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SECTION II - COMETS IN GREEK AND ROMAN ANTIQUITY

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 March 2012

Amédée Guillemin
Translated by
James Glaisher
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Summary

The apparition of a comet or a bolide is a warning from the gods: the Iliad' and the Ænid;neid–Supposed physical influences of comets; Earthquakes in Achaia; submersion of Helicèand Bura; comet of the year 371–Comets, presages of happy augury ; Cæsar transported to the heavens under the form of a comet; popular credulity turned to account; opinion of Bayle–Pliny, Virgil, Tacitus, Seneca–The comet of the year 79 and the Emperor espasian–Comet of the year 400 and the siege of Constantinople.

A comet is thought to have appeared in the last year of the siege of Troy. By Pingré and Lalande it is considered an apparition of the famous comet of 1680, and whilst the former cites in support of his opinion a passage from Homer, the latter draws attention to certain lines in the Æneid probably referring to the same comet.

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Chapter
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The World of Comets , pp. 8 - 16
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2010
First published in: 1877

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