From: utzoo!decvax!harpo!npoiv!alice!mhtsa!eagle!mhuxt!mhuxi!mhuxj!cbosgd!nscs!rew Newsgroups: net.followup Title: Re: CHRISTMAS - (nf) Article-I.D.: nscs.401 Posted: Tue Jan 4 10:43:46 1983 Received: Wed Jan 5 03:02:44 1983 References: zeppo.417 utcsstat.486 An interesting question. One could insist that he was born in 1 A.V.D. (that's True Year of our Lord) but that would be begging the question. My understanding is that the best guess is the Spring of 6 B.C. (current convention). This is based on several bits of information such as when Herod was King of Judea, when Augustus was Ceasar, when Quirinius was governor of Syria, when the Empire imposed taxes, and so on. The season is derived from the fact that shepards of the period tended their flocks by night in the Spring during lambing. It also fits in with an interesting hypothesis about the "Star" of Bethlehem. One starts with the assumption that the Magi were in fact Zoroastrian priests from the area now known as Iran. This relgious group was (and still is, probably) intensely interested in astrological events. Among the events of early 6 B.C. was a thrice repeated conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn in the constellation Pisces (known to the Zoroastrians as the House of the Hebrews). This was followed by a triple conjunction with Mars. One can imagine intense interest on their part as to just what monumental event was occurring in Judea at the time. Bob Warren cbosgd!nscs!rew