RtTZ – 10 Famous Human Responses to Celestial Events

In the last days, when the new star glows in the skies;

Out of the depths of the rocks we call. Hear our cries!

As earth’s secrets unfold, he who sleeps will arise;

Three seals guard the land where the hidden treasure lies.

Rock soars out of the air; trees float over the seas;

Every man in the city buried by mud flees.

So, let the Word be spread, so let the Truth be known;

When the son of a duck, the heir, takes the throne.

Through the bog roll the stones, through the log flows a breeze;

Build the Kingdom by gathering mud, rocks, and trees.

Emperor Zoltov tried to hide his shaking hands as he looked up from his reading. The prophecy confirmed his worst fears. He decided it would be too late to wait for the star to appear.

The above is a short excerpt from my new novel, Road to Tzoladia.

When writing, I do a lot of research.  Even if the adventure takes place in a fictional world that I created, I want it to be believable, which is where all the research comes in.   Plus it’s fun to do the research.

So, why did I include a poetic prophecy about a star in my book?  Humans have always been fascinated by natural objects in the sky.  For years, we were told that people first came together in cities for agricultural purposes.  But, the findings at Göbekli Tepe have turned this theory on its head, and now it is thought that people first came together to build large construction projects as an act of worship.   People have always been influenced by the stars.

TEN FAMOUS HUMAN RESPONSES TO CELESTIAL EVENTS

10.  Nicias – Sicily August 28, 413 B.C.

On August 28, 413, during the Peloponnesian Wars, there was a full lunar eclipse which led to disaster for the Athenians.  At the urging of Alcibiades, a dashing young Athenian whose life had once been saved by Socrates, and against the advice of Nicias, a respected older Athenian who had previously brought peace to Athens, the Athenian Assembly voted to send an expedition to Sicily to capture the city of Syracuse.   Alcibiades and Nicias led the expedition.  At the time, Syracuse was allied with the Spartans.

Alcibiades was recalled to Athens, while Nicias and a third general remained in charge of the forces.  After numerous mishaps, the siege eventually turned into a strategic race between walls and counter-walls.  The tides turned against the Athenians.  Sick, injured and hungry, they were almost out of supplies.  Despite the disgrace, Nicias finally agreed that the only way to save the remaining Athenian forces from complete annihilation was to sail for home.

According to Plutarch, on the night of August 28, everything was prepared and the enemy was not on watch.  The men on the ships were about to stealthily pull out of the harbor.  Just then,  the moon began to change.  It emanated strange lights and was completely darkened, terrifying Nicias and his forces.  His soothsayer, Stilbides, had recently died.  Nicias rashly ordered the retreat halted for 27 days.  Then, forty seven minutes after the moon had disappeared into darkness over the Mediterranean, it reappeared.  But the decision had been made.  Nicias, lay there sacrificing and divining until the enemy came against him.

The men of Syracuse attacked the Athenian fleet in the harbor, destroyed them and  blocked the exit.  Although the Athenians tried desperately to escape by land, at the Assinarus River they were trapped and brutally slaughtered.  The few that lived were sold into slavery or sent to die in the quarries.   Nicias dead body was cast out of the Syracuse prison and left so onlookers could watch it rot.  Thus, a lunar eclipse ended the golden age of Greece.

9.  Alexander the Great – September 20, 331 B.C.

The Persian King, Darius III, was waiting on the other side of the Tigris with a large army.  As Alexander crossed the river, immediately the moon disappeared then was washed with the hue of blood.   Both the Persians and the Macedonians recognized this as an omen.

Cuneiform tablets which recorded this event for the Persians make note that “the west wind blew.”  The Magians of Persia regarded the moon as a symbol of Persia.  The west wind was seen to represent Alexander’s armies coming from the west.  The Magi predicted disaster for the Persians, causing panic among the Persian forces.

Alexander sacrificed to the sun, moon and earth.  Aristander, who was Alexander’s diviner, predicted victory for Alexander based on the omen, and word spread throughout the troops, raising their morale.  Thereafter, Alexander’s severely outnumbered men decimated the Persians in  the Battle of Gaugamela and went on to conquer all of Persia.

8.  Star of Caesar – 44 BC

During a festival after Caesar’s assassination, a comet streaked across the sky for seven days.  It may have been the brightest daytime comet in recorded history.  Many called it the “Soul of Caesar.”  Its timely appearance was considered a sign of his deification and became a symbol in support of his great-nephew, Augustus, as his successor.

Shakespeare references this comet when Caesar’s wife comments, “When beggars die there are no comets seen. The heavens themselves blaze forth the death of princes.”

7.   Star of Bethlehem – Matthew 2:1-12

When the Magi came from the East to Jerusalem to ask Herod where the new king had been born, they said, “We have seen his star at its rising.” Herod advised the Magi to look in Bethlehem for the birth of a new king.  So 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.”  The Magi were filled with joy!

When the Magi did not return to tell Herod where they found the child, he erupted in anger and ordered all the male children in Bethlehem killed.  Fortunately, Joseph had been warned in a dream to take the baby Jesus and flee to Egypt.

6.  April 30, 1006 Cairo and China

Ali Ibn Ridwan of Cairo, was 18 years old when he saw the new star shimmering in Scorpio.  It was a large circular object two to three times the size of Venus with an intensity of light more than a quarter of moonlight.   It could be seen in daylight and at night it cast shadows.  It moved across the sky for three years.

