Rahlf Hansen
Guide for the following works.
The works are written and conceptualized in collaboration with Christine Rink (profile follows).
Originally our interest was in the astronomy of Babylon, antiquity and the Renaissance. That is where the works (Hansen 2005) belong to. Our interest was not in preliterate cultures. It was by chance that our interest was drawn to the sky disc of Nebra. Then we recognised a connection to Babylonian astronomy. The typical interaction between the moon and the Pleiades in particular made us aware of a possible Babylonian contact (Hansen 2010). Going from there we developed the thesis of the Pleiades ruled sun-moon-calendar on the sky disc (Hansen 2007). It contains a memogram-like explanation of a possible insertion of switch months and, moreover, an expectation of how often (32 solar years in 33 lunar years) such an insertion should be done: The expectation as hypothesis can be compared to the observation and can be improved – a scientific programme!
Building on this we developed a scenario as to how one can improve the calendar with the help of lunar eclipses (Hansen/Rink 2008). On the solar carriage of Trundholm we found the attempt to record the rhythm of the lunar eclipses theoretically and practically. Once more a scientific procedure. The approach was wrong, but led to the right result. The Saros-eclipse cycle was found. On the golden hats, particularly on the Berlin ones, this Saros-cycle is applied in an abstract manner in countable ornamental art. Here already we assumed a connection to the solar eclipse of Thales. We call it the scientific branch of our results. We assume that this impulse from astronomy has contributed significantly to the origin of the Greek science.
Already (Hansen 2007) we refer to the connection between the Pleiades ruled sun-moon-calendar in the spring month with the later Easter feast. In (Hansen/Rink 2008) we deepen this investigation and introduce the concept of the ideal situation. It defines the important Akitu feast in Babylon. A contemporary source helps us demonstrate this for the time of Hammurabi (Hansen/Rink 2014). Moreover, it enables us to deliver the dates of his reign. Around 500 BC the expiration of the Pleiades ruled sun-moon-calendar in the spring month leads to a crisis in the religions. Coming from here we explain the so-called ”Achsenzeit”. We show this (Hansen, Rink 2013) on the basis of several examples from the Old Testament and the government of Nabonid. In this work we deliver another example for the turning away and estrangement from a polytheistic religion on the basis of astronomical observations (Echnaton). In (2013) we show furthermore to what extent the old star religion was interwoven with astronomy and the calendar. Remnants are preserved, for example, in ornamental art, old legends and the symbol of the crescent-star. We look at this symbol more closely in (Hansen/Rink 2015). We deduce from this that in old Arabia a Pleiades ruled sun-moon-calendar was also in use. Its symbol has survived until this day in Islam for example. We present three prominent astronomical cycles for the introduction of the lunar calendar in Arabia which suggested the beginning of a new calendar on 9th April 631.
We can explain the cult icon of Mithras with the help of the expiration of the Pleiades ruled sun-moon-calendar, both iconographically (Hansen/Rink 2008) as well as ideologically (Hansen/Rink 2013).
The works are written and conceptualized in collaboration with Christine Rink (profile follows).
Originally our interest was in the astronomy of Babylon, antiquity and the Renaissance. That is where the works (Hansen 2005) belong to. Our interest was not in preliterate cultures. It was by chance that our interest was drawn to the sky disc of Nebra. Then we recognised a connection to Babylonian astronomy. The typical interaction between the moon and the Pleiades in particular made us aware of a possible Babylonian contact (Hansen 2010). Going from there we developed the thesis of the Pleiades ruled sun-moon-calendar on the sky disc (Hansen 2007). It contains a memogram-like explanation of a possible insertion of switch months and, moreover, an expectation of how often (32 solar years in 33 lunar years) such an insertion should be done: The expectation as hypothesis can be compared to the observation and can be improved – a scientific programme!
Building on this we developed a scenario as to how one can improve the calendar with the help of lunar eclipses (Hansen/Rink 2008). On the solar carriage of Trundholm we found the attempt to record the rhythm of the lunar eclipses theoretically and practically. Once more a scientific procedure. The approach was wrong, but led to the right result. The Saros-eclipse cycle was found. On the golden hats, particularly on the Berlin ones, this Saros-cycle is applied in an abstract manner in countable ornamental art. Here already we assumed a connection to the solar eclipse of Thales. We call it the scientific branch of our results. We assume that this impulse from astronomy has contributed significantly to the origin of the Greek science.
Already (Hansen 2007) we refer to the connection between the Pleiades ruled sun-moon-calendar in the spring month with the later Easter feast. In (Hansen/Rink 2008) we deepen this investigation and introduce the concept of the ideal situation. It defines the important Akitu feast in Babylon. A contemporary source helps us demonstrate this for the time of Hammurabi (Hansen/Rink 2014). Moreover, it enables us to deliver the dates of his reign. Around 500 BC the expiration of the Pleiades ruled sun-moon-calendar in the spring month leads to a crisis in the religions. Coming from here we explain the so-called ”Achsenzeit”. We show this (Hansen, Rink 2013) on the basis of several examples from the Old Testament and the government of Nabonid. In this work we deliver another example for the turning away and estrangement from a polytheistic religion on the basis of astronomical observations (Echnaton). In (2013) we show furthermore to what extent the old star religion was interwoven with astronomy and the calendar. Remnants are preserved, for example, in ornamental art, old legends and the symbol of the crescent-star. We look at this symbol more closely in (Hansen/Rink 2015). We deduce from this that in old Arabia a Pleiades ruled sun-moon-calendar was also in use. Its symbol has survived until this day in Islam for example. We present three prominent astronomical cycles for the introduction of the lunar calendar in Arabia which suggested the beginning of a new calendar on 9th April 631.
