Solar Mythology in the New testament

1. Day

The Sun rises in the East, and sets in the West.

The Sun is a Chariot of Fire. It travels, like a chariot, and it's on fire. The Sun is the Unquenchable Fire. It is the fire which never dies. The Sun is like a burning bush which is not consumed.

During the day the Sun gives us light and warmth. That's good.

2 Night

At night the Sun travels under the world back to the East so it can rise again. It travels through the underworld - under the world.

During the day the Sun gives us light and warmth. That's good. At night the Sun no longer gives us that light and warmth. That's bad. Darkness has always been the natural enemy of man.

Evil is dark. For example, we talk about a person's "dark side" when referring to his or her evil tendencies. Evil is black, the color of darkness. The stereotypical villain wears black, whereas the stereotypical good person wears white, a bright color reminiscent of light. Nighttime is an evil time when our world is dark and black. The Devil is the "Prince of Darkness," literally.

Gerald Massey (1828-1907), who spent his life studying comparative religion, describes further:
 

[1] For example, Genesis 1:1-2, “In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep.” [Return to text.]
[2] Gerald Massey's Lectures, p. 143f (1900) [Return to text.]
[3] Bible Myths and their Parallels in Other Religions by T.W. Doane. p. 545f [Return to text.]

(Note you can make out the Big Dipper among the stars in the upper left of the animation at top. The animation here lies by showing all the stars as being stationary at night. Actually the stars move at night just like the sun moves during the day.)

3. Day and Night

And so we have the eternal cycle of day and night—the eternal struggle between darkness and light. Much of ancient religion is about this eternal struggle of darkness and light.

The sun is of course very important for the sustaining of life on our planet. If the sun were to suddenly disappear then all life on our planet would certainly cease to exist. During the day the sun gives us energy in the form of light and warmth. The energy from the sun is in a form that plants can utilize via photosynthesis.

Just as important as daytime is nighttime when our part of the earth is exposed to the dark coldness of space. This is when the earth expels the energy that it received during the day. If the earth did not expel this heat at night then it would become a very hot place indeed and disorder would greatly abound.

The earth is not an isolated system, and it is not a system that is only having more and more energy from the sun pumped into it. The earth is a system with energy of a useful form coming in on the sunny side and heat exhaust of a less useful nature leaving on the night side. It is more like a car engine, with useful energy in the form of fuel coming in and less useful energy in the form of heat going out the exhaust pipe.

And so we have our first example of how balance is important in life. If the Sun shined brightly overhead all the time bathing us in it's wonderful light and warmth we'd just get hotter and hotter and eventually die from excessive heat. Likewise if the cold darkness of night reigned constantly supreme we'd just get colder and colder and eventually die from lack of warmth and light. Life is only good when it is in balance. We need both the day and the night. We need the constant cycling between them.

(Note you can make out the Big Dipper among the stars in the upper left of the animation at top during the night part of the cycle. The animation here lies by showing all the stars as being stationary at night. Actually the stars move at night just like the sun moves during the day.)

4 Heaven and Hell

Heaven and Hell are not just theologically opposite, they are geometrically opposite. Heaven is up. Hell is down. Heaven is and has always been up above. Hell is and has always been down below, under the earth.

Go outside at night and look up and you are literally looking at heaven. And what do you see? You see all the stars, which make up all the constellations.

Hell is hot and on fire, because the sun is hot and on fire and the sun goes down there every night, setting everything ablaze.

5 High Noon

The sun is straight overhead at midday, mid-day, the middle of the day. It is high noon, when the sun is at its most high. This is a good time to set your local clock to 12 O'Clock noon, when both hands point straight up.

Standardized time zones are a relatively recent invention. It used to be everyone set their clocks according to the sun, with high noon, midday, the middle of the day, defined as 12 O'Clock, when both hands point straight upwards. The invention of high speed travel via railroads necessitated the invention of a standardized time, as railroad timetables became increasingly complicated.

Sun Dials

A tree is a basic sundial. Notice how the shadow cast by the tree changes position during the day.

Sundials are just fancy things that cast shadows like a tree onto a clock face. Notice the "clockwise" direction the shadow moves throughout the day corresponds to the "clockwise" direction the hands on a clock move. This is why clocks go clockwise. Also note that at mid-day the shadow points directly North, and mechanical clocks point straight up signifying high noon.

