The Star of Bethlehem , or Christmas Star , appears in the nativity story of the Gospel of Matthew chapter 2 where "wise men from the East" ( Magi ) are inspired by the star to travel to Jerusalem . There, they meet King Herod of Judea , and ask him:
83-418: Christmas Star or Christmas star may refer to: Star of Bethlehem , said to have revealed the birth of Jesus and showed the wise men the way to Bethlehem Froebel star , a Christmas decoration made from paper Moravian star , a Christmas decoration Poinsettia , a plant species of the diverse spurge family A star-shaped tree-topper "Christmas Star",
166-468: A comet , or a supernova . Some modern scholars do not consider the story to be describing a historical event, but rather a pious fiction added later to the main gospel account. The subject is a favorite at planetarium shows during the Christmas season. However, most ancient sources and Church tradition generally indicate that the wise men visited Bethlehem sometime after Jesus' birth. The visit
249-543: A pitch accent . In Modern Greek, all vowels and consonants are short. Many vowels and diphthongs once pronounced distinctly are pronounced as /i/ ( iotacism ). Some of the stops and glides in diphthongs have become fricatives , and the pitch accent has changed to a stress accent . Many of the changes took place in the Koine Greek period. The writing system of Modern Greek, however, does not reflect all pronunciation changes. The examples below represent Attic Greek in
332-573: A triple conjunction of Jupiter , called the king planet, with the fixed star Regulus , called the king star, starting in September 3 BC. Larson believes that may be the time of Jesus' conception. By June of 2 BC, nine months later, the human gestation period, Jupiter had continued moving in its orbit around the Sun and appeared in close conjunction with Venus in June of 2 BC. In Hebrew Jupiter
415-417: A "bright beacon of light". According to Chester, the disks of Jupiter and Venus would have appeared to touch and there has not been as close a Venus-Jupiter conjunction since then. Jupiter next continued to move and then stopped in its apparent retrograde motion on December 25 of 2 BC over the town of Bethlehem. Since planets in their orbits have a "stationary point", a planet moves eastward through
498-462: A divine warning not to return to Herod, so they return home by a different route. Many Christians believe the star was a miraculous sign. Some theologians claimed that the star fulfilled a prophecy, known as the Star Prophecy . Astronomers have made several attempts to link the star to unusual celestial events, such as a conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn or Jupiter and Venus ,
581-752: A dream, takes his family to Egypt for their safety. The gospel links the escape to a verse from scripture, which it interprets as a prophecy: "Out of Egypt I called my son." This was a reference to the departure of the Hebrews from Egypt under Moses , so the quote suggests that Matthew saw the life of Jesus as recapitulating the story of the Jewish people, with Judea representing Egypt and Herod standing in for pharaoh. After Herod dies, Joseph and his family return from Egypt, and settle in Nazareth in Galilee . This
664-525: A fifth major dialect group, or it is Mycenaean Greek overlaid by Doric, with a non-Greek native influence. Regarding the speech of the ancient Macedonians diverse theories have been put forward, but the epigraphic activity and the archaeological discoveries in the Greek region of Macedonia during the last decades has brought to light documents, among which the first texts written in Macedonian , such as
747-660: A natural phenomenon; a sign sent by God to lead the Magi to the Christ Child . This is illustrated in the Troparion of the Nativity: Your birth, O Christ our God, dawned the light of knowledge upon the earth. For by Your birth those who adored stars were taught by a star to worship You, the Sun of Justice, and to know You, Orient from on High. O Lord, glory to You. In Orthodox Christian iconography ,
830-427: A naturalistic explanation, John Chrysostom viewed the star as purely miraculous: "How then, tell me, did the star point out a spot so confined, just the space of a manger and shed, unless it left that height and came down, and stood over the very head of the young child? And at this the evangelist was hinting when he said, "Lo, the star went before them, till it came and stood over where the young Child was." Although
913-550: A prefix /e-/, called the augment . This was probably originally a separate word, meaning something like "then", added because tenses in PIE had primarily aspectual meaning. The augment is added to the indicative of the aorist, imperfect, and pluperfect, but not to any of the other forms of the aorist (no other forms of the imperfect and pluperfect exist). The two kinds of augment in Greek are syllabic and quantitative. The syllabic augment