We can explain the cult icon of Mithras with the help of the expiration of the Pleiades ruled sun-moon-calendar, both iconographically (Hansen/Rink 2008) as well as ideologically (Hansen/Rink 2013).
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At the end of the 1st century it appears with many astronomical references. The name refers to the Persian Sun god Mithra. In Persia, however, there was no cult of the sun god Mithra that resembled the later Roman one. Merkelbach suspects that the cult was created by the environment of the imperial house. We see the idea of the cult in connection with the procession of Tiridate. The new Armenian ruler marched through the Roman Empire with a retinue of thousands of Parthian horsemen. In gold-decorated Rome he threw himself at Nero’s feet, worshipped him as his god Mithra and received his dominion from Nero. Through this propaganda coup a threatening war between Rome and Parthia for the rule in Armenia could be prevented. As a sign of the bond between the two nations there could have been an agreement that a Persian god should also be worshipped in Rome.
The cult image of the bull-killing Mithras poses a riddle. This image cannot be understood from Persian mythology – but from Roman imperial propaganda: In the Mithras relief the Sun god kills a bull that is curved to a (thick) crescent moon. The image is full of astral allusions. It is often framed by the zodiac, and the animals involved partly depict the celestial equator. The zodiac and the celestial equator together symbolize the whole cosmos, which is dominated by the Sun god. In the calendar system the Sun replaces the triad of Sun, Moon and stars. In a Babylonian leap year rule, which enjoyed widespread popularity, the thickness of the crescent moon in the Pleiades in the constellation of Taurus is used to refer to the necessity to insert a leap month. Thus the Sun, Moon and stars (especially the Pleiades) regulate the calendar and thus the order of the sky. However, this regulation had begun to collapse around 500 BC. Due to the precession of the earth’s axis, the validity of the leap year rule slowly moved from the spring month towards summer. An adjustment of the leap year rule in the spring month would have led to a thicker crescent moon than indicated in the Babylonian tradition. If one measures the cult pictures of the Mithras, then quite uniform “thicknesses” of the moon crescents from the bull body result. Converted into the age of the Moon they correspond to a Moon thickness which one would have adapted in this time for the Babylonian leap year rule – which would have been clearly wrong for all experts. Thus the cult image symbolizes to the initiate the “falling” leap year rule and thus the failure of the triad of Moon, Sun and stars. Only the Sun alone could be relied upon. The bull-killing Sun god Mithras kills his competitors and thus makes the change in the calendar and the heaven of the gods visible for all. Thus the Mithras cult supports the supremacy of the Sun over all other gods and thus also the legitimacy of the emperors, who increasingly relied on the Sun.
On the other hand, this new offer of the explanation of the world had to compete with the religions. Thales lived in what Jasper (1955) called “die Achsenzeit”. For this time of religious changes we were able to point out the failure of the traditional connections of stars, moon and sun as representatives of the gods for astronomical reasons. Astronomical observations undermined religiously exaggerated astral connections
that suddenly no longer applied. As a consequence, monotheistic trends could evolve. An alternative to these was the complete rejection of religions and the turning to a rational explanation of the world. In our opinion there was already a scientific methodology in the Nordic Bronze Age, but only the (temporal and spatial) coincidence of this methodology at Thales with the crisis of religions in the Achsenzeit led to the birth of philosophy and science as independent variables.
The stars played an important role in ancient Egypt. But at the time of Akhenaton an important constellation, the bull ham (big chariot) lost its nimbus. Because of the precession, one star of these “eternal” stars was submerged in the course of time and thus submerged in the underworld. This change could be exploited propagandistically to increase the importance of the sun in contrast. The turn towards monotheism
weakened the classic priesthood and strengthened the Pharaoh’s position. For this study, the visual conditions of the stars on the horizon are discussed. These in turn are associated with the weather conditions and therefore vary. For dating this is urgently necessary to must be taken into account. From this example one can see again, how astronomy is related to the religions.
will not have escaped their attention. But with a greater height of the star, there is also a greater arc from its rise to its fall. This arc increases much faster than the height of the star. At low heights above the horizon (up to two degrees), the arc grows ten times faster than the height. This correlation of height to arc can be measured at different mountain heights. By constant repetition the results improve.
The mountain heights do not have to be known for this. You get a table of star heights and their corresponding observation arcs.
Now one measures the arc of the star from the coast of Crete, for example Ierapetra, and the island of Crissi exactly south of it. The arcs are converted into star heights with the help of the table. The difference of the star heights is the latitude angle difference of the two observation points. The distance can be measured exactly by a thread that is unrolled with the help of a ship crossing. From this one can determine
the circumference of the earth.
With the help of this method one can also easily determine differences in latitude, for example to ports in the Mediterranean Sea. Thus, the labyrinth of seafaring on the Mediterranean Sea and beyond was unravelled, as the size of the earth is known, at least in an approximate value. The myth of the thread of Ariadne could have its origin here.
Pleiades leap rule the cycles of moon and sun were harmonized. In addition, we assume an expected leap cycle of 32 solar to 33 lunar years, as on the sky disk of Nebra. Thus this calendar represents a station of knowledge transfer from Babylon to Central Germany.
Archaeological orientations given in the literature can be inserted into this image. Symbols of the Minoan culture also fit to this calendar interpretation
with many hand-axes probably as women’s multitools, a cooking place and the housing area and a burial ground. South of the village test excavations were carried out to investigate a ritual-place with stone structures on former surfaces. It consists of a rectangular stone in east west orientation, a dugout round pit and a layering of large stone plates. Nearby on top of the escarpment Ziegert found a straight row of
stone-heaps that, if 13 heaps, may be of astronomical significance (due to the political circumstances in Libya, further research was not possible). Thinking of the deviation range in absolute dating sites of this age an interval of ±20.000 years was chosen.
