The Identification of the Star of Bethlehem

What was the Star of Bethlehem followed by the three Magi searching for that Messiah who was to come into the world? Only afew years before the birth of the Jesus of Nazareth, it was Virgil who wrote of a coming Christ or Messianic figure:

... And a child is born ending the Iron Kingdom replaced by the Golden Age across the earth we plea most gracious Lucina. O Radiant, O Apollo lead forth the restoration from moon to moon of this glorious age, forgive us and set us free from all fears toward immortality. This child will grow in strength and wisdom of the gods whom with heroes finally dwell. His virtuous father planted the seeds of peace to encourage the world and the son of this prophet will completely guide the earth. O Child, because of you the earth shall bring forth fruits and harvest sown only from above like a new Eden. Virgil’s Eclogue IVa

It was only a generation prior to Jesus’ birth that Virgil spoke of this child of the Golden Age, and so the Christians regarded him as their only pagan prophet. As well, Christian and Hebrew text point to a star from the East rising over Bethlehem of Judea(Christian Text - Matthew 2:1-12; Hebrew Text - Micah 5:2). Since Herod was alive to see the star, it had to have appeared before his death in 4 bce. What did Virgil (Roman) and the Magi (Zoroastrian/Persian) see to the East regarding these Messianic hopes? Consider the following star chart from 6 bce:

Figure 1: the Messianic Sky Chart of the Three Magi (before the death of Herod in 4 bce).

Concerning this Star of the Three Magi, the Christian’s sacred text of the Gospel of Matthew reads:

In the time of King Herod, after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea, wise men from the East came to Jerusalem, asking, ‘Where is the child who has been born king of the Jews? For we observed his star at its rising, and have come to pay him homage.’ 

Matthew 2:1-2

Notice the star involves the Golden child of Saturn in battle against Jupiter, ruler of the Iron Age. They rise in the East facing each other in celestial combat.

When King Herod heard this, he was frightened, and all Jerusalem with him; and calling together all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he inquired of them where the Messiah was to be born.  They told him, ‘In Bethlehem of Judea; for so it has been written by the prophet: 

“And you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah,  are by no means least among the rulers of Judah;

for from you shall come a ruler  who is to shepherd* my people Israel.”’

Matthew 2:3-5

Herod was half Jewish and trusted the knowledge of the Hebrew priests regarding the coming Messiah.

Then Herod secretly called for the wise men and learned from them the exact time when the star had appeared.  Then he sent them to Bethlehem, saying, ‘Go and search diligently for the child; and when you have found him, bring me wordso that I may also go and pay him homage.’ 

Matthew 2:6-7 Herod may have been telling the Magi what they already learned ofBethlehem from the sacred Hebrew texts. Yet his secretive meeting against the Temple Priests reveal Herod’s devious motivations to protect his own interests.

When they had heard the king, they set out; and there, ahead of them, went the star that they had seen at its rising, until it stopped over the place where the child was.  When they saw that the star had stopped, they were overwhelmed with joy. 

Matthew 2:8-9

That the star had stopped confirms the way planets appear to wobble ina triple conjunction. Jupiter and Saturn first met in Pisces to the East on May of 7 bce; and each planet pulled back, stopped and returned to the second conjunction in September. In December, Saturn and Jupiter met for the third time, but all the while moving slowly westward closer to Aries. In moving West, the planets were taking the three Magi from Mesopotamia to Israel. Finally, February 6 bce Saturn and Jupiter met with Marsand the Crescent Moon to the West in the constellation Aries. Tothe Magi traveling from the East, these wandering stars and moon were setting in the West over Bethlehem. Completing the mythicalbattle between Saturn and his father, Jupiter, the stone wrapped in swaddling clothes is represented by the dark side of the moon wrapped in its own bright crescent; the Moon appeared to be cast at Jupiter by his son, the Golden Child, Saturn; and Saturn has agood omen by his side, Mars, the sign of war.

On entering the house, they saw the child with Mary his mother; and they knelt down and paid him homage. Then, opening their treasure-chests, they offered him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh.  And having been warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they left for their own country by another road.

Matthew 2:10-12

Was this truly the star of Bethlehem? The Emperor of Rome was well aware of this star, claiming himself to be the Divine GoldenChild when he minted these coins (Supplement 3: Star of BethlehemCoins).

Figures 2/3 Planet over Crescent Moon and Coin of Augustus Minted in Alexandria 10-5 bce

On these coins, the Emperor was advertising his claim to be divine, where Rome and its soldiers would be reminded of their god in the flesh who ruled over them.

