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Article: Star of Bethlehem May Have Been Planets Jupiter and Venus.
- Article from:
- Ascribe Higher Education News Service
- Article date:
- December 16, 2003
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2003 AScribe. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Byline: Indiana University
BLOOMINGTON, Ind., Dec. 16 (AScribe Newswire) -- Early in the evening of June 17, 2 B.C., the brightest planets in the sky, Jupiter and Venus, merged into a dazzling "star" near the western horizon, according to calculations of modern astronomers. In countries to the east of what was then the kingdom of Judea, observers could have seen the fused planets as a beacon in the direction of Jerusalem.
Astrologers associated Jupiter with the birth of kings and Venus with fertility. The meeting of Jupiter and Venus took place in the constellation Leo the Lion, which the Old Testament of the Bible specifically associates with the Jewish ...