The astronomical question is what one can state about this time with this given insecurity. There are discussed different phenomena (proper motion of the stars, changes of the earth’s axis and the fluctuating of the earth orbit). The outcome of this is that one can give no star constellations and rising and setting points of the sun and moon are not exactly known. Only the equinoxes are dependable in there east west adjustment.
It is shown how the finding complex could be interpreted astronomically and to what details should be paid attention with further excavations from an astronomical point of view.
1.) There are „ideal“ (unobservable) orientations to Sirius. It might be worth to search also elsewhere for such „ideal“ orientations.
2.) It is a case of re-adjustment after the rise of a star point (here: Sirius). For many centuries (here: about 1300 years) buildings were aligned to the same stars. This testifies to a long cultic tradition of star worship. 3.) In 300 AD it is a case of a rare double alignment. It connects the rising of Sirius with the setting of the Pleiades.
Also in numismatics occur astral elements, thereby supporting an astronomical interpretation of orientations. The ornamentation characteristically changed with Christianization under Ezana in the middle of the 4th century.
In this work, we turn to the eras of the 7th century. The two Persian Yazdegird-eras to his accession (632) and after his death (652) are not well known, but they were very important in their time and are partly still used today. The Arab era (622) is now known as Islamic era of Higra. It is related to the lunar calendar. However the lunar calendar was introduced according to the tradition only 632 by Mohammed. The exclusion of the pagans from the Hagg was already proclaimed by Ali at the Hagg 631 in Mecca on behalf of the Prophet.
About the location of the first day of the year 10 (1st Muharram 10 AH) = 9.4.631, the narrators are unanimous. As intercalation has been omitted at the end of 9 AH, the lunar calendar in fact started this day. This date is characterized in three ways:
1.) There is an ideal situation. So we call the conjunction of first crescent with the last visibility of the Pleiades.
2.) The moon reaches its greatest northern (ecliptic) latitude and can thus repeatedly eclipse the Pleiades this year.
3.) A pure lunar calendar and lunisolar calendar, both starting with the Seleucid era, come again this year together in the same season.
We show how you can use these observations argumentative, to switch from the lunar solar calendar to lunar calendar. This change is most likely linked to a new religion. We conclude that the lunar calendar was actually introduced 631/632.
Only after the introduction of the lunar calendar, the 622 era is introduced (638). We point to a scenario how (war between Persia and Byzantium and attempt to unify the different Christian movements by the Byzantine Emperor Heraclius) this sequence could be explained in time circumstances.
Double dating on a papyrus dating back to 642 and an inscription in the bathroom nearby Gadara in 662 show that in both cases in the Arab era a lunar calendar is based. If one understands the 622 era, as do some researchers, as an originally Arab-political era, this nevertheless must have been associated with the religious movement (lunar calendar 631) very early. These results support some statements of the tradition literature.
Rahlf Hansen, Planetarium Hamburg, translated by Alex Leo, Planetarium Hamburg
In an era where we have Organizers, GPS and radio controlled clocks it is difficult to imagine the difficulties encountered in early times to regulate their calendar. In those days the rhythms of the heavens were used to regulate time: the Sun provided the days and the years, the Moon provided the months and the weeks. Farmers need a solar calendar that shows the seasons. The narrow crescent evening Moon, known as the First Crescent, indicates the beginning of a new month just as the Islamic calendar still does today. But how does one reconcile the lunar year with the solar year, which is 11 days longer? In earlier times, this was done by introducing leap months.
We know of just such a rule from the Babylonian Cuneiform mul-apin text. If the First Crescent appears by the Seven Sisters star cluster, the Pleiades, during the spring month, in which the year begins, then this is a normal year. If, however, during this month the Moon does not appear in the Pleiades until the third day, it forms a wider crescent – a signal that a leap month must be added. It is exactly this phenomenon that is encrypted on the Star Disc. The width of the lunar crescent on the Star Disc corresponds to the Babylonian leap signal. On the first phase of the Star Disc are depicted the crescent, the golden circle, the seven point rosette and 25 additional golden points numbering 32 in total. The rosette is taken to represent the Pleiades. By interpreting the depiction as a record of an intercalary rule we’re not only explaining the width of the lunar Crescent but also providing an explanation for the number 32 and the meaning of the golden circle. The lunar month is 29.5 days long. If a leap month has to be added, the Moon will not appear in the Pleiades in its First Crescent phase but two days later with a wider crescent. In this case, 32 days must elapse from the previous First Crescent Moon. The 32 points on the Disc can thus be interpreted as the 32 days that elapse between the previous First Crescent Moon and the Moon appearing by the Pleiades in the spring month. As a leap signal, these 32 days are just as equally valid as the width of the lunar crescent. The leap signal is therefore doubly encoded on the Star Disc:
1.) If a Moon Crescent having the thickness of the depicted crescent appears by the Pleiades in the Spring month, then this is a leap trigger.
2.) If 32 days elapse from the First Crescent of the previous month (before the spring month) until the Moon in the spring month, then this is a leap trigger.
But the number 32 also has another meaning, linking the solar and lunar calendars. In 32 solar years, 33 lunar years elapse. If we interpret the golden disc as the Sun, then the 32 points are related to the Sun and we deduce the 32 solar years. If we also count the golden disc, then we get a total of 33. This refers to the Moon, the only remaining object on the disc, and so we get 33 lunar years.
In Prof. Schlosser’s current interpretations, that have been extended and not contradicted in this text, the golden disc is interpreted as the Full Moon. Here it is also interpreted as the Sun. Sun OR Moon? The answer is Sun AND Moon. This is elaborated on in a further text.