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#1732790707426996-491: A song in the 1992 film Home Alone 2: Lost in New York A Christmas Star , a 2015 British Christmas film The 2020 great conjunction between Jupiter and Saturn, widely referred to as the "Christmas Star" in the media. Topics referred to by the same term [REDACTED] This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the title Christmas Star . If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change
1079-564: A star he identified with the Star of Bethlehem. LDS members believe that the Star of Bethlehem was an actual astronomical event visible the world over. In the 1830 Book of Mormon , which they believe contains writings of ancient prophets, Samuel the Lamanite prophesies that a new star will appear as a sign that Jesus has been born, and Nephi later writes about the fulfillment of this prophecy. Members of Jehovah's Witnesses believe that
1162-542: A strong Northwest Greek influence, and can in some respects be considered a transitional dialect, as exemplified in the poems of the Boeotian poet Pindar who wrote in Doric with a small Aeolic admixture. Thessalian likewise had come under Northwest Greek influence, though to a lesser degree. Pamphylian Greek , spoken in a small area on the southwestern coast of Anatolia and little preserved in inscriptions, may be either
1245-485: A time that was long past, since the kingdom of Moab had long ceased to exist by the time the Gospels were being written, this passage had become widely seen as a reference to the coming of a Messiah. It was, for example, cited by Josephus , who believed it referred to Emperor Vespasian . Origen , one of the most influential early Christian theologians, connected this prophecy with the Star of Bethlehem: If, then, at
1328-510: A vowel or /n s r/ ; final stops were lost, as in γάλα "milk", compared with γάλακτος "of milk" (genitive). Ancient Greek of the classical period also differed in both the inventory and distribution of original PIE phonemes due to numerous sound changes, notably the following: The pronunciation of Ancient Greek was very different from that of Modern Greek . Ancient Greek had long and short vowels ; many diphthongs ; double and single consonants; voiced, voiceless, and aspirated stops ; and
1411-604: Is "troubled", not because of the appearance of the star, but because the Magi have told him that a "king of the Jews" had been born, which he understands to refer to the Messiah, a leader of the Jewish people whose coming was believed to be foretold in scripture. He asks his advisors where the Messiah would be born. They answer Bethlehem, birthplace of King David , and quote the prophet Micah . The king passes this information along to
1494-418: Is added to stems beginning with consonants, and simply prefixes e (stems beginning with r , however, add er ). The quantitative augment is added to stems beginning with vowels, and involves lengthening the vowel: Some verbs augment irregularly; the most common variation is e → ei . The irregularity can be explained diachronically by the loss of s between vowels, or that of the letter w , which affected
1577-500: Is also said to be a fulfillment of a prophecy ("He will be called a Nazorean," (NRSV) which could be attributed to Judges 13:5 regarding the birth of Samson and the Nazirite vow. The word Nazareth is related to the word netzer which means "sprout", and which some Bible commentators think refers to Isaiah 11:1: "There shall come forth a Rod from the stem of Jesse, And a Branch shall grow out of his roots." Scholars who see
1660-641: Is also used in the Gospel of Luke specifically concerning Jesus' birth and his later presentation at the temple. Herod I has all male Hebrew babies in the area up to age two killed in the Massacre of the Innocents . The Gospel of Matthew tells how the Magi (often translated as "wise men", but more accurately astrologers) arrive at the court of Herod in Jerusalem and tell the king of a star which signifies
1743-514: Is called Sedeq , meaning "righteousness", a term also used for the Messiah , and suggested that because the planet Venus represents love and fertility, so Chester had suggested astrologers would have viewed the close conjunction of Jupiter and Venus as indicating a coming new king of Israel, and Herod would have taken them seriously. Astronomer Dave Reneke independently found the June 2 BC planetary conjunction, and noted it would have appeared as