This is why all dials of any type usually go clockwise.

Shadows go "clockwise" only for people in the northern hemisphere. In the southern hemisphere everything is reversed; the shadows go counter clockwise. Here is a sundial made for the shouthern hemisphere.

Most of Earth's land is in the northern hemisphere, so it's not surprising that the people who invented clocks and dials and made them go clockwise lived in the northern hemisphere where sundials and tree shadows go clockwise.

Latitude of the Holy Lands

We digress here for a moment to note where the Holy Lands are positioned on the earth. Your Bible may have some maps in it showing the Holy Lands. The area is always that surrounded by the Mediterranean Sea. Egypt is at the bottom, Israel is on the left, Rome is the foot shaped piece of land at top. Somewhere around here is where all the Bible stories were written, and what we are most interested in observing about this region is what most people never pay any attention to. We are interested in the latitude of this region, because the latitude determines what stars you can see and what seasons of the year you experience.

The Holy Land region is approximately between 25° and 50° North latitude. This is important because this is the latitude where the familiar seasons of the year exist, with the shortest day of Winter occurring in December and the longest day of Summer occurring in June. This region also conveniently contains the United States of America where a lot of Christians live. If you happen to live in this latitude range then you're lucky, you're already familiar with the same seasons of the year the ancient writers of the Bible experienced, and you can go outside any night and see the same stars they saw.

The range where we have the well known seasons of the year with Winter in December and Summer in June extends from 23.5° North latitude, known as the "Tropic of Cancer," up to 66.5° North latitude, known as the Arctic Circle. The "Tropic of Cancer" is named after the zodiac constellation Cancer, for reasons that will become apparent later on.

As we head further North in this range the shortest day of the year, known as the Winter Solstice (around December 22), gets shorter and shorter, and the longest day of the year, known as the Summer Solstice (around June 21), gets longer and longer. When we reach the Arctic Circle, at 66.5° North latitude, the shortest day of the year becomes so short the Sun actually never rises on that day, and the longest day of the year becomes so long the Sun actually never sets on that day.

If we continue further North, above the Arctic Circle (66.5° North latitude), we find there is a period of perpetual dark days centered around the Winter Solstice (December 22) when the Sun never rises, and a period of perpetual light days centered around the Summer Solstice (June 21) when the Sun never sets. As we move further North the number of dark days centered around the Winter Solstice increase and the number of bright days centered around the Summer Solstice also increase. When we finally reach the North Pole this pattern reaches its extreme — we end up with one long period of darkness lasting half a year, and one long period of light lasting half a year. At the North Pole the sun rises around March 21, and just circles around the horizon day after day for half a year, never setting. Around September 23 the sun sets, not to be seen again until March 21 of next year.

This is a good time to expose one of the misconceptions about the North Pole propagated by all the TV specials about Santa Claus we see each year in December. For example, at right is a scene from "Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer," a classic 1964 television special. Examine closely this picture and see if you can find everything that is wrong with it. First we have snow. OK, they got this part right, there is snow at the North Pole. Then we have a flying reindeer who has a headlight for a nose — OK maybe that's a bit of fancy. And we have an Elf. They're always short, I don't know why, and they love to make toys for children. — Sure, I don't see why not. OK, do you see what else is wrong with this picture? Look closely. Note the tree growing in the background. Actually there are no trees at the North Pole. The show would have you believe there's a whole forest of trees growing at the North Pole, but actually there's none. There's still one more huge error in this picture. Do you see it? Let me give you a hint: can you see anything? What time of year is it? It's December. Where are we? At the North Pole. What's wrong with this picture? The picture portrays the North Pole as being a bright sunny place in Winter when actually the sun set three months ago and won't be seen again for three more months! That's right, Santa Claus lives in the dark.

Santa should really move to the equator where it's sunny all year 'round. He could swim in the warm tropical waters and maybe lose some weight. And what's with that "Ho! Ho! Ho!" laugh? Real people don't laugh like that.

When you think of it none of the Santa Claus story makes any sense. All children eventually realize this. Even if you insist the story is real and that magical miracles explain everything about it children eventually grow up and realize it's all just a ploy put on by the adults. The same is true of the Jesus story — it's all just a ploy put on by the churches. Eventually people realize the story doesn't make any sense and stop believing in it. I propose to go one step further and show how the story actually does make perfect sense by pointing out what most people overlook, the first being the latitude of the Holy Lands and the seasons of the year that area experiences.