3600 years ago the Pleiades disappeared in the dusk 12 days before the onset of Spring. If, ideally, the First Crescent Moon appears by the Pleiades on the last day of their visibility, then the Full Moon and the start of Spring coincide. The Full Moon in the Spring Month then signals the start of Spring and with it, in many cultures, the start of the new year.
The Full Moon thus symbolizes the new solar year. Therefore the golden disc can be interpreted as the Full Moon in the Spring month AND as the Sun.
So here we have an astoundingly complex and nested design. On the one hand, the 32 golden points encode the leap signal of the 32 days to the Moon-Pleiades positioning. As well as symbolizing both the Full Moon by the Pleiades in Autumn (Schlosser’s interpretation) and the Full Moon in the Spring month at the beginning of Spring, the golden disc also symbolizes the Sun in relation to the 32 golden points representing solar years, and the Sun in relation to the start of the solar year at the Spring Full Moon. Via its width, the lunar crescent near the Pleiades (the rosette) directly indicates the leap signal and, together with the 32 golden points and the golden disc, symbolizes the 33 lunar years, that correspond to the 32 solar ones. The rosette representing the Pleiades shows, as Schlosser explained, exact dates in Spring (with the Crescent Moon) and in Autumn (with the Full Moon). And on the other hand, it triggers, together with the wide lunar crescent, the leap signal in the lunar calendar.
This interpretation explains the number of golden points, the meaning of the golden disc, the width of the lunar crescent and why the lunar crescent is larger than the golden disc. If the Star Disc was used as a pictorial comparison of the width of the real Crescent Moon in the Spring month by the Pleiades, then the latter is the deciding object on the Disc and was made bigger than the golden disc.
In an era when no numerical intercalary rules were yet available, any celestial observations would have needed to reconcile the lunar and solar motions. The calendar was only regulated by these observations. In its time, this knowledge was very beneficial and can be considered as the Bronze Age hi-tech know-how. An obsession with such complexities need not astound us.
Whether this knowledge emerged locally or from as far a field as Mesopotamia, remains open. The clues on the encrypted world view and the rosette shape mentioned earlier however do not exclude a possible Mesopotamian origin and are in fact supported by this interpretation.
known the saros-cycle, but they were not able to observe the important previous
eclipse of three saros-cycles (or one exeligmus) before. However, this special eclipse
could be observed in Northern Europe. This article shows that astronomers in there
were able to predict the Thales eclipse. They knew the saros-cycle, as can be deduced for example by looking at the "Berlin Gold-Hat". By observing an eclipse of the sun they were able to predict the next exeligmus-eclipse. They calculated the difference in length via the difference in time. They got the difference in latitude from the observation of corresponding lunar eclipses. Alternatively they used a theoretical model for determining the movement in latitude.
The full moon in the spring month symbolizes the new-year at the beginning of spring. Therefore, one finds in Near East often the symbol of a circle (beside figurative representations) for the sun AND moon, not seldom with the Pleiades.
At the reign of Hammurabi – possibly also the production time of the sky disc – in 1800 B.C. the last visibility of the Pleiades in the evening sky occurred in such a way that when they disappeared and at the same time the First Crescent Moon
appeared (the „ideal situation“) the following full moon decorated the sky at the beginning of spring: The full moon as a symbol of the sun! Thus three elements (First Crecent Moon, Pleiades and full moon / sun) symbolize the spring feast (today
Easter). Nowadays no Pleiades appear in the Easter rule. The „Plejadenschock“ led to the fact that the Pleiades disappeared from that rule. In 600 B.C. the sky constellations had moved on account of the precession so far that the intercalary rule was not valid any more in the spring month. Exemplarily at the example of Persepolis we indicate the reaction to the „Plejadenschock“. We look in addition at orientations and at symbols of Persepolis. We discuss the effects of the „Plejadenschock“ in the Persian’s empire, thus with the Jews, Syrians and Arabs.
In 1604 Kepler observed a new star and believed in a connection to a special and very rare planetary conjunction. After a Jupiter-Saturn-conjunction Jupiter met Mars. Kepler speculated that the star of Bethlehem might be a new star which was generated after a similar conjunction and recalculated it for 6/7 B.C.
Nowadays examples of both astronomical (and astrological) interpretations of the star of Bethlehem exist. The best known is the three time conjunction of 6/7 B.C.. But the interpretation of Martin seems equally excellent. Vardaman takes the Halley comet of 12 B.C. to be the star of Bethlehem. Other speculations arise from two Novae in the years 5 and 4 B.C., tabulated in sources from the Far East.
But historians tell us that there is no need for a real star. The text in Matthew, book 2 is a legend. What is important in regard to the understanding of the star of Bethlehem is the “sidus Julium,” the comet which could be seen in the sky when Caesar's funeral and the march of the King of Armenia Tiridates to Nero in Rome took place. There was no real star over Bethlehem. All we have are interesting speculations, like those by Kepler.
1 Zur Plejadenregel siehe Hansen 2007, Hansen 2008 und Hansen, Rink 2008a.
C.Rink und R.Hansen: Der altarabische Kalender 201
sources wrong in the light of the lunar calendar known to them. Or did there alreadyexist a pure lunar calendar in preislamic times in the Arabian cultural sphere?Finally we claim that in Arabia in preislamic times a lunisolar calendar was usedregulated by the observation of the Pleiades next to the moon (the MesopotamianPleiades leap-year-rule). Further we suppose a star calendar to determine the solaryear. The very special observable astronomical event at 9.4.631 might have beenessential for introducing the pure moon calendar in the Arabian cultural sphere andsupports our hypothesis of an original lunisolar calendar.
