to view and read.


Venus has been incredibly beautiful all winter, so please forgive me for not posting about a lovely event several days ago. On February 27th there was a close conjunction of Venus and the New Moon immediately after sunset. Unfortunately, we had cloud cover, and I forgot about it (What can I say, I was writing.). This picture, courtesy of Starry Night Astronomy Program, this is what it looked like right after full dark.


Keep Venus in your viewing schedule for the rest of the month. It’s leaving the evening sky on the March 27th when it has an inferior conjunction with the Sun. That’s fancy astronomer speak for crossing between the Earth and the Sun. DON’T TRY TO LOOK AT IT if you want to keep your eyes working properly. Venus will once more be visible as the Morning Star in April. (If you want to go out into a chilly morning to view it, more power to you. At that time of the morning, I’m usually writing for all that I’m worth, a mug of hot cocoa in one hand, a computer cuddled in my lap and the Supreme Pasha Zackery snuggled on my feet.) Your trivia for the day: Venus is moving toward the Earth when we see it in the evening. It is moving away from the Earth when we see it in the morning.

Taurus (Aldebaran), Orion (Betelgeuse), and Canis Major (Sirius) have been glorious in the winter sky. They are presently at their zenith in the evening and will soon be moving into the west. Before they leave us, there are several other constellations which I should like to bring to your attention. Directly to the north of Orion, and joined to the horn of Taurus is Auriga. It is shaped vaguely like a pentagon and has one bright star, Capella. This is another of the stars which Anne McCaffery uses as proper names for characters in her Science Fiction Romances (we writers steal wherever we can). Immediately to the east, almost the fourth corner of a diamond formed by Auriga, Taurus, and Orion is the constellation Gemini, the Twins. Their feet point toward Orion’s head. The two bright stars which form their heads are Castor and Pollux, the brothers of Helen of Troy and the navigators on Jason’s voyage to find the Golden Fleece.

There are two new constellations which are just coming into view in the east during the early evening. Cancer, the Crab, is just east of Gemini’s Castor and Pollux. You may not be able to view Cancer because it has no bright stars. I have a hard time with it. However, the next constellation, Leo, is just rising above the horizon at dusk. As the evening progresses, Leo is very easily recognized as the backwards “?” mark in the sky. Leo’s brightest star is Regulus, one of the ancient king stars and the heart of the lion. Look a little further down to the northeast, and you will see a small triangle of stars. Those stars are the haunches of the lion. The bright object immediately south of Leo’s haunches is Saturn. It’s not as bright as it sometimes is because its rings are not tilted far enough at this time for our viewing.

Last, but not least of the March astronomy events, is the Vernal or Spring Equinox on March 20th. This is the “moment” when Sun’s rays are directly perpendicular to the Earth’s surface at the equator, and when we count spring as beginning. It is also “commonly called” the moment when the Sun crosses the equator from the Southern to the Northern Hemisphere; however, that is a fallacious statement because it is the tilt of the Earth, not any movement of the Sun, which causes the event. Language makes it impossible to escape the ideas of our ancient ancestors. In any case, equinox simply means equal hours of day and night. This only occurs two times a year, on the spring and fall equinoxes. Most ancient calendars were calculated as beginning on the Vernal Equinox, and astrology still works on this basis, even though the signs in modern astrology are now totally out of sync with the astronomical positions of the stars. If you would like to make an interesting observation, keep a log of sunset and sunrise times and the resulting increase/decrease in hours of daylight where you live. You will be surprised at how fast the change occurs.

Have fun, and happy viewing,

Frances

Writing Science Fiction Romance

Real Love in a Real Future

Christmas Astronomy

The Reflection Nebula, NGC 1435, just because I think it's pretty for this time of year.

In my last Astronomy post, I said that I was going to write about the Christmas Star. This post is about Astronomy, not about religion. Nor does it espouse astrology. Modern Astronomy and astrology no longer have anything to do with one another; but, they did two thousand years ago. What I’m talking about here is archaeoastronomy, the science of astronomy studied in a historical, cultural context. This post is meant only to give you a few facts to think about. When all is said and done, each of us will decide what we wish to believe, regardless of anyone else’s logic. So come along with me as we dig up a few facts.

As a disclaimer, please be aware that, I am simply an amateur astronomer. Yet, although my degrees are not in Astronomy, I do check, and cross check my facts before giving them to you. What I have is an enquiring mind, equipped with a few patches of Velcro for making connections, and a really neat astronomy program called Starry Night. I highly recommend it if you should have a desire to feel totally superior, or even better yet... simply have some fun. It’s economical, easy to use, educational, and extremely entertaining. How can you lose?

Now, let’s get serious about Christmas Astronomy. The years 7 to 2 BC contained the some of the most spectacular astronomical displays ever. So let’s look at a few of them.

To get a proper appreciation for the “Astronomical Event” which has come to be known as the Christmas Star, we have to go back at least 2,500 years. We have to put ourselves into the minds of the people of the times. All ancient people studied the stars, and had been doing so for thousands of years. The one “possible” exception was the Jews, who were forbidden to use divination (Deuteronomy 18:10). Ancient people, everywhere, believed that destinies were foretold, and messages from the gods were announced by the stars in the heavens. Everyone, who was anyone, had their special constellation, star, and advisor.