Augustus was the Emperor of Rome when Jesus of Nazareth was born.Augustus birth sign was Capricorn (the goat-fish) as his coins represent:

Figure 4: Birth Sign Coins of Emperors Augustus and Tiberius

The second coin also displays the Scorpion, birth sign ofTiberius, since it was minted in the reign of Tiberius. Why doesthe sign of Augustus remain on the coin of Tiberius? If anemperor fulfilled his duties and was loved by the people, hisname would live on. 20th Century scholar, Ethelbert Stauffer,confirms the renown of Augustus:

He was remembered at every prayer at table, and by men on their deathbeds… after his conquest of Egypt an inscription was set up on the island of Philae… ‘Theemperor, ruler of oceans and continents, the divine father among men, who bears the same name as the heavenly father–Liberator, the marvelous star of theGreek world, shining with the brilliance of the great heavenly Savior.

E. Stauffer, Christ and the Caesars

- Historical Sketches, p. 99.

The gift of Augustus was to use diplomacy instead of weapons. Hetraveled throughout his empire offering gifts to Roman citizens and freedom to those formerly conquered. Virgil confirms that the Romans looked highly of him even as their Savior:

…this is the man, so often foretold you in promise, Caesar Augustus, descended from God, who again shall a golden Age in Latium found,... his coming, foreshadowed by omens from heaven…

  Virgil's Aeneid, Book VI.ii 789-800, 847-853

These omens presenting Augustus as the new Golden Child were minted not only on his coins, but those of future Roman Emperors.Yet these coins do not use the birth signs of the Emperors, but rather the star of Bethlehem (see Figure below) in Aries, the Ram, constellation of Judea, which the Magi followed in 6 bce:

Figure 5: Star of Bethlehem Coins representing Emperor‘s Claim to be Saturn’s Golden Child

Notice Zeus (Jupiter), ruler of the Iron Age, appears on the first coin, just as Jupiter appears with Aries in the Magi’s night sky on 6 bce (Figure 1 above). The second coin contains the crescent moon with the star in Aries, just as the three Magi witnessed. The third coin contains the crescent moon as it occurred when the three Magi saw it on February 20th , 6 bce in conjunction with the planet Jupiter. This is the star of Bethlehem and perhaps the actually source of the crescent moon and star symbol known throughout the world to modern times.

Other sky events at the childhood of Jesus the Messiah include the following:

The above symbolism represents a Covenant of the Healer (Ophiuchus) that slays Death (Scorpio) and the Herald (Mercury) is the Church with Zion’s Daughter (Virgo) crowned with Love (Venus) and Glory (the Sun).. War (Mars) is captured in the Lion’s mouth (the Messiah of Judah) and the Power of God (Jupiter) is fully manifested in the heart of the Atoning Bull (Taurus) and the Golden Child, the Messiah, (Saturn) is captured in the Whale (Cetus) like Jonah for three days, the only sign theMessiah promised.

The Messiah returns from Egypt as the true King (Leo) of Israel and the World.

Conclusion

Consider the possibility that a Golden Child, God in human form, truly came to Earth. It stands to reason that every human being would have an opportunity to find out when and where this centralevent in human history were to take place. The greatest astronomers, wise men and astrologers of the day revealed this event to Emperors and commoners alike and claimed that it occurred in the sky over Bethlehem on February 20th, 6 bce. If you believe this is true, the next question is this:

Has this Event changed the world?

Supplement 1: The World Renown of the Star of Bethlehem

This is a bold claim, but consider that even the Parthians claimed the Star of Bethlehem as their own sign of authority:

Figure 6: Parthian mint 2 bce to 4 ace equating Mithra with Zeus/Jupiter who Eyes Crescent and Star

Though there are numerous Roman coins with the crescent moon and star symbol, there are curious alternate examples:

Figure 7: Comet, 5 Star and 7 Star Coins

The face of the first coin represents Apollo (Sol), god of the sun, enlightenment and constant life for the Roman Empire. The reverse of the coin contains the crescent with seven stars, similar to the 1st Century Domitian coin of the deified son. Thesecond Geta coin has only five stars. Five represents the numberof visible planets named after the deities Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn. The addition of moon and sun complete the number 7. Since the moon and sun are already represented on the first coin, perhaps the Pleiades or Ursa Major are intended.

How specifically do the crescent and seven stars on the Trio coin represent Jupiter as followed by the Three Magi?