The Pleiades' leap year rule is of great importance. What we call the “Ideal Situation” is the one when the first cresent of the moon corresponds with the last visibility of the Pleiades in the evening sky. During the time of Hammurabi the following full moon corresponded with the spring equinox. We present a chronology of Hammurabi with the “Ideal Situation” as basis. The movement of the “Ideal Situation” out of the spring month caused the so called “Plejadenschock”. As a consequence of the “Plejadenschock” the monotheistic religions emerged.
At the end of the 1st century it appears with many astronomical references. The name refers to the Persian Sun god Mithra. In Persia, however, there was no cult of the sun god Mithra that resembled the later Roman one. Merkelbach suspects that the cult was created by the environment of the imperial house. We see the idea of the cult in connection with the procession of Tiridate. The new Armenian ruler marched through the Roman Empire with a retinue of thousands of Parthian horsemen. In gold-decorated Rome he threw himself at Nero’s feet, worshipped him as his god Mithra and received his dominion from Nero. Through this propaganda coup a threatening war between Rome and Parthia for the rule in Armenia could be prevented. As a sign of the bond between the two nations there could have been an agreement that a Persian god should also be worshipped in Rome.
The cult image of the bull-killing Mithras poses a riddle. This image cannot be understood from Persian mythology – but from Roman imperial propaganda: In the Mithras relief the Sun god kills a bull that is curved to a (thick) crescent moon. The image is full of astral allusions. It is often framed by the zodiac, and the animals involved partly depict the celestial equator. The zodiac and the celestial equator together symbolize the whole cosmos, which is dominated by the Sun god. In the calendar system the Sun replaces the triad of Sun, Moon and stars. In a Babylonian leap year rule, which enjoyed widespread popularity, the thickness of the crescent moon in the Pleiades in the constellation of Taurus is used to refer to the necessity to insert a leap month. Thus the Sun, Moon and stars (especially the Pleiades) regulate the calendar and thus the order of the sky. However, this regulation had begun to collapse around 500 BC. Due to the precession of the earth’s axis, the validity of the leap year rule slowly moved from the spring month towards summer. An adjustment of the leap year rule in the spring month would have led to a thicker crescent moon than indicated in the Babylonian tradition. If one measures the cult pictures of the Mithras, then quite uniform “thicknesses” of the moon crescents from the bull body result. Converted into the age of the Moon they correspond to a Moon thickness which one would have adapted in this time for the Babylonian leap year rule – which would have been clearly wrong for all experts. Thus the cult image symbolizes to the initiate the “falling” leap year rule and thus the failure of the triad of Moon, Sun and stars. Only the Sun alone could be relied upon. The bull-killing Sun god Mithras kills his competitors and thus makes the change in the calendar and the heaven of the gods visible for all. Thus the Mithras cult supports the supremacy of the Sun over all other gods and thus also the legitimacy of the emperors, who increasingly relied on the Sun.
On the other hand, this new offer of the explanation of the world had to compete with the religions. Thales lived in what Jasper (1955) called “die Achsenzeit”. For this time of religious changes we were able to point out the failure of the traditional connections of stars, moon and sun as representatives of the gods for astronomical reasons. Astronomical observations undermined religiously exaggerated astral connections
that suddenly no longer applied. As a consequence, monotheistic trends could evolve. An alternative to these was the complete rejection of religions and the turning to a rational explanation of the world. In our opinion there was already a scientific methodology in the Nordic Bronze Age, but only the (temporal and spatial) coincidence of this methodology at Thales with the crisis of religions in the Achsenzeit led to the birth of philosophy and science as independent variables.
The stars played an important role in ancient Egypt. But at the time of Akhenaton an important constellation, the bull ham (big chariot) lost its nimbus. Because of the precession, one star of these “eternal” stars was submerged in the course of time and thus submerged in the underworld. This change could be exploited propagandistically to increase the importance of the sun in contrast. The turn towards monotheism
weakened the classic priesthood and strengthened the Pharaoh’s position. For this study, the visual conditions of the stars on the horizon are discussed. These in turn are associated with the weather conditions and therefore vary. For dating this is urgently necessary to must be taken into account. From this example one can see again, how astronomy is related to the religions.
will not have escaped their attention. But with a greater height of the star, there is also a greater arc from its rise to its fall. This arc increases much faster than the height of the star. At low heights above the horizon (up to two degrees), the arc grows ten times faster than the height. This correlation of height to arc can be measured at different mountain heights. By constant repetition the results improve.
The mountain heights do not have to be known for this. You get a table of star heights and their corresponding observation arcs.
Now one measures the arc of the star from the coast of Crete, for example Ierapetra, and the island of Crissi exactly south of it. The arcs are converted into star heights with the help of the table. The difference of the star heights is the latitude angle difference of the two observation points. The distance can be measured exactly by a thread that is unrolled with the help of a ship crossing. From this one can determine
the circumference of the earth.
With the help of this method one can also easily determine differences in latitude, for example to ports in the Mediterranean Sea. Thus, the labyrinth of seafaring on the Mediterranean Sea and beyond was unravelled, as the size of the earth is known, at least in an approximate value. The myth of the thread of Ariadne could have its origin here.
Pleiades leap rule the cycles of moon and sun were harmonized. In addition, we assume an expected leap cycle of 32 solar to 33 lunar years, as on the sky disk of Nebra. Thus this calendar represents a station of knowledge transfer from Babylon to Central Germany.