At that time, there was no difference between an astrologer and an astronomer. Almost no decision was made without first consulting the handy-dandy court astrologer/astronomer - who also just happened to be the most highly educated guy around. With your future on the line, you wanted your best man on the job. This is very important, so put it in your trivia bag. We'll get back to it. The caveat was in the interpretation; and, of course, who was paying. Sometimes the astrologer/astronomer hit the jackpot, and sometimes he crapped out. Under the latter circumstances, as you can imagine, life expectancies were... dubious, at best.

In Astronomy, there is something called Precession. It is rather like a super calendar. The Earth wobbles on its axis like a top, and one wobble lasts about 27,000 years. Divide that by twelve and name each section after the sign of the zodiac in which the Sun rises on the vernal (spring) equinox, and you have the Age du jour. Two thousand years ago the Age of Aries was coming to an end, and the Age of Pisces was just beginning. However, because of the slow motion of the Earth in its wobble, and because of the lack of known boundaries of zodiacal constellations, it’s somewhat difficult (read: impossible) to establish the precise date of the beginning of the Piscean Age. But... everybody was looking for CHANGE!

In astrology, there are four Royal Stars, fixed roughly equally along the general course of the ecliptic, or path of the Sun. They are: Antares in Scorpio; Fomalhaut in the Southern Fish; Aldebaran in Taurus; and Regulus, the king of all the Royal Stars, in Leo, and incidentally the only one of the Royal Stars to be directly on the ecliptic. Perhaps that is why he got to be king! Your guess is as good as mine.

The planets were considered to be wandering gods, and Jupiter was the king of these wanderers, and carried the Hebrew name of Sedeq or “Righteousness.” Saturn was the next mightiest, and according to some sources, was known as the “protector of the Jews”. The thing is that Jupiter and Saturn were the astrological “big men on campus.” Where a planet hung out and with whom, had great portent for lowly mortals. Consider for a moment the international attention paid to the conjunction of Venus, Jupiter, and the Moon earlier this month, or the millennium... or even better yet, the daily astrology column of the local newspaper, and you get the idea. People were expecting...

In 12 BC, Halley’s Comet was visible. Ooooo, ominous! Still, it stirred people up. Lots of things were happening in the heavens, and people like the excitement.

In 7 BC, Jupiter and Saturn had triple conjunctions in Chez Pisces. This is a very rare event. For the two greatest planets to have, not just one, but three conjunctions (within one year) in the house of the new age was indicative of GREAT CHANGE. From time to time, Venus and Mercury also dropped in. By the spring of 6 BC, Mars had joined the party, adding more weight to the degree of changes to come. Astrologers all over the known world were looking for something BIG to happen.

THEN:
8/01/3 BC: Jupiter rose in the east, en te anatole, “in the first rays of the dawn.”
9/12/3 BC: First Jupiter and Regulus occulting conjunction: rising in the east and visible from 0230 until just before sunrise.
2/18/2 BC: Second Jupiter and Regulus conjunction: visible with full Moon from 1900 until 0530
5/7/2 BC: Third Jupiter and Regulus conjunction: visible after sunset, until 2400.
6/17/2 BC: Jupiter and Venus spectacular conjunction in Leo.
8/27/2 BC: Jupiter, Venus, Mars and Mercury conjunction in the east, just before dawn in Virgo. This places the Sun also in Virgo. Two days later the Moon joined the party.
10/13/2 BC: Jupiter and Venus have a close conjunction in Virgo and Jupiter moves westward in relation to the Sun and other planets.
12/15/2 BC: Jupiter reaches its furthest point westward, no longer moving against the background stars, and appears to stand still for almost a month. Just before dawn, is on the meridian due south of Jerusalem, in line with Bethlehem.
12/25/2 BC: Winter Solstice and Hanukkah.

Now, this is where is the significance of that “most highly educated” comment, which I told you to put into your trivia bag, comes in. Any ancient, who was a serious astrologer/astronomer, would have been familiar with the prophetic writings of a multitude of countries. For centuries, the Ancient Jews had prophecies, recorded in their sacred writings, of the coming of a chosen King. The most well known of these, Daniel 9:26-27, indicated that 3 to 2 BC was the time for the appearance of their Messiah. However, the Jews were not the only ones who had similar predictions recorded in their sacred scriptures. The Zoroastrians of Persia also had predictions of a coming Savior King in their bible, the Avesta. And the Avesta prophesied that there would be born to the Jews a King Messiah, and that His coming would be announced by a sign in the constellation Virgo. The world was certainly looking for CHANGE. They had the SIGNS!

All stellar and planetary positions were verified with Starry Night Bundle Edition 2.1 and Starry Night CSAP. For more on the Christmas Star, you might enjoy The Christmas Star by Barry Setterfield.

I hope that you have enjoyed this, and will want to do further research. May the Spirit of the Star of Bethlehem shine upon you and your home all year long.

Frances

Writing Science Fiction Romance

Real Love in a Real Future