Returning to earth for a moment, the equator is a wonderful place to live because here it's always Summer. Pretty much all the days are 12 hours long no matter what time of year it is. Santa ought to move his workshop somewhere here, but for mythological reasons he's stuck living at the North pole.

If we move southward below the equator we encounter an interesting range where there actually isn't much land, but if you do happen to live in this range, such as in Argentina or southern Australia, then the seasons of the year are actually reversed, with the shortest day of Winter occurring in June and the longest day of Summer occurring in December. This range extends from 23.5° South latitude, known as the "Tropic of Capricorn," down to 66.5° South latitude, known as the Antarctic Circle. The "Tropic of Capricorn" is named after the zodiac constellation Capricorn, for reasons that will become apparent later on.

Notice how there's not much land down here in this region. Most people are familiar with the seasons of the year in the Northern Hemisphere and find it just a curious anomaly that there exist a few places on earth where the seasons are actually reversed.

As we head further South in this range the shortest day of the year gets shorter and shorter, and the longest day of the year gets longer and longer. The only difference is the shortest day of the year is in June, and the longest day of the year is in December. When we reach the antarctic circle at 66.5° South latitude the shortest day of the year becomes so short the Sun actually never rises on that day, and the longest day of the year becomes so long the Sun actually never sets on that day.

If we continue further South, well no one lives down here, so who cares? Not even Santa Claus lives down here. Scientists seem to find the South Pole interesting though. They come down here during the summer, when it's light 24 hours a day, and perform all sorts of fascinating scientific experiments. Navigating around the South Pole is difficult though, because every direction is North. Compasses tend to point straight up. You can fly straight towards a pure white snow covered mountain and think you're looking at a faraway distant hazy horizon. (At the North Pole compass needles tend to point straight down, because hey, you're there! Actually the magnetic North Pole isn't quite in sync with the North Pole axis the earth rotates on.)

However, we are interested in the latitude of the Holy Land, which is around 25°-50° North, because this is the region where the Bible stories were written. Therefore all further discussion about the stars and the seasons of the year will be from this point of view.

The Northern Hemisphere

Note how most of the land of earth is above the equator, in the Northern Hemisphere. I have no explanation for why this is, but it probably explains why most maps of the world are oriented with the North side up. People don't like to look down on themselves.

The majority of land and hence the majority of the world's population is in the Northern Hemisphere, so we tend to orient world maps with North at the top.
 

This also explains why globes are oriented with the North Pole upwards, as this makes it easier to see most of the land. If a globe was mounted with the South Pole upwards then most of the land would be on the underside of the globe and we'd all be bending over to see the land.

People also like to place themselves in the center, so world maps made by Europeans place Europe in the center, as we have above, while world maps made by Americans place America in the center. Known as the cartographic "rule of ethnocentricity," the placement of one's own territory at the center of a world map is an almost-universal feature of cartographic devices, including cosmic diagrams of pre-Columbian North American Indians; ancient Babylonia, Greece, and China; and the medieval maps of the Islamic world or Christian Europe.¹

Having most of the land in the Northern Hemisphere also explains why clocks go clockwise. Since most of the land is in the Northern Hemisphere, it's natural that the people who invented mechanical clocks would live in the Northern Hemisphere and would make the hands on their clocks mimic the direction a shadow moves on a sundial. "Clockwise" is the direction shadows move in the Northern Hemisphere. (See lesson on Sundials) Most measuring devices with dials also go clockwise because of this.

The convention of placing North at the top came a few centuries ago when European navigators started using the North star and the magnetic compass. Before that, the top of the map was to the East, which is where the word orient as in orientation comes from. The Chinese, however, put South at the tops of their maps, while Australians still like to refer to their country as "down under".

Earth's Precession and the Stars

In addition to placing ourselves in the latitude of the Holy Land, we also need to make one other point of reference change, and that is we need to go back in time about 2000 years to when the New Testament was written. This is important because the position of the sun relative to the stars has changed somewhat during the past 2000 years due to the earth's precession.