Archaeological orientations given in the literature can be inserted into this image. Symbols of the Minoan culture also fit to this calendar interpretation
with many hand-axes probably as women’s multitools, a cooking place and the housing area and a burial ground. South of the village test excavations were carried out to investigate a ritual-place with stone structures on former surfaces. It consists of a rectangular stone in east west orientation, a dugout round pit and a layering of large stone plates. Nearby on top of the escarpment Ziegert found a straight row of
stone-heaps that, if 13 heaps, may be of astronomical significance (due to the political circumstances in Libya, further research was not possible). Thinking of the deviation range in absolute dating sites of this age an interval of ±20.000 years was chosen.
The astronomical question is what one can state about this time with this given insecurity. There are discussed different phenomena (proper motion of the stars, changes of the earth’s axis and the fluctuating of the earth orbit). The outcome of this is that one can give no star constellations and rising and setting points of the sun and moon are not exactly known. Only the equinoxes are dependable in there east west adjustment.
It is shown how the finding complex could be interpreted astronomically and to what details should be paid attention with further excavations from an astronomical point of view.
1.) There are „ideal“ (unobservable) orientations to Sirius. It might be worth to search also elsewhere for such „ideal“ orientations.
2.) It is a case of re-adjustment after the rise of a star point (here: Sirius). For many centuries (here: about 1300 years) buildings were aligned to the same stars. This testifies to a long cultic tradition of star worship. 3.) In 300 AD it is a case of a rare double alignment. It connects the rising of Sirius with the setting of the Pleiades.
Also in numismatics occur astral elements, thereby supporting an astronomical interpretation of orientations. The ornamentation characteristically changed with Christianization under Ezana in the middle of the 4th century.
In this work, we turn to the eras of the 7th century. The two Persian Yazdegird-eras to his accession (632) and after his death (652) are not well known, but they were very important in their time and are partly still used today. The Arab era (622) is now known as Islamic era of Higra. It is related to the lunar calendar. However the lunar calendar was introduced according to the tradition only 632 by Mohammed. The exclusion of the pagans from the Hagg was already proclaimed by Ali at the Hagg 631 in Mecca on behalf of the Prophet.
About the location of the first day of the year 10 (1st Muharram 10 AH) = 9.4.631, the narrators are unanimous. As intercalation has been omitted at the end of 9 AH, the lunar calendar in fact started this day. This date is characterized in three ways:
1.) There is an ideal situation. So we call the conjunction of first crescent with the last visibility of the Pleiades.
2.) The moon reaches its greatest northern (ecliptic) latitude and can thus repeatedly eclipse the Pleiades this year.
3.) A pure lunar calendar and lunisolar calendar, both starting with the Seleucid era, come again this year together in the same season.
We show how you can use these observations argumentative, to switch from the lunar solar calendar to lunar calendar. This change is most likely linked to a new religion. We conclude that the lunar calendar was actually introduced 631/632.
Only after the introduction of the lunar calendar, the 622 era is introduced (638). We point to a scenario how (war between Persia and Byzantium and attempt to unify the different Christian movements by the Byzantine Emperor Heraclius) this sequence could be explained in time circumstances.
Double dating on a papyrus dating back to 642 and an inscription in the bathroom nearby Gadara in 662 show that in both cases in the Arab era a lunar calendar is based. If one understands the 622 era, as do some researchers, as an originally Arab-political era, this nevertheless must have been associated with the religious movement (lunar calendar 631) very early. These results support some statements of the tradition literature.
Rahlf Hansen, Planetarium Hamburg, translated by Alex Leo, Planetarium Hamburg
In an era where we have Organizers, GPS and radio controlled clocks it is difficult to imagine the difficulties encountered in early times to regulate their calendar. In those days the rhythms of the heavens were used to regulate time: the Sun provided the days and the years, the Moon provided the months and the weeks. Farmers need a solar calendar that shows the seasons. The narrow crescent evening Moon, known as the First Crescent, indicates the beginning of a new month just as the Islamic calendar still does today. But how does one reconcile the lunar year with the solar year, which is 11 days longer? In earlier times, this was done by introducing leap months.
We know of just such a rule from the Babylonian Cuneiform mul-apin text. If the First Crescent appears by the Seven Sisters star cluster, the Pleiades, during the spring month, in which the year begins, then this is a normal year. If, however, during this month the Moon does not appear in the Pleiades until the third day, it forms a wider crescent – a signal that a leap month must be added. It is exactly this phenomenon that is encrypted on the Star Disc. The width of the lunar crescent on the Star Disc corresponds to the Babylonian leap signal. On the first phase of the Star Disc are depicted the crescent, the golden circle, the seven point rosette and 25 additional golden points numbering 32 in total. The rosette is taken to represent the Pleiades. By interpreting the depiction as a record of an intercalary rule we’re not only explaining the width of the lunar Crescent but also providing an explanation for the number 32 and the meaning of the golden circle. The lunar month is 29.5 days long. If a leap month has to be added, the Moon will not appear in the Pleiades in its First Crescent phase but two days later with a wider crescent. In this case, 32 days must elapse from the previous First Crescent Moon. The 32 points on the Disc can thus be interpreted as the 32 days that elapse between the previous First Crescent Moon and the Moon appearing by the Pleiades in the spring month. As a leap signal, these 32 days are just as equally valid as the width of the lunar crescent. The leap signal is therefore doubly encoded on the Star Disc:
1.) If a Moon Crescent having the thickness of the depicted crescent appears by the Pleiades in the Spring month, then this is a leap trigger.
2.) If 32 days elapse from the First Crescent of the previous month (before the spring month) until the Moon in the spring month, then this is a leap trigger.
But the number 32 also has another meaning, linking the solar and lunar calendars. In 32 solar years, 33 lunar years elapse. If we interpret the golden disc as the Sun, then the 32 points are related to the Sun and we deduce the 32 solar years. If we also count the golden disc, then we get a total of 33. This refers to the Moon, the only remaining object on the disc, and so we get 33 lunar years.
