Heavenly signs that scared Roman rulers help modern astronomers

[Dover]

Roman portents probe the Sun
Heavenly signs that scared Roman rulers help astronomers study the Sun.

May 10, 2005

"In Lucania, it was alleged that the heavens had been on fire; at Privernum the Sun had been glowing red through the whole of a cloudless day; at the temple of Juno Sospita in Lanuvium a terrible noise was heard in the night."

Not to mention children born of "uncertain sex," or a lamb with a pig's head in the town of Frusino.

In 200 B.C., authorities of the Roman Republic recorded such events with the enthusiasm of a modern tabloid. While these omens cataloged by ancient historians won't tell us much about heaven's wrath, astronomers say they form an indirect record of what the Sun was doing 2,000 years ago.

In March, Andrew Solow of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in Massachusetts published the most detailed analysis of Roman sky signs so far. He built on similar work done in 1979 by Richard Stothers of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center.

The work of Roman historian Titus Livius (Livy, in English), who lived from 59 B.C. – A.D. 17, formed the basis of both studies. Livy's Ab Urbe Condita, written in the time of the first emperors, chronicles Rome's history with the help of written records dating back hundreds of years. Many times, he reports how Romans interpreted natural events as warnings that something was amiss in the relationship between the state and its gods. ..cont'd

http://www.astronomy.com/asy/default.aspx?c=a&id=3116