Later in life he recalled the event: “Because the zodiacal sign Scorpio is a bad omen for the Islamic religion, they bitterly fought each other in great wars and many of their great countries were destroyed. Also many incidents happened to the king of the two holy cities (Mecca and Medina). Drought, increase of prices and famine occurred, and countless thousands died by the sword as well as from famine and pestilence. At the time when the spectacle appeared, calamity and destruction occurred which lasted for many years afterwards,”

The young ruler during this event was Caliph Al-Hakim.  His followers declared him a divinity.  He ordered the destruction of the Holy Church of the Sepulchre in Jerusalem which added to the apocalyptic fervor that accompanied the sighting of the new star in Europe.   The Caliph was declared insane by his enemies but worshipped by his followers.   Al-Hakim took to riding alone in the desert at night and one such night he never returned.  Those who searched found only his mutilated donkey and blood stained clothes.

Due to Ibn Ridwan’s description, scientists were later able to identify the new star as Supernova SN1006 which had been witnessed as far away as China.  When it appeared in China it was said that nobody could identify its omen category and many were frightened that it was an ominous star which forewarned a disastrous war.  At the time, Zhou Ke-ming, the Emperor’s chief advisor was away on duty, but when he returned he assured the emperor that the star was yellow and thus a positive omen.  The populace was frightened, but the wise advisor told the Emperor to gather his nobles and celebrate the appearance of the new star in order to calm the people.  This approach was a great success  and Zho Ke-ming was promoted.

5.  William the Conquerer – October 12, 1066

Before the Battle of Hastings, all over England, an object appeared in the sky,  four times bigger than Venus and about a fourth as bright as the moon, which was dubbed the long-haired star.

While English astrologers feared that it was a portend of defeat, William the Conqueror called it a “wonderful sign from heaven” and believed it meant that he would be victorious.

We all know how this one ends, with the invading Normans winning, and forcing the English to emblazon the comet for all to see on the Bayeux Tapestry..

4.  Christopher Columbus – February 29, 1504

In 1502, on his fourth journey to the new world, Christopher Columbus was stranded in Jamaica, his men were running out of food and they faced destruction.  Columbus wisely consulted his Regiomontanus almanac which forecasted an eclipse.

Columbus warned the Arawak Indians that if they didn’t give him food, then in three days the moon would go away and become inflamed with wrath.  Three days later, as predicted, the moon disappeared.  The Arawaks howled in fear and ran in every direction collecting food for Columbus and his men.  They begged for him to restore the moon.  Columbus played off the event for full dramatic effect, told them he would consult with God, and then returned just before he knew the eclipse would end.  He announced that the Arawaks had been forgiven and that the moon would gradually return.  It began to do so immediately.

Not surprisingly the Arawaks kept Columbus and his men well supplied until a relief ship appeared and he sailed back to Spain.

Mark Twain uses this incident as a basis for a scene in his A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthurs’s Court.  In addition, born in 1835, during the passage of Halley’s Comet, Mark Twain went out with the comet in 1910, just as he predicted.

3.  Metacom, June 26, 1675

In the Plymouth Colony, three Wampanoag men were tried and executed by the colonists for the death of Sassomon.  Soon after, several English farmers were killed.  But, although alarm and terror spread, war could still have been averted.   From the north, the Massachusetts Bay Colony sent a troop of men to Swansea in Plymouth.  That night, the men stopped on their march to view a lunar eclipse.  They saw a blotch on the moon that looked like an Wampanoag scalp or a bow.  They feared it as a sign that war would spread across the colonies.

Based on Algonquin sources, the Wampanoags may have believed that the eclipse represented the son of the Sun and the Moon who had come to walk about, which meant that many would die.    Soon after, Metacom (King Philip) severed relations with England.  Other tribes joined in the effort, believing that the eclipse foretold victory.  Thus began King Philip’s War, often considered the deadliest war in the history of European settlement in North America.

2.  Tecumseh 1811

In Shawnee, his name meant “shooting star” or “panther across the sky,” because his father saw a shooting star when he was born.    In 1811, Tecumseh delivered a speech advocating that the Native Americans join together in war:  “Soon shall you see my arm of fire stretched athwart the sky. I will stamp my foot at Tippecanoe, and the very earth shall shake.”

A huge comet appeared in 1811, and Tecumseh convinced his allies that it was a sign of his coming.    Then on December 16, 1811, the New Madrid Earthquake shook the region.  This was the most powerful earthquake to hit the U.S. east of the Rockies in recorded history.  At the same time, the comet could be seen streaking across the sky.  People thought the end of the world had arrived.  Many tribes joined Tecumseh’s federation and in 1812 they helped the British win the Siege of Detroit.  Tecumseh was killed in 1813.

This comet was a million miles across, and was called Napoleon’s comet in Europe.  Tolstoy describes it in his novel, War and Peace.

September 27, 2015 – Lunar Eclipse

I included this one just for fun.  Scientists have predicted that a supermoon lunar eclipse will occur on September 27, 2015. Numerous sites discussing the meaning of this are popping up all over the internet.   How will people react this time?

What effect do celestial events have on us today?  Perhaps more than we realize.  One respected Danish scientist has proposed a theory that the balance of the number of supernovae in the space immediately surrounding earth has contributed to our climate and the ability of life to thrive on earth.   He suggests that climate change is due more to supernovae than to human causes.   While this theory is controversial, so was Einstein’s General Theory of Relativity, which incidentally was confirmed by measurements taken during the solar eclipse of 1919.

Whether you call them new stars or supernova, comets or long haired stars, blood moons or eclipses, to me these celestial events are all still marvelous and mysterious works of God.   No matter how much I learn, I never want to lose my sense of the immensity and magnificence of the heavens above.

My novel, Road to Tzoladia,  begins with a prophecy about a new star.  What effect do you think it will have on the people in the book?