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#17327907074261826-448: Is considered by some linguists to have been closely related to Greek . Among Indo-European branches with living descendants, Greek is often argued to have the closest genetic ties with Armenian (see also Graeco-Armenian ) and Indo-Iranian languages (see Graeco-Aryan ). Ancient Greek differs from Proto-Indo-European (PIE) and other Indo-European languages in certain ways. In phonotactics , ancient Greek words could end only in
1909-459: Is no prophecy in circulation to the effect that such and such a comet was to arise in connection with a particular kingdom or a particular time; but with respect to the appearance of a star at the birth of Jesus there is a prophecy of Balaam recorded by Moses to this effect: There shall arise a star out of Jacob, and a man shall rise up out of Israel. Origen suggested that the Magi may have decided to travel to Jerusalem when they "conjectured that
1992-426: Is one in which King Herod was taken by surprise," said Gingerich. "So it wasn't that there was suddenly a brilliant new star sitting there that anybody could have seen [but] something more subtle." Astronomer David A. Weintraub says, "If Matthew's wise men actually undertook a journey to search for a newborn king, the bright star didn't guide them; it only told them when to set out." There is an explanation given that
2075-604: Is said to have appeared in the constellation of Aquila , near the intersection of the winter colure and the equator of date. The nova was "recorded in China, Korea, and Palestine" (probably meaning the Biblical account). A nova or comet was recorded in China in 4 BC. "In the reign of Ai-ti, in the third year of the Chien-p'ing period. In the third month, day chi-yu , there was a rising po at Hoku" (Han Shu, The History of
2158-544: Is that the star of Bethlehem was a supernova or hypernova occurring in the nearby Andromeda Galaxy . Although it is difficult to detect a supernova remnant in another galaxy, or obtain an accurate date of when it occurred, supernova remnants have been detected in Andromeda. Another theory is the more likely supernova of February 23 4 BC, which is now known as PSR 1913+16 or the Hulse-Taylor Pulsar. It
2241-536: Is traditionally celebrated on Epiphany (January 6) in Western Christianity . The account in the Gospel of Matthew describes Jesus with the broader Greek word παιδίον , paidíon , which can mean either "infant" or "child" rather than the more specific word for infant, βρέφος , bréphos . This possibly implies that some time has passed since the birth. However, the word παιδίον , paidíon
2324-679: The Archaic or Epic period ( c. 800–500 BC ), and the Classical period ( c. 500–300 BC ). Ancient Greek was the language of Homer and of fifth-century Athenian historians, playwrights, and philosophers . It has contributed many words to English vocabulary and has been a standard subject of study in educational institutions of the Western world since the Renaissance . This article primarily contains information about
2407-606: The Epic and Classical periods of the language, which are the best-attested periods and considered most typical of Ancient Greek. From the Hellenistic period ( c. 300 BC ), Ancient Greek was followed by Koine Greek , which is regarded as a separate historical stage, though its earliest form closely resembles Attic Greek , and its latest form approaches Medieval Greek . There were several regional dialects of Ancient Greek; Attic Greek developed into Koine. Ancient Greek
2490-501: The Pella curse tablet , as Hatzopoulos and other scholars note. Based on the conclusions drawn by several studies and findings such as Pella curse tablet , Emilio Crespo and other scholars suggest that ancient Macedonian was a Northwest Doric dialect , which shares isoglosses with its neighboring Thessalian dialects spoken in northeastern Thessaly . Some have also suggested an Aeolic Greek classification. The Lesbian dialect
2573-409: The death of Herod , they did occur during the reign of Caesar Augustus (who is referenced in the Gospel of Luke ), and early Christian historians Eusebius and Clement of Alexandria calculated the birth of Jesus to 3-2 BC. Since the conjunction would have been seen in the west at sunset it could not have led the magi south from Jerusalem to Bethlehem. Astronomer Michael R. Molnar argues that
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2656-603: The epic poems , the Iliad and the Odyssey , and in later poems by other authors. Homeric Greek had significant differences in grammar and pronunciation from Classical Attic and other Classical-era dialects. The origins, early form and development of the Hellenic language family are not well understood because of a lack of contemporaneous evidence. Several theories exist about what Hellenic dialect groups may have existed between