In Prof. Schlosser’s current interpretations, that have been extended and not contradicted in this text, the golden disc is interpreted as the Full Moon. Here it is also interpreted as the Sun. Sun OR Moon? The answer is Sun AND Moon. This is elaborated on in a further text.
3600 years ago the Pleiades disappeared in the dusk 12 days before the onset of Spring. If, ideally, the First Crescent Moon appears by the Pleiades on the last day of their visibility, then the Full Moon and the start of Spring coincide. The Full Moon in the Spring Month then signals the start of Spring and with it, in many cultures, the start of the new year.
The Full Moon thus symbolizes the new solar year. Therefore the golden disc can be interpreted as the Full Moon in the Spring month AND as the Sun.
So here we have an astoundingly complex and nested design. On the one hand, the 32 golden points encode the leap signal of the 32 days to the Moon-Pleiades positioning. As well as symbolizing both the Full Moon by the Pleiades in Autumn (Schlosser’s interpretation) and the Full Moon in the Spring month at the beginning of Spring, the golden disc also symbolizes the Sun in relation to the 32 golden points representing solar years, and the Sun in relation to the start of the solar year at the Spring Full Moon. Via its width, the lunar crescent near the Pleiades (the rosette) directly indicates the leap signal and, together with the 32 golden points and the golden disc, symbolizes the 33 lunar years, that correspond to the 32 solar ones. The rosette representing the Pleiades shows, as Schlosser explained, exact dates in Spring (with the Crescent Moon) and in Autumn (with the Full Moon). And on the other hand, it triggers, together with the wide lunar crescent, the leap signal in the lunar calendar.
This interpretation explains the number of golden points, the meaning of the golden disc, the width of the lunar crescent and why the lunar crescent is larger than the golden disc. If the Star Disc was used as a pictorial comparison of the width of the real Crescent Moon in the Spring month by the Pleiades, then the latter is the deciding object on the Disc and was made bigger than the golden disc.
In an era when no numerical intercalary rules were yet available, any celestial observations would have needed to reconcile the lunar and solar motions. The calendar was only regulated by these observations. In its time, this knowledge was very beneficial and can be considered as the Bronze Age hi-tech know-how. An obsession with such complexities need not astound us.
Whether this knowledge emerged locally or from as far a field as Mesopotamia, remains open. The clues on the encrypted world view and the rosette shape mentioned earlier however do not exclude a possible Mesopotamian origin and are in fact supported by this interpretation.
known the saros-cycle, but they were not able to observe the important previous
eclipse of three saros-cycles (or one exeligmus) before. However, this special eclipse
could be observed in Northern Europe. This article shows that astronomers in there
were able to predict the Thales eclipse. They knew the saros-cycle, as can be deduced for example by looking at the "Berlin Gold-Hat". By observing an eclipse of the sun they were able to predict the next exeligmus-eclipse. They calculated the difference in length via the difference in time. They got the difference in latitude from the observation of corresponding lunar eclipses. Alternatively they used a theoretical model for determining the movement in latitude.
The full moon in the spring month symbolizes the new-year at the beginning of spring. Therefore, one finds in Near East often the symbol of a circle (beside figurative representations) for the sun AND moon, not seldom with the Pleiades.
At the reign of Hammurabi – possibly also the production time of the sky disc – in 1800 B.C. the last visibility of the Pleiades in the evening sky occurred in such a way that when they disappeared and at the same time the First Crescent Moon
appeared (the „ideal situation“) the following full moon decorated the sky at the beginning of spring: The full moon as a symbol of the sun! Thus three elements (First Crecent Moon, Pleiades and full moon / sun) symbolize the spring feast (today
Easter). Nowadays no Pleiades appear in the Easter rule. The „Plejadenschock“ led to the fact that the Pleiades disappeared from that rule. In 600 B.C. the sky constellations had moved on account of the precession so far that the intercalary rule was not valid any more in the spring month. Exemplarily at the example of Persepolis we indicate the reaction to the „Plejadenschock“. We look in addition at orientations and at symbols of Persepolis. We discuss the effects of the „Plejadenschock“ in the Persian’s empire, thus with the Jews, Syrians and Arabs.
In 1604 Kepler observed a new star and believed in a connection to a special and very rare planetary conjunction. After a Jupiter-Saturn-conjunction Jupiter met Mars. Kepler speculated that the star of Bethlehem might be a new star which was generated after a similar conjunction and recalculated it for 6/7 B.C.
Nowadays examples of both astronomical (and astrological) interpretations of the star of Bethlehem exist. The best known is the three time conjunction of 6/7 B.C.. But the interpretation of Martin seems equally excellent. Vardaman takes the Halley comet of 12 B.C. to be the star of Bethlehem. Other speculations arise from two Novae in the years 5 and 4 B.C., tabulated in sources from the Far East.
But historians tell us that there is no need for a real star. The text in Matthew, book 2 is a legend. What is important in regard to the understanding of the star of Bethlehem is the “sidus Julium,” the comet which could be seen in the sky when Caesar's funeral and the march of the King of Armenia Tiridates to Nero in Rome took place. There was no real star over Bethlehem. All we have are interesting speculations, like those by Kepler.
1 Zur Plejadenregel siehe Hansen 2007, Hansen 2008 und Hansen, Rink 2008a.
C.Rink und R.Hansen: Der altarabische Kalender 201
sources wrong in the light of the lunar calendar known to them. Or did there alreadyexist a pure lunar calendar in preislamic times in the Arabian cultural sphere?Finally we claim that in Arabia in preislamic times a lunisolar calendar was usedregulated by the observation of the Pleiades next to the moon (the MesopotamianPleiades leap-year-rule). Further we suppose a star calendar to determine the solaryear. The very special observable astronomical event at 9.4.631 might have beenessential for introducing the pure moon calendar in the Arabian cultural sphere andsupports our hypothesis of an original lunisolar calendar.
