Wonders in the Sky (11 page)

Cinnabar was employed widely in antiquity as a pigment for calligraphy and for decorating precious objects, such as in jewelry. The bright red pigment, whose name has been traced to the Persian zinjifrah (“dragon's blood”), was held in extraordinary esteem in ancient times.

Meteorites are very unlikely to contain enough cinnabar to mislead even the most superstitious priests. Meteoric stone is dark, not white, and any trace of mercury sulphide is unlikely to be visible to the naked eye. In nature, certain stones, such as opal and limestone, can display narrow veins of cinnabar that could possibly be interpreted as esoteric writing, but this would not explain the anomalies in Eusebios' baitylos.

 

Source: Arthur Bernard Cook,
Zeus, a study in ancient religion
(Cambridge University Press, 1914), vol. 3, 888.

35
.

7 May 351, Jerusalem
A luminous cross terrifies witnesses

Hermias Sozomen, in his
Ecclesiastical History
, notes that “At the time Cyril succeeded Maximus in the government of the church of Jerusalem, the sign of the cross appeared in the heavens; its radiance was not feeble and divergent like that of comets, but splendid and concentrated. Its length was about fifteen stadia from Calvary to the Mount of Olives, and its breadth was in proportion to its length.

“So extraordinary a phenomenon excited universal terror.”

He also stated it was visible for several days and was brighter than the sun.

 

Source:
The Ecclesiastical History of Philostorgius, compiled by Photius, Patriarch of Constantinople
, trans. Edward Walford (London: Henry G. Bohn, 1855), 49. The Byzantine text
Chronicon Paschale
provides the date of May 7th.

36.

Ca. 393, Rome, Italy: A sign in the sky

A “new and strange star was seen in the sky, announcing the arrival of major disasters on Earth.”

This oft-quoted sighting listed in the UFO literature seems to have been a comet. The original text describes the “star” being seen for the first time at midnight towards the east: “It was big and bright and the light was not much less than the morning star [Venus]. After that, a cloud of stars gathered around it on the same side, like a swarm of bees, clustering together around their queen.”

Later it took the form of “a double-blade sword, great and terrible.” Its movement was very different from the rest of the stars: it began to rise and came next to the Morning Star. Later it moved to the North. Finally, after completing this trip in forty days, it came inside the Big Dipper and was last seen at the center of it, where it became extinct. We only include this case in the Chronology because we have not found confirmation of a cometary observation about this date in Gary Kronk's extensive
Cometography
, but we suspect the object was indeed a comet.

 

Source:
The Ecclesiastical History of Philostorgius, compiled by Photius, Patriarch of Constantinople
, trans. Edward Walford (London: Henry G. Bohn, 1855).

37.

396, Constantinople (Istanbul), Turkey
Sulphurous fire from Heaven

St. Augustine wrote that “At the beginning of the night as the world was being darkened, a
fiery cloud was seen from the East, small at first then, as it approached the city, gradually enlarging, until it hung terribly over the whole city. All fled to the Church; the place did not hold the people.
But after that great tribulation, when God had accredited His word, the cloud began to diminish and at last disappeared.

“The people, freed from fear for a while, again heard that they must migrate, because the whole city would be destroyed on the next Sabbath. The whole people left the city with the Emperor; no one remained in his house.”

The city was saved. “What shall we say?” adds Augustine. “Was this the anger of God, or rather His mercy?”

 

Source: Albert Barnes,
Minor Prophets I
(Michigan: Baker Books, 1985), 414. Augustine doesn't give a date, but 16th century ecclesiastical historian Cesare Baronius said it was 396. It isn't known how he reached this conclusion.

38.

438, Constantinople (Istanbul), Turkey
A child abducted to Heaven

An earthquake has destroyed Constantinople; famine and pestilence are spreading. The cataclysm has leveled the walls and the fifty-seven towers. Now comes a new tremor, even stronger than all the previous ones. Nicephorus, the historian, reports that in their fright the inhabitants of Byzantium, abandoning their city, gathered in the countryside: “They kept praying to beg that the city be spared total destruction: they were in no lesser danger themselves, because of the movements of the earth that nearly engulfed them, when a miracle quite unexpected and going beyond all credence filled them with admiration.”

“
In the midst of the entire crowd, a child was suddenly taken up by a strong force, so high into the air that they lost sight of him. After this, he came down as he had gone up, and told Patriarch Proclus, the Emperor himself, and the assembled multitude that he had just attended a great concert of the Angels hailing the Lord in their sacred canticles.

“Acacius, the bishop of Constantinople, states, ‘The population of the whole city saw it with their eyes.' And Baronius, commenting upon this report, adds the following words: ‘Such a great event deserved to be transmitted to the most remote posterity and to be forever recorded in human memory through its mention every year in the ecclesiastical annals. For this reason the Greeks, after inscribing it with the greatest respect into their ancient Menologe, read it publicly every year in their churches.'”

 

Source: This story has been collected and published by writers for many centuries. The version quoted here is by 14
^th
century chronicler Nicephorus Callistus, but versions can be found in a letter by Acacius, Patriarch of Constantinople (d.489) to Peter Fullo, Patriarch of Antioch, and also in a letter by Pope Felix III (483-492) to the same Peter Fullo. The story in itself serves as the founding story for the origin of the Trisagion hymn of the Greek Church. The different versions agree on most details except the precise year and the fate of the raised child.

39.

497, British Isles: Globe in the sky and two light beams

An immense globe appeared in the sky. A second ball of fire came from its rays, projecting two beams: “During these transactions at Winchester, there appeared a star of wonderful magnitude and brightness, darting forth a ray, at the end of which was a globe of fire in the form of a dragon, out of whose mouth issued forth two rays; one of which seemed to stretch out itself beyond the extent of Gaul, the other towards the Irish sea, and ended in seven lesser rays.”

There is some doubt about the date here because Geoffrey of Monmouth wrote it coincident with Ambrosius' death. Scholars disagree about the date of this event, suggesting either 473 or, according to Roger of Wendover, 497.

 

Source: Geoffrey of Monmouth,
Historia Regum Britanniae
, VIII, ch. 14; Lycosthenes,
Julii Obsequentis Prodigiorum Liber…per Conradum Lycosthenem Rubeaquensem integrati suae restitutus
(Basel, 1552).

40.

507, Poitiers, France
King Clovis guided by a light in the sky

A peculiar phenomenon took place when French king Clovis defeated the Visigoths, killing their king Alaric II, and taking over their French lands, including Aquitaine.

“The decisive moments were wasted in idle deliberation. The Goths too hastily abandoned, perhaps, an advantageous post; and the opportunity of a secure retreat was lost by their slow and disorderly motions.