2739-501: The present , future , and imperfect are imperfective in aspect; the aorist , present perfect , pluperfect and future perfect are perfective in aspect. Most tenses display all four moods and three voices, although there is no future subjunctive or imperative. Also, there is no imperfect subjunctive, optative or imperative. The infinitives and participles correspond to the finite combinations of tense, aspect, and voice. The indicative of past tenses adds (conceptually, at least)
2822-654: The "star in the east" refers to an astronomical event with astrological significance in the context of ancient Greek astrology . He suggests a link between the Star of Bethlehem and a double occultation of Jupiter by the Moon on March 20 and April 17 of 6 BC in Aries , particularly the second occultation on April 17. Occultations of planets by the Moon are quite common, but Firmicus Maternus , an astrologer to Roman Emperor Constantine , wrote that an occultation of Jupiter in Aries
2905-413: The "star" was a vision or sign created by Satan , rather than a sign from God. This is because it led the pagan astrologers first to Jerusalem where King Herod consequently found out about the birth of the "king of the Jews", with the result that he attempted to have Jesus killed. In her 1898 book, The Desire of Ages , Ellen White states "That star was a distant company of shining angels, but of this
2988-1031: The 5th century BC. Ancient pronunciation cannot be reconstructed with certainty, but Greek from the period is well documented, and there is little disagreement among linguists as to the general nature of the sounds that the letters represent. /oː/ raised to [uː] , probably by the 4th century BC. Greek, like all of the older Indo-European languages , is highly inflected. It is highly archaic in its preservation of Proto-Indo-European forms. In ancient Greek, nouns (including proper nouns) have five cases ( nominative , genitive , dative , accusative , and vocative ), three genders ( masculine , feminine , and neuter ), and three numbers (singular, dual , and plural ). Verbs have four moods ( indicative , imperative , subjunctive , and optative ) and three voices (active, middle, and passive ), as well as three persons (first, second, and third) and various other forms. Verbs are conjugated through seven combinations of tenses and aspect (generally simply called "tenses"):
3071-495: The Archaic period of ancient Greek (see Homeric Greek for more details): Μῆνιν ἄειδε, θεά, Πηληϊάδεω Ἀχιλῆος οὐλομένην, ἣ μυρί' Ἀχαιοῖς ἄλγε' ἔθηκε, πολλὰς δ' ἰφθίμους ψυχὰς Ἄϊδι προΐαψεν ἡρώων, αὐτοὺς δὲ ἑλώρια τεῦχε κύνεσσιν οἰωνοῖσί τε πᾶσι· Διὸς δ' ἐτελείετο βουλή· ἐξ οὗ δὴ τὰ πρῶτα διαστήτην ἐρίσαντε Ἀτρεΐδης τε ἄναξ ἀνδρῶν καὶ δῖος Ἀχιλλεύς. The beginning of Apology by Plato exemplifies Attic Greek from
3154-663: The Bethlehem nativity narratives were later additions to the gospels intended to present his birth as the fulfillment of prophecy. According to Bart D. Ehrman , the Matthew account conflicts with that given in the Gospel of Luke, in which the family of Jesus already lives in Nazareth, travel to Bethlehem for the census, and return home almost immediately. The ancients believed that astronomical phenomena were connected to terrestrial events . Miracles were routinely associated with
3237-545: The Dorians. The Greeks of this period believed there were three major divisions of all Greek people – Dorians, Aeolians, and Ionians (including Athenians), each with their own defining and distinctive dialects. Allowing for their oversight of Arcadian, an obscure mountain dialect, and Cypriot, far from the center of Greek scholarship, this division of people and language is quite similar to the results of modern archaeological-linguistic investigation. One standard formulation for
3320-639: The Former Han Dynasty). The date is equivalent to April 24, 4 BC. This identifies the date when it was first observed in China. It was also recorded in Korea: "In the fifty-fourth year of Hyokkose Wang, in the spring, second month, day chi-yu , a po-hsing appeared at Hoku" (Samguk Sagi, The Historical Record of the Three Kingdoms). The Korean text may have been corrupted because Ho (1962) points out that "the chi-yu day did not fall in
3403-412: The Gospel'. In 1614, German astronomer Johannes Kepler determined that a series of three conjunctions of the planets Jupiter and Saturn occurred in the year 7 BC. He argued (incorrectly) that a planetary conjunction could create a nova , which he linked to the Star of Bethlehem. Modern calculations show that there was a gap of nearly a degree (approximately twice a diameter of the moon) between