The earth is like a big spinning top or gyroscope. If you spin a gyroscope and hold it on the tip of your finger you'll notice the axis of spin changes slowly over time making a small circle. You'll notice the same thing if you spin a top on the floor—the axis of spin changes slowly over time making a small circle. The only difference is the earth isn't suspended by a finger, nor is the earth spinning on a floor. There is no cosmic force of gravity "downwards" towards the South pole. The force of gravity is actually sunwards, towards the sun, and moonwards, towards the moon which is constantly orbiting the earth. It is these two forces which cause the slow precession of the earth.

The first difference is 2000 years ago the celestial north pole was not where the star Polaris is. Today the celestial north pole is very close to Polaris. We call Polaris the North Star because if you can find it and point to it you will be pointing North. However, around 0 A.D. the celestial north pole was actually between the Big Dipper and Little Dipper, as shown on this diagram at left. (Note: There actually is no year 0 A.D., the years jump from 1 B.C. to A.D. 1.)

(Note how the two end stars of the Big Dipper point to Polaris. This can help you find Polaris next time you're outside at night.)

The second difference is 2000 years ago the sun was entering Capricorn on December 22, whereas today the sun doesn't arrive at that position until January 18, almost a month later.

In the illustration here the sun has just set and the stars have just come out, and we can see that the sun is positioned on the front leg of the constellation Capricorn. This is where the sun was relative to the stars on December 22 around the year A.D. 1. In our present age you have to wait until January 18 to see this.

WHEN AND WHERE
To summarize, we need to go back in time about 2000 years, and we need to position ourselves at a latitude of around 25-50 degrees North so we are both at the time and the place when and where the New Testament was written. From here on out my discussion will be from the point of view.

Our Current Calendar

[The formula for determining when to add an extra day to the year is a bit complicated. It goes like this:
 

1. Add an extra day every four years.
2. Every one hundred years we skip a leap year.
3. Every four hundred years we DO have the leap year that we would normally skip.

So...

1. Years evenly divisible by 4 are leap years.
2. Except years evenly divisible by 100 are NOT leap years.
3. EXCEPT years evenly divisible by 400 which ARE leap years.

Hence the average duration of our present day calendar is 365 + 1/4 - 1/100 + 1/400 = 365.2425 days, which is pretty close to the actual length of the solar year of 365.2422 days. Our present day yearly calendar is only three tenthousandths (0.0003) of a day too long.]

It's interesting to note that there is no year A.D. 0 or 0 B.C.. The years jump from 1 B.C. to A.D. 1.

The Constellations Don't Look Like What They're Named

(From South Park Episode 211 "Roger Ebert Should Lay Off The Fatty Foods")
[Inside the planetarium]
Dr. Adams: Good morning children and welcome to the plane-arium. We're going on a fascinating ride through the universe. So I want you to lean back in your chairs and get comfortable.
(The chairs lean back)
Stan: This is stupid.
Dr. Adams: And now I'm going to dim the lights, and let the stars....come out.
Kyle: Whoopee...
Dr. Adams: Here we see the constellation called the Big Dipper. If I project the drawing of a big dipper on top of it, we see where the constellation gets its name.

Dr.Adams: And these two little stars over here form the constellation, the Crusades.

The reason some constellations don't look anything like what they are named is because some constellations have more to do with what time of year it is when they become prominent and what that time of year originally reminded people of. For example, the constellation Aquarius, the Water Bearer, is the constellation that becomes prominent during the rainy season. The stars doen't look anything like a guy pouring a pitcher of water. Connecting the stars to try and make an image of a guy pouring a pitcher of water is futile. But every year when those stars are just above the horizon at sunset it always rains because it's that time of year. Hence people began identifying that set of stars with rain, and eventually personified those stars as a guy pouring a pitcher of water.

Seasons of the Year

Winter Solstice (Dec. 21 or 22)

Spring Equinox (March 21)

Summer Solstice (June 21)

Autumn Equinox (Sept. 21)

Winter Solstice (Dec. 21 or 22)

During Autumn, the last quarter of the year, the sun dies. The days get shorter and shorter, and it gets colder and colder. Each day the sun rises and sets further south. Will the sun disappear forever? What will happen to us? Have no fear, have faith. Yes the sun will die, but the sun will soon be reborn. A new year will soon begin. This is the end of our story, and it is also the beginning. What happens after this? Go to the top of the page and read the story again. The story is circular—a new year begins immediately after the old year ends. A new year is born immediately after the old year dies.