This is how the one roaming star, Jupiter, becomes the three, which becomes the seven. In fact, Trio is an abbreviation of Septus Triones, the Seven PloughingOxen, an early Roman name for the Ursa Major (the Great Bear). The mythology tells of Zeus (Jupiter) pursuing the beautiful Callisto who is turned into a bear by Hera (Juno), the wife of Zeus. Yet, Callisto already had a son by Zeus, she named Arcas. He was a great hunter, a quality he likely inherited from his mother who in ancient times was named Artemis Calliste, in some

regions considered both divine huntress and a great bear. Zeus placed them both in the sky to prevent Arcas from mistaking his mother for a hunting trophy. Thus, the constellations Ursa Majorand Ursa Minor were born. Thou Arcas was first named Arctophylax, the Guardian of the Bear. Earlier than Ursa Major, the Big Dipper was named Plaustrum, for the Wain or Large Wagon from the Sumerian original, Margidda-anna, the Wagon of Heaven (or the Wagon of the Queen of Heaven). Since Zeus (Jupiter, Marduk and/or Enlil) is associated with the thunder cloud, the wagon represents the produce gathered due to the beneficial rains of this god of plenty. The wheels of this celestial wagon are the Zodiac (Ecliptic) and the Celestial Equator.

In summary, Jupiter is deity of Thunder bringing rain as a seasonal provision for the earth. This perpetual promise is signified by the Big Dipper, which is seen from Rome and the northern regions on a continual basis. That is, Ursa Major neversets.

The final coin of figure 14 above is the Comet of Julius Caesar. This comet appeared for seven days on Caesar’s birth month only 4months after his assassination. His nephew Augustus along with the rest of Rome who were accustomed to superstitious phenomena took this as the omen of Caesar’s vindication. As well the 7th month of the Julian Calendar may be intended by the seven stars, since this is the month of Jupiter. When Julius designed his calendar in 45 bce, the month Quintilis moved from 5th place to the 7th month and was named July after Julius’ birth. In 1582 itwas replaced by the Gregorian Calendar. Since this 5/7th month isthe month of the birth of Julius Caesar, the same month this greatest comet in history appeared in 44 bce, these five and seven star coins may be a recorded memory regarding the alignmentof calendar time with the perfect knowledge of the gods.

Supplement 2: Constantine’s Sign in the Sky

There is another ancient belief about the seven…

Magnus Annus: Great Year.  The astronomers call the great year in which the seven wandering stars, each having finished its individual course, are gathered together again.

Festus Lexicon, Volume 11

At the completion of the Great Year all of the stars return to their places and begin the next cycle of identical movements.  If the movements of the stars are repeated, it follows that everything that happened will recur again, since it is obvious that everything is determined by the motions of the stars.  For this reason Vergil says that the Golden Age will return and everything that happened before will be repeated.

Servius: Vergil's Eclogues: Poem4

Do the seven stars and crescent moon as the Star of Bethlehem confirm or help disprove Jesus of Nazareth was the actual Christ?

Is there a time in the Christian era when the sun, moon and five planets return to their places during what is considered a Great Year for Christianity?

Three Centuries after Augustus ruled Rome, Emperor Constantine the Great was doing his own soul searching. He was eager for an answer to the turmoil in Rome, while marching there in 312 ace. His rival, Maxentius, occupied the city with twice the army protected behind its great walls. Maxentius had been consulting the Sibylline Oracles and discovered that the enemies of Rome would be defeated on October 28th, his very birthday. Constantine must have been pondering, ‘Who exactly are the enemies of Rome in such a violent civil war?’

It had only been a year when another rival to the throne, Galerius, had perished of a miserable bowl infection. It was Galerius who was particularly venomous in his persecution of the Christians. Constantine would have been aware that Galerius turned to the Christians for their prayers just a few days beforehe died by writing a peace bond enabling the Christians to

worship freely. Marching upon a hilltop Constantine would have seen Rome in the distance. Was it his fear of death being so outnumbered before the Legions of Rome or his love of Rome that so inspired his heart to plea:

God, I do believe that you exist. Will you reveal yourself to me?based on Eusebius, Constantine’s

biographer

Legend has it that as he stretched his hand to heaven the Sun shone with the Chi-Rho sign (for the first two Greek letters of Christ) and the Greek, ‘ἐν τούτῳ νίκα’, (transcribed: en touto nika; Latin: In hoc singo vinces) in this sign you will conquer. Eusebiusalso recorded that in the same night Constantine had a dream thatJesus Christ reassured Constantine that his vision was true. Constantine placed the ChiRho sign (the Labarum) on the shields of his soldiers and went on to defeat Maxentius.