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3486-783: The Jews ? For we have seen His star in the East and have come to worship Him. Herod calls together his scribes and priests who, quoting a verse from the Book of Micah , interpret it as a prophecy that the Jewish Messiah would be born in Bethlehem to the south of Jerusalem . Secretly intending to find and kill the Messiah in order to preserve his own kingship, Herod invites the wise men to return to him on their way home. The star leads them to Jesus ' Bethlehem birthplace, where they worship him and give him gifts. The wise men are then given
3569-407: The Magi. In a dream, they are warned not to return to Jerusalem, so they leave for their own country by another route. When Herod realizes he has been tricked, he orders the execution of all male children in Bethlehem "two years old and younger," based on the age the child could be in regard to the information the magi had given him concerning the time the star first appeared. Joseph, warned in
3652-524: The Star of Bethlehem is often depicted not as golden, but as a dark aureola , a semicircle at the top of the icon, indicating the Uncreated Light of Divine grace , with a ray pointing to "the place where the young child lay" (Matthew 2:9). Sometimes the faint image of an angel is drawn inside the aureola. Simon the Athonite founded the monastery of Simonopetra on Mount Athos after seeing
3735-467: The Star of Bethlehem was said to have "stood over" the "place" where Jesus was (the town of Bethlehem). However, this is generally thought unlikely as in ancient times comets were generally seen as bad omens. The comet explanation has been recently promoted by Colin Nicholl. His theory involves a hypothetical comet which could have appeared in 6 BC. A recent (2005) hypothesis advanced by Frank Tipler
3818-550: The aorist. Following Homer 's practice, the augment is sometimes not made in poetry , especially epic poetry. The augment sometimes substitutes for reduplication; see below. Almost all forms of the perfect, pluperfect, and future perfect reduplicate the initial syllable of the verb stem. (A few irregular forms of perfect do not reduplicate, whereas a handful of irregular aorists reduplicate.) The three types of reduplication are: Irregular duplication can be understood diachronically. For example, lambanō (root lab ) has
3901-419: The augment when it was word-initial. In verbs with a preposition as a prefix, the augment is placed not at the start of the word, but between the preposition and the original verb. For example, προσ(-)βάλλω (I attack) goes to προσ έ βαλoν in the aorist. However compound verbs consisting of a prefix that is not a preposition retain the augment at the start of the word: αὐτο(-)μολῶ goes to ηὐ τομόλησα in
3984-479: The birth of Jesus, including Irenaeus (3/2 BC), Clement of Alexandria (3/2 BC), Tertullian (3/2 BC), Julius Africanus (3/2 BC), Hippolytus of Rome (3/2 BC), Hippolytus of Thebes (3/2 BC), Origen (3/2 BC), Eusebius of Caesarea (3/2 BC), Epiphanius of Salamis (3/2 BC), Cassiodorus Senator (3 BC), Paulus Orosius (2 BC), Dionysus Exiguus (1 BC), and Chronographer of the Year 354 (AD 1). Finegan places
4067-494: The birth of important people, including the Hebrew patriarchs , as well as Greek and Roman heroes. The Star of Bethlehem is traditionally linked to the Star Prophecy in the Book of Numbers : I see him, but not now; I behold him, but not near; A Star shall come out of Jacob; A Scepter shall rise out of Israel, And batter the brow of Moab, And destroy all the sons of tumult. Although possibly intended to refer to
4150-530: The birth of the King of the Jews: Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, wise men from the East came to Jerusalem, saying, "Where is he who has been born king of the Jews? For we have seen his star in the East, and have come to worship him." When Herod the king heard this, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him; and assembling all the chief priests and scribes of
4233-451: The census at the time of Jesus' birth from the tax census mentioned in Acts 5:37 that took place under Quirinius at a later time. One ancient writer identified the census at Jesus' birth, not with taxes, but with a universal pledge of allegiance to the emperor. Jack Finegan noted some early writers' reckoning of the regnal years of Augustus are the equivalent to 3/2 BC, or 2 BC or later for
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#17327907074264316-533: The child, and when you have found him bring me word, that I too may come and worship him." When they had heard the king they went their way; and lo, the star which they had seen in the East went before them, till it came to rest over the place where the child was. When they saw the star, they rejoiced exceedingly with great joy; and going into the house they saw the child with Mary his mother, and they fell down and worshiped him. Then, opening their treasures, they offered him gifts, gold and frankincense and myrrh. Herod