To top of page

I highly recommend having a look at Cause of the Seasons [offsite]

The Celestial Sphere

Globe available from Edmund Scientifics

© Anglo-Australian Observatory.

(If we are in the southern hemisphere we can look southward and watch the stars slowly circle around the southern celestial axis. The time lapse photograph at right shows the stars circling the southern celestial pole. The southern celestial pole can only be seen when you are located below the equator in the southern hemisphere. This photo was taken from Australia. (See larger photo with credits.])

Currently the star Polaris, also known as the North Star, is very close to the north celestial axis. If you can find the North Star you then know which way North is. More importantly, the angle between the horizon and the North Star tells you what latitude on earth you're at. This helps ships navigate the open ocean. 2000 years ago Polaris was not near the north celestial pole due to the Earth's Precession.

Also present against the celestial sphere is the sun. In the picture of the celestial sphere model above the sun can be seen to the right of the earth and just slightly below the equator. The sun's position on the celestial sphere changes during the year, which is why the sun is on a swivel arm. We will talk more about the sun's annual journey around the celestial sphere later.

Philosophers have pondered for eons about what this great celestial sphere was made of. It was apparently made of some heavenly material we could not fathom. There was also the unexplained problem of five wandering stars known as "planets." Eventually the concept was abandoned when scientists decided it was the earth that was rotating on it's axis instead of a great celestial sphere rotating around the earth. The Foucault Pendulum is a very simple yet profound demonstration of the earth's rotation.

In 1633 the Catholic Church condemned Galileo for promoting a helocentric theory of the universe. They said, “The proposition that the sun is the centre of the world and does not move from its place is absurd and false philosophically and formally heretical, because it is expressly contrary to the Holy Scripture. The proposition that the earth is not the centre of the world and immovable, but that it moves, and also with a diurnal motion, is equally absurd and false philosophically, and theologically considered, at least erroneous in faith.” (See The Church Sentences Galileo.)

Even though scientists have abandoned the Celestial Sphere theory, notwithstanding the objections of the Catholic Church, it is still convenient to use a celestial sphere as a map of where the stars and constellations are.

Sunset

Sunset is the special time of day we can determine the sun's position relative to the stars. At sunset the sun dips below the horizon, the sky gradually gets dark, and the stars become visible. With the stars visible and the sun just below the horizon the position of the sun on the celestial sphere of stars becomes apparent.

The other time of day we can determine where the sun is relative to the stars is just before sunrise.

During the day the stars are still there, we just can't see them due to the bright blue sky. If the bright blue sky were to disappear, and the sun's brightness to dim a bit, we could see both the sun and the stars at the same time.

During a total solar eclipse, when the moon moves directly in front of the sun blocking almost all of it's light, the sky becomes dark enough for us to see some of the brighter stars, again allowing us to see the position of the sun on the celestial sphere of stars.

The Sun Travels Along the Ecliptic

In our previous lesson we showed how sunset is the time of day when we can determine the position of the sun relative to the stars (see previous lesson). Now let us observe how the position of the sun relative to the stars changes as the days go by.

The animation at right shows how the sun's position changes day by day. (For this animation I have moved the sun slightly above the horizon but kept the sky dark so we can still see the stars.) Note how each day at sunset the constellation Capricorn (the goat) gets lower and lower until it is completely below the horizon. The sun appears to travel upwards along the green line through Capricorn towards Aquarius (the water bearer). The green line, representing the path the sun travels along, is known as the ecliptic.

If I allowed the animation to continue past January 10 we would see the sun continue it's journey upwards along the green line through the constellation Aquarius. (The corresponding animation file would be too big for some to download, so I stopped at January 10. However, you may download and install a trial version of the program Starry Night Backyard which generated these images from www.starrynight.com. The instructions tell you how to set the program so it will follow the sun's annual journey through the stars. 2006 Note: Starry Night Backyard has been retired. They have a similar program now.)

If I allowed the animation to continue for the rest of the year we would observe the sun travel through all 12 constellations of the zodiac. These 12 constellations are: Capricorn, Aquarius, Pisces, Aries, Taurus, Gemeni, Cancer, Leo, Virgo, Libra, Scorpio, and Sagittarius. At the end of the year the sun completes its journey by arriving back at Capricorn where it started, ready to begin anew its annual journey through the 12 constellations.

