Bob Moler's Ephemeris Blog

Note:  This is from an article I wrote for the Grand Traverse Astronomical Society’s December 2012 newsletter The Stellar Sentinel.

I’m preparing for my biennial talk In Search of the Star of Bethlehem.  In recent years I’ve been intrigued with the date of King Herod the Great’s death. Because it constrains the time of Christ’s birth since he was born near the end of King Herod’s reign according to the Gospel of Luke.
Late first century Jewish historian Flavius is the only source we have for the date of Herod’s death.  Josephus was an interesting fellow.  He was born Yosef ben Matityahu, a Jew.  He fought against the Romans in A.D. 67, and was captured.  He served as an interpreter for the Romans and was given Roman Citizenship.

In the 17th volume of his Antiquities of the Jews Josephus relates the events between a lunar eclipse and Passover the period in which Herod the Great died.

The favorite lunar eclipse over the years for this was a slight partial eclipse in March 13th of 4 B.C.  The reason for this date is probably the possible discrepancy in the start of our current calendar numbering A.D. or C.E. This calendar numbering was promulgated by Dennis the Short in what would become the 6th century.  There was a common thought that old Dennis was 8 years off, and that A.D. 1 was 8 years earlier than he thought. The hard thing about calculating the chronological eras was that there wasn’t just one.  There were many.  Trying to synchronize these is a daunting task.

The problem with the 4 B.C. eclipse is that there was only one lunar month between that eclipse and Passover which begins on the day of the full moon.  And Josephus records many events between that eclipse and Passover.
If we believe many ancient sources writing close to the to the time of Christ’s birth, his date of birth would have been around 3 or 2 BC., which puts the 4 B.C. Death of Herod too soon.  I was never wild about the 4 B.C. Eclipse for another reason, the eclipse was a slight partial eclipse occurring in the morning.  Eclipse calculations were capable of predicting that eclipse, but it would have not have been very noticeable to the population.

The next lunar eclipse occurred on January 10 of 1 B.C.  It was a total lunar eclipse that was seen most of the night.  There were 3 lunar months between that eclipse and Passover that year.  Plenty of time for all of Herod’s final activities.

According to Josephus the Eclipse was mentioned in connection with the burning alive of a fellow named Matthias and his companions for sedition.
Herod became very ill, as described in rather excessive detail by Josephus.  His doctors suggested that he go to the baths at Callirrhoe.  He took their advise and crossed the Jordan river.  Note at this tome Herod resided in Jericho.  As of this writing, I have not been able to find the location of Callirrhoe.  It’s in present day Jordan near the Dead Sea.    It could have been 20 or so miles from Jericho. There is a current day hot springs at Hammamat Ma’een which is a tourist attraction, but I so far haven’t found Callirrhoe whose waters run into the Dead Sea or Lake Asphaltites.  The trips to and from Callirrhoe would have been slow carrying the sick King.

Knowing he was close to death he decreed a bonus of 50 Drachmas to his soldiers and another bonus to his commanders and friends.  He then returned to Jericho.  He had his minions draft and send letters to all the important Jewish men to come to Jericho under pain of death.  He calculated, perhaps rightly that they would not mourn him when he died, so he would keep them at the hippodrome (racetrack) and when word of his passing be made known, have his archers slay all that were gathered there.

Herod then received a message from Caesar as to the verdict on son Antipater’s trial for plotting to kill Herod.  It was left to Herod to decide what was to be done with him, until then Herod had him under arrest.  Herod was feeling very ill and while paring an apple for himself, which he normally did, decided to commit suicide but was prevented at the last instant by his cousin who let out a loud scream.  Those outside thought that Herod had died.  Antipater heard and tried to convince his jailer to let him out to claim the throne.  The jailer refused and told Herod.  Upon the news Herod had Antipater executed immediately.

Herod then changed his will, giving his kingdom to his son Archclaus and died five days after having Antipater executed.  Herod’s sister Salome and her husband Alexas allowed those kept at the Hippodrome to be released to return to their own lands before the news of Herod’s death became known.  Herod was prepared for burial and a large funeral procession of soldiers, followed by 500 domestics carrying spices moved out two miles to Herodium, where he was buried.

Archclaus, though greeted with great acclaim at first angered the people.   Archclaus then wanted to plead his case before Caesar and have himself made king.  Sometime after this Josephus mentions the feast of Passover.

In my perusals of sources mentioning the people in the above recounting,  4 B.C. appears to be the generally accepted year of Herod and Antipater’s deaths.  This gives only 29 days for the drama above to take place.  The better eclipse of 1 B.C. Has nearly 90 days for it to take place.

This is why I have come to accept the January 10, 1 B.C. lunar eclipse mentioned by Josephus, and that the two conjunctions of Venus and Jupiter in 3 and 2 B.C. were the Star of Bethlehem that the Magi saw.