4399-450: The commencement of new dynasties, or on the occasion of other important events, there arises a comet so called, or any similar celestial body, why should it be matter of wonder that at the birth of Him who was to introduce a new doctrine to the human race, and to make known His teaching not only to Jews, but also to Greeks, and to many of the barbarous nations besides, a star should have arisen? Now I would say, that with respect to comets there
4482-504: The correct translation. While not in agreement, Emil Schürer also acknowledged that such a translation can be justified grammatically. According to Josephus , the tax census conducted by the Roman senator Quirinius particularly irritated the Jews, and was one of the causes of the Zealot movement of armed resistance to Rome. From this perspective, Luke may have been trying to differentiate
4565-598: The death of Herod in 1 BC, and says if Jesus was born two years or less before Herod the Great died, the birth of Jesus would have been in 3 or 2 BC. Finegan also notes the Alogi reckoned Jesus's birth with the equivalent of 4 BC or AD 9. In the Eastern Orthodox Church , the Star of Bethlehem is interpreted as a miraculous event of symbolic and pedagogical significance, regardless of whether it coincides with
4648-563: The dialect of Sparta ), and Northern Peloponnesus Doric (including Corinthian ). All the groups were represented by colonies beyond Greece proper as well, and these colonies generally developed local characteristics, often under the influence of settlers or neighbors speaking different Greek dialects. After the conquests of Alexander the Great in the late 4th century BC, a new international dialect known as Koine or Common Greek developed, largely based on Attic Greek , but with influence from other dialects. This dialect slowly replaced most of
4731-530: The dialects is: West vs. non-West Greek is the strongest-marked and earliest division, with non-West in subsets of Ionic-Attic (or Attic-Ionic) and Aeolic vs. Arcadocypriot, or Aeolic and Arcado-Cypriot vs. Ionic-Attic. Often non-West is called 'East Greek'. Arcadocypriot apparently descended more closely from the Mycenaean Greek of the Bronze Age. Boeotian Greek had come under
4814-567: The divergence of early Greek-like speech from the common Proto-Indo-European language and the Classical period. They have the same general outline but differ in some of the detail. The only attested dialect from this period is Mycenaean Greek , but its relationship to the historical dialects and the historical circumstances of the times imply that the overall groups already existed in some form. Scholars assume that major Ancient Greek period dialect groups developed not later than 1120 BC, at
4897-485: The events were quite close to the Sun and would not have been visible to the naked eye. Attorney Frederick Larson examined the biblical account in the Gospel of Matthew, chapter 2 and found the following nine qualities of Bethlehem's Star: It signified birth, it signified kingship, it was related to the Jewish nation, and it rose "in the East"; King Herod had not been aware of it; it appeared at an exact time; it endured over time; and, according to Matthew, it
4980-417: The gospel nativity stories as later apologetic accounts created to establish the messianic status of Jesus regard the Star of Bethlehem as a pious fiction . Aspects of Matthew's account which have raised questions of the historical event include: Matthew is the only one of the four gospels which mentions either the Star of Bethlehem or the Magi. Some scholars suggest that Jesus was born in Nazareth , and that
5063-412: The link to point directly to the intended article. Retrieved from " https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Christmas_Star&oldid=1060648840 " Category : Disambiguation pages Hidden categories: Short description is different from Wikidata All article disambiguation pages All disambiguation pages Star of Bethlehem Where is He who has been born King of
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#17327907074265146-775: The man whose appearance had been foretold along with that of the star, had actually come into the world". The Magi are sometimes called "kings" because of the belief that they fulfill prophecies in Isaiah and Psalms concerning a journey to Jerusalem by gentile kings. Isaiah mentions gifts of gold and incense. In the Septuagint , the Greek translation of the Old Testament probably used by Matthew, these gifts are given as gold and frankincense, similar to Matthew's "gold, frankincense, and myrrh." The gift of myrrh symbolizes mortality, according to Origen. While Origen argued for