Note that the ecliptic is a closed circuit around the celestial sphere. (We shall encounter the word "circuit" again later on.)

By observing which constellation the sun is in you can tell what time of year it is. This is important if you are a farmer. You need to know when to plant the crops and when to reap the harvest. You need to be familiar with the seasons of the year. This is why astronomy was always important in ancient civilizations.

To the right we have a side view of the sun passing through the constellation Capricorn the goat. (In this side view I have switched to using icons to represent the Zodiac constellations.) Above the earth we have the visible night sky; below the earth we have the abyss of whatever is under the world that we can not see. Recall again that the sun rises in the East, and sets in the West. In this animation the sun is over there on the West side setting in the West. Note how each day at sunset Capricorn the goat gets lower and lower until it is completely below the horizon. The sun appears to travel through Capricorn as the days go by. On December 22 (the Winter Solstice) the sun is just starting to go through Capricorn. By January 10 the sun has made its way through most of Capricorn and we see that the zodiac constellation of Aquarius the water bearer is next in line.

(The other members of the zodiac would form a circle around the earth in this animation. I'm not showing them all right now to keep things simple.)

Compare this animation with the one above.

(All dates are for “Biblical Times”, about 2000 years ago. In our present 21'st century you have to wait until January 18 to see what they saw on December 22 due to the earth’s precession. See Lesson on Earth's Precession).

Where to start the year

Since the year is circular, in that the four seasons of the year just cycle endlessly, it's somewhat arbitrary where we declare the start of the year to be. There are, however, a few natural places to start the year.

One natural place to start the year is at the Winter Solstice (December 22). This is the day the Sun is lowest in the sky, making this the shortest day of the year. From this point on the Sun gets higher and higher in the sky each day, making each day longer and longer.

Another often used place to start the year is at the Vernal Equinox (also called the Spring Equinox; March 21). On this day the Sun rises directly in the East, and day and night are of equal length. It's around here the harvest cycle begins. Time to plant some crops. The Astrology section of the newspaper always begins with Aries, Mar. 21, which is the Spring Equinox.

The Jewish calendar begins with the month of Nisan, around mid-March to early April, a date hovering around the Vernal Equinox. The twelve months of the Jewish calendar are: 1)Nisan; 2)Iyyar; 3)Sivan; 4)Tammuz; 5)Ab; 6)Elul; 7)Tishri; 8)Cheshvan; 9)Kislev; 10)Tebeth; 11)Shebat; 12)Adar. This is a lunar calendar synced to the phases of the moon. A new moon begins a new month. The twelve lunar months total 354 days. To keep this calendar somewhat in sync with the solar year, a 13th "leap month" is occasionally added, called Adar II.

To further confuse things, the Jewish New Year, "Rosh Hashana," is celebrated on the first of Tishri, the seventh month, sometime in September or early October, a date hovering around the Autumnal Equinox.

The Gregorian Calendar we use today sets the start of the new year on January 1, ten days after the Winter Solstice. Here is the explanation how that came to be:
 

• Frequently Asked Questions about Calendars by Claus Tøndering
• The Jewish Calendar and Sacred Festivals
• Judaism 101: Jewish Calendar
• Hebrew Calendar Science and Myths
• A Walk Through Time: Ancient Calendars
• Ancient Calendars: Spiral Calendars (click on "See Ancient Calendars")
• The Days of the Week are Named After the Planets [this site]

1. The Sun is born, or re-born, on December 25th.
[Jesus is born on Christ-mas day, December 25th. Actually, knowledgable Christians will admit the tradition of celebrating Jesus' birth on December 25 was an attempt to place a Christian significance on a pagan holiday. Pope Julius (350 CE) assigned the birth of Jesus to December 25.³ Pagans of numerous solar religions celebrated the birth of their Sun God on December 25th. What Christians don't realize is how much more of their religion has been borrowed from pagan religions. Christians admit they don't know what day Jesus was born. They don't even know what year he was born. This just raises a lot more questions about how much they don't know.]

On to Solar Mythology in the New testament Part 2

[1] I checked this using Starry Night Backyard and indeed the new moon begins on January 1, 45 BCE.
[2] Larry M. Wright Christianity, Astrology and Myth pg. 74
[3] Ibid. pg. 75