Figure 8: Legendary Vision and Dream of Constantine on October 28, 312 ace.

Did Constantine defeat Maxentius? History says so. Was Christianity born again from the freedoms spurred on by Constantine? Years following this epic battle and vision, Constantine and later Roman Emperors minted this symbol onto Roman coins.

Figure 9: Roman Coins with the Symbol of Christ

Consider the moment of Constantine’s vision, 12:00 Noon, Tuesday,October 28th, 312, the constellations and planets unseen behind the daylight sky were as in order as follows:

Figure 10: Constantine’s Vision with Planetary Locations

Neptune and Uranus were not known to the early Romans. It is interesting that the Sun, Mercury, Venus, Jupiter, Saturn and Mars appear to have returned to their places. That is, they are lined up

between the noonday sun and the Eastern horizon, rendering only the Sun visible. But where is the moon?

The sky at night during Constantine’s dream of Jesus would have appeared as follows:

Figure 11: Night Sky During Constantine’s Legendary Dream and Vision of Christ

Why are there no planets? They are all lined up with the sun according to ancient Roman cosmology (see Festus and Servius quoted above). The moon appears like an egg in Pisces, the Constellation representing the fish, symbol of Christ and his followers. Does this egg shaped moon mean anything?

The Christians’ Magi who followed the star over 300 years earlier, knew the constellation Pisces as the Great Swallow (westernfish) and the Maid/Queen of Heaven (northern fish). The Greco/Romans built upon this mythology by calling them Eros/Cupid,the Dawn and Aphrodite/Venus, goddess of love. The two changed into fish to escape Typhon/Mars in the river Nile (or Euphrates).The Magi saw this as a sign of the coming of a great king to transform the Great Swallowing of the West (death) into new life and love from the Eastern dawn (the Golden Age). What is remarkable, that of the Euphrates mythology, Aphrodite (meaning Sea-foam) was hatched by doves from the egg rolled to shore by these fish of Pisces. Is this the egg shaped moon in Pisces on the night of Constantine’s vision and dream of Christ?

Figure 12: Hadrian Star and Crescent above the Temple of Aphrodite Paphia will cult stone, dove and torch.

Also, with the hook of Leo rising (beginning) and the cross of Cygnus setting (ending), the Chi/Rho sign is formed. This symbolof Christ (the Alpha and Omega) was minted by Constantine with the Alpha and Omega signs confirming that the Christ represents acombination of Leo and Cygnus. Leo is the Alpha or first constellation on 312 ace to rise at mid-night, while Cygnus is setting like the last Omega. Jesus as the Christ is Leo, the Lion of the tribe of Judah and Cygnus, the Swan who dives into the underworld to save his friend on the Cross.

Figure 13: Roman Coin minted 353 ace, containing Constantine’s Sign of Christ flanked by Alpha and Omega

The Constellation Cygnus appears like the Greek Letter X (chi) ofwhich Plato related represents the two bands of the World Soul orAnima Mundi. The Constellation Leo contains the Anima Mundi. Regarding this World Soul, Plato wrote:

Therefore, we may consequently state that: this world is indeed a living being endowed with a soul and intelligence ... a single visible living entity containing allother living entities, which by their nature are all related.

Plato, Timaeus, 29/30; 4th century BCE

If Jesus of Nazareth was the Christ, would he not have been able to predict the day the Roman Emperor would acknowledge the sign of Christ? Perhaps Jesus did in the way he acknowledge the sign of the Roman Emperor:

When they reached Capernaum, the collectors of the temple tax came to Peter and said, ‘Does your teacher not pay the temple tax?’ He said, ‘Yes, he does.’ And when he came home, Jesus spoke of it first, asking, ‘What do you think, Simon? From whom do kings of the earth take toll or tribute? From their children or fromothers?’ When Peter said, ‘From others’, Jesus said to him, ‘Then the children are free. However, so that we do not give offence to them, go to the lake and cast a hook; take the first fish that comes up; and when you open its mouth, you will find a coin; take that and give it to them for you and me.’

Matthew 17:24-27

In summary, all of the planets representing the Greco-Roman pantheon were hidden in daylight, only the sign of Sun with the sign of Christ could be seen. These planets were lined up just as the Roman historians predicted would mark the Great Year. Only a true Messiah could have arranged such a mystical history of Rome presented on a coin from a fish with a gaping mouth.

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