5229-508: The older dialects, although the Doric dialect has survived in the Tsakonian language , which is spoken in the region of modern Sparta. Doric has also passed down its aorist terminations into most verbs of Demotic Greek . By about the 6th century AD, the Koine had slowly metamorphosed into Medieval Greek . Phrygian is an extinct Indo-European language of West and Central Anatolia , which
5312-535: The people, he inquired of them where the Christ was to be born. They told him, "In Bethlehem of Judea; for so it is written by the prophet: 'And you, O Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah; for from you shall come a ruler who will govern my people Israel.'" Then Herod summoned the wise men secretly and ascertained from them what time the star appeared; and he sent them to Bethlehem, saying, "Go and search diligently for
5395-487: The perfect stem eilēpha (not * lelēpha ) because it was originally slambanō , with perfect seslēpha , becoming eilēpha through compensatory lengthening. Reduplication is also visible in the present tense stems of certain verbs. These stems add a syllable consisting of the root's initial consonant followed by i . A nasal stop appears after the reduplication in some verbs. The earliest extant examples of ancient Greek writing ( c. 1450 BC ) are in
5478-584: The planets, so these conjunctions were not visually impressive. An ancient almanac has been found in Babylon which covers the events of this period, but does not indicate that the conjunctions were of any special interest. In the 20th century, Professor Karlis Kaufmanis , an astronomer, argued that this was an astronomical event where Jupiter and Saturn were in a triple conjunction in the constellation Pisces . Archaeologist and Assyriologist Simo Parpola has also suggested this explanation. In 3–2 BC, there
5561-496: The second month that year but on the first month" (February 23) and on the third month (April 24). The original must have read "day chi-yu , first month" (February 23) or "day chi-yu , third month" (April 24). The latter would coincide with the date in the Chinese records although professor Ho suggests the date was "probably February 23, 4 BC." If the story of the Star of Bethlehem described an actual event, it might identify
5644-487: The star "in the East," or according to some translations, "at its rising", which may imply the routine appearance of a constellation, or an asterism . One theory interprets the phrase in Matthew 2:2, "in the east," as an astrological term concerning a " heliacal rising ." This translation was proposed by Edersheim and Heinrich Voigt, among others. The view was rejected by the philologist Franz Boll (1867–1924). Two modern translators of ancient astrological texts insist that
5727-460: The stars but, "As it approaches the opposite point in the sky from the sun, it appears to slow, come to a full stop, and move backward (westward) through the sky for some weeks. Again it slows, stops, and resumes its eastward course," said Chester. The date of December 25 that Jupiter appeared to stop while in retrograde took place in the season of Hanukkah , and is the date later chosen to celebrate Christmas . The Magi told Herod that they saw
5810-517: The syllabic script Linear B . Beginning in the 8th century BC, however, the Greek alphabet became standard, albeit with some variation among dialects. Early texts are written in boustrophedon style, but left-to-right became standard during the classic period. Modern editions of ancient Greek texts are usually written with accents and breathing marks , interword spacing , modern punctuation , and sometimes mixed case , but these were all introduced later. The beginning of Homer 's Iliad exemplifies
5893-543: The text does not use the technical terms for either a heliacal or an acronycal rising of a star. However, one concedes that Matthew may have used layman's terms for a rising. Other writers highly suggest that the star was a comet . Halley's Comet was visible in 12 BC and another object, possibly a comet or nova , was seen by Chinese and Korean stargazers in about 5 BC. This object was observed for over seventy days, possibly with no movement recorded. Ancient writers described comets as "hanging over" specific cities, just as
5976-467: The time of the Dorian invasions —and that their first appearances as precise alphabetic writing began in the 8th century BC. The invasion would not be "Dorian" unless the invaders had some cultural relationship to the historical Dorians . The invasion is known to have displaced population to the later Attic-Ionic regions, who regarded themselves as descendants of the population displaced by or contending with
