We already know that Caesar Augustus was associated with a strange star in 44BC – or thereabouts. It seems that an 'archaeo-informacist' (don't ask) has used his computer to look at some Roman monuments and found two of them were aligned to the Sun, in a somewhat extraordinary fashion. These are the Altar of Peace, dedicated in 9BC to Augustus, and the Obelisk of Montseitoria (brought out of Egypt) – which was a fairly high version of Cleopatra's Needle. The gnomon, or the shadow of the obelisk, was thought to point towards the Altar of Peace at a particular time of the year, the birthday of Augustus. Now, it has been found this alignment may be entirely accidental, or subsidiary to another alignment. . The Sun can be seen to stand over the top of the obelisk (see illustration at the link, www.pasthorizonspr.com/index.php/archives/12/2013/significance-of-sun-al…). This alignment was visible from the Via Flaminia, associated with the gods.
Using NASAs Horizons System, which gives the position of the planets and the Sun as they occurred through history, and as seen from a specific point on the Earth, in this instance, in front of the two monuments and standing on the Via Flaminia, and taking note of the sun dial's original meridian line and the exact height of the obelisk, the event has been found to have occurred on the 9th October. This was the date of the annual festival of Apollo – and may have nothing to do with the birthday of Augustus. Well, not quite so, as Augustus pictured himself as the earthly embodiment of Apollo.
The assumption is made that Apollo is the Sun, but SIS has in the past published quite a few articles on the nature of Apollo – and he was definitely not the Sun. He was sun like, a quite different matter. In other words, a bright comet. That is not to say that Apollo did not become associated with the Sun, only that he was originally a quite different cosmic object – and very bright. We know that the strange star that appeared in the sky in the year that his father, Julius Caesar died, was probably a comet, and therefore this may provide the link between Apollo and Augustus, the son of the Sun (strange star). In effect, the annual festival of Apollo was the birthday of Augustus, an earthly manifestation of that god. It was this claim to deification that caused a rift in some parts of the empire, especially in Judeau. Did the Jews think in terms of their god being the equivalent of Apollo, as has been suggested at different times. Was Augustus claiming to be a sort of messiah?
Some further digging may be in order as the strange star of 44BC played a prominent role in the elevation of Augustus to emperor, and the special treatment given to the funeral celebrations of his father, whose spirit, in death, was pictured as not just coinciding but signifying a direct link with the star. Another peculiarity is that a strange star pops up at the birth of Christ, variously dated at some point between 9BC and AD4 (depending on whether the star is seen as a comet, a conjunction of the major planets, or some other kind of cosmic phenomenon). Lots of ink has been spent on this subject but if a comet is indicated it was probably Comet Halley and nothing to do with the strange comet of 44BC. Never the less, the similarity in the two situations is interesting.
There is also something else we might ponder. The research assumes the dates we currently accept for the reign of Augustus (and Julius Caesar) are correct – relying on the ability of Dionysius to blend his calculations with Roman dating systems (several) and the correctness of the subsequent scheme, using Dionysius, as put together by the venerable Bede, a monk living in a monastery in County Durham. Well, at SIS, the cutting edge of obscure research, we have published several articles by Steve Mitchell on just this subject – How reliable is Bede? He has found what looks like a 12 year anomaly between Rome and Constantinople (Byzantium) and both used data from Alexandria. How does this affect the 9th of October? Probably not a lot as the Sun would have stood above the obelisk on several years in succession. In the illustration the Sun is situated at the top of the obelisk, but clear of it. Might an alignment have been more pertinent when the Sun was seen to first rise over the obelisk? Hence, some uncertainty, if there is a 12 year anomaly, and some further jigging if not. If there was a bigger chronological anomaly and then the nature of Apollo would have to be reassessed – but this seems unlikely.
PS … there is a brief video of the simulation.
In one of those coincidences that occur quite naturally , former SIS member Damien Mackey circulated a piece by somebody called Daryn Graham on the Eric Aitchison email thread (on chronology issues), and it sought to make sense between Luke's statement that the census in the year of the birth of Christ took place in the governorship of Quirnius, dated 4AD, and the census throughout the empire issued by decree from Augustus in 9BC. This census took place in 8BC in Judeau it would seem and we may note there is that 12 year difference between then and 4AD. Remarkable. However, that is probably just accidental as we can't really shift Quirinius nearer to the Augustus decree without dislodging lots of historical facts along with it – or can we? Whatever, we do have a dilemma as shown by Graham in that the Augustus census fits the situation described by Luke and yet the latter gospel fixes it somewhat later in the governorship of Quirinius. Is this evidence of chronological confusion at a much later date after Christianity had become established?