6059-402: The wise men were ignorant." Ancient Greek Ancient Greek ( Ἑλληνῐκή , Hellēnikḗ ; [hellɛːnikɛ́ː] ) includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek ( c. 1400–1200 BC ), Dark Ages ( c. 1200–800 BC ),
6142-403: The word magi ( Greek μαγοι ) is usually translated as "wise men," in this context it probably means 'astronomer'/'astrologer'. The involvement of astrologers in the story of the birth of Jesus was problematic for the early Church, because they condemned astrology as demonic ; a widely cited explanation was that of Tertullian , who suggested that astrology was allowed 'only until the time of
6225-489: The year Jesus was born. The Gospel of Matthew describes the birth of Jesus as taking place when Herod was king. According to Josephus, Herod died after a lunar eclipse and before a Passover Feast . Some scholars suggested dates in 5 BC, because it allows seven months for the events Josephus documented between the lunar eclipse and the Passover rather than the 29 days allowed by lunar eclipse in 4 BC. Others suggest it
6308-480: Was Aeolic. For example, fragments of the works of the poet Sappho from the island of Lesbos are in Aeolian. Most of the dialect sub-groups listed above had further subdivisions, generally equivalent to a city-state and its surrounding territory, or to an island. Doric notably had several intermediate divisions as well, into Island Doric (including Cretan Doric ), Southern Peloponnesus Doric (including Laconian ,
6391-452: Was a pluricentric language , divided into many dialects. The main dialect groups are Attic and Ionic , Aeolic , Arcadocypriot , and Doric , many of them with several subdivisions. Some dialects are found in standardized literary forms in literature , while others are attested only in inscriptions. There are also several historical forms. Homeric Greek is a literary form of Archaic Greek (derived primarily from Ionic and Aeolic) used in
6474-476: Was a series of seven conjunctions, including three between Jupiter and Regulus and a strikingly close conjunction between Jupiter and Venus near Regulus on June 17, 2 BC. "The fusion of two planets would have been a rare and awe-inspiring event", according to Roger Sinnott. Another Venus–Jupiter conjunction occurred earlier in August, 3 BC. While these events occurred after the generally accepted date of 4 BC for
6557-602: Was a sign of the birth of a divine king. He argues that Aries rather than Pisces was the zodiac symbol for Judea, a fact that would affect previous interpretations of astrological material. Molnar's theory was debated by scientists, theologians, and historians during a colloquium on the Star of Bethlehem at the Netherlands' University of Groningen in October 2014. Harvard astronomer Owen Gingerich supports Molnar's explanation but noted technical questions. "The gospel story
6640-416: Was an eclipse in 1 BC. The narrative implies that Jesus was born sometime between the first appearance of the star and the appearance of the Magi at Herod's court. That the king is said to have ordered the execution of boys two years of age and younger implies that the Star of Bethlehem appeared within the preceding two years. Some scholars date the birth of Jesus as 6–4 BC, while others suggest Jesus' birth
6723-449: Was in 3–2 BC. The Gospel of Luke says the census from Caesar Augustus took place when Quirinius was governor of Syria. Tipler suggests this took place in AD 6, nine years after the death of Herod, and that the family of Jesus left Bethlehem shortly after the birth. Some scholars explain the apparent disparity as an error on the part of the author of the Gospel of Luke, concluding that he
6806-490: Was in front of the Magi when they traveled south from Jerusalem to Bethlehem, and then stopped over Bethlehem. Using the Starry Night astronomy software , and an article written by astronomer Craig Chester based on the work of archeologist and historian Ernest L. Martin , Larson thinks all nine characteristics of the Star of Bethlehem are found in events that took place in the skies of 3–2 BC. Highlights include
6889-590: Was more concerned with creating a symbolic narrative than a historical account, and was either unaware of, or indifferent to, the chronological difficulty. However, there is some debate among Bible translators about the correct reading of Luke 2:2 ( "Αὕτη ἀπογραφὴ πρώτη ἐγένετο ἡγεμονεύοντος τῆς Συρίας Κυρηνίου" ). Instead of translating the registration as taking place "when" Quirinius was governor of Syria, some versions translate it as "before" or use "before" as an alternative, which Harold Hoehner , F.F. Bruce , Ben Witherington and others have suggested may be
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