The Pleiades' leap year rule is of great importance. What we call the “Ideal Situation” is the one when the first cresent of the moon corresponds with the last visibility of the Pleiades in the evening sky. During the time of Hammurabi the following full moon corresponded with the spring equinox. We present a chronology of Hammurabi with the “Ideal Situation” as basis. The movement of the “Ideal Situation” out of the spring month caused the so called “Plejadenschock”. As a consequence of the “Plejadenschock” the monotheistic religions emerged.
As we already showed in 2013 (Rink, Hansen 2013), the date 9.4.631 is triple astronomically significant (Fig. 3). There is an "Idealsituation". This happened so late in the year that it became obvious that there could never be a full moon again in the supposed spring month BEFORE the beginning of spring. Thus the old "Plejadenschaltregel", the basis of the lunisolar calendar at that time, had fallen (,,Plejadenschock" Hansen, Rink 2014).
On this day, according to Islamic tradition, Ali actually introduced the cultic lunar calendar as it is still practiced in Islam today. The year was additionally characterized by a maximum ecliptic latitude of the moon in the Saros cycle, so that the moon could cover the Pleiades several times. Third, a lunar and lunisolar calendar, beginning with the Seleucid spring era 311 BC, came to coincidence again in the supposed spring month. Three important astronomical cycles rounded off on this date. The meaningful introduction of a new type of calendar on this date is thus well explainable.
About the meaning of the results: There are very different assumptions about the beginnings of Islam. Traditional literature, to which Islamic Studies largely adheres, gives a detailed historical account, which, however, was only written far after the events described. Non-Islamic contemporary sources for this process do not exist. The INARAH group, here representative of a critical assessment of traditional literature, attempts to explain the emergence of Islam from "classical" sources such as coins, inscriptions, philological arguments and archaeological findings. Here, reference is made to the Judeo-Christian roots of Islam. In these groups it is sometimes disputed when the development took place. Thus Segovia (2015) assumes a "Christian" original Koran at the time of the Prophet, who then "islamized" himself in decades. Others put this development decades before the time of the Prophet and see in his age the completion of the development of the Koran (Fig. 4). With Wellhausen (1897) and Clemen (1920) we want to bring the "pagan" (so Wellhausen) roots of Islam back into awareness. This includes the very old symbol of Islam (crescent star, see Fig. 1), the lunar calendar (symbolic Fig. 2) and the course of the Haggis. All these elements are not compatible with the Christian roots of Islam. Here an old Arabic tradition can be seen.
The astronomical significance of the date 9.4.631 shows that traditional literature is right on this point. The inscription of Gadara with its three datings (Kerr 2014) proves that already 42 AH (here equal to 662) the lunar calendar was valid in the "Arab" era. So there are at least two important roots of Islam: the "Christian-Jewish" and the "traditional-Arab" (Fig. 5). In addition, a third "political" root seems to be indicated: The "Arabic" era of 622, which, according to traditional literature, was only introduced in 638. So this new era was not introduced at the same time as the lunar calendar. Was there already an "Arabic" era in 631? 622 was politically the year when the Byzantine emperor Heraclius set out on his campaign against the Sassanids and the Arabs became independent of both great empires. But this could only be known afterwards, so that a later introduction seems understandable. The year 638 according to the traditional literature could have its origin in the fact that in this year the attempt of Heraclius finally failed to reconcile the different Christian movements (Lange 2012).
In traditional literature, the "official" lunar calendar was only introduced by Mohammed in 632. It should be remembered here that in 632 the era of the child ruler Yazdegerd III began in the decaying Sassanid Empire. This era is still in use today among the Zarathustrians.
It seems to us that the political circumstances of the time WITH the religious unification attempts of Heraclius and the disintegrating Sassanid empire are too little considered in the debate about the emergence of Islam. In addition, Islamic scholars seem to us to be too uncritical of the traditional narrative.
The alternative interpretations, on the other hand, do not sufficiently take into account the Arabic-traditional roots of Islam.
But Thales' work is undisputedly linked with the prediction of a total solar eclipse. We could already show how Thales could have predicted "his" eclipse with the help of astronomy from the Nordic Bronze Age (gold hats). Furthermore, we assume a quasi scientific program for astronomy in the Nordic Bronze Age (sky disk of Nebra, sun chariot, gold hats). With the prediction of the solar eclipse this methodology reached its (preliminary) climax.
In our opinion Thales not only took over the knowledge about the date of the solar eclipse from the north, but also the program behind it.
On the other hand, this new offer of the World Explanation had to compete with the religions. Thales lived in the
of Jasper's so-called Achsenzeit. For this time of religious upheavals we were able to demonstrate the failure of traditional connections between stars, moon and sun as representatives of the gods for astronomical reasons. Astronomical observations undermined religiously exaggerated astral connections that suddenly no longer were valid. As a consequence, monotheistic tendencies could unfold. An alternative to these was the complete renunciation of religion and the turning to a rational explanation of the world.
In our opinion there was already a scientific methodology in the Nordic Bronze Age, but only the (temporal AND spatial) coincidence of this methodology at Thales with the crisis of religion in the Achsenzeit led to the birth of philosophy and science as an independent phenomenon. It is a paradox of history that Thales is counted among the Seven Wise Men. The number Seven still refers to the old Pleiades religion and is a religious relic. Especially the overcomer of religion is always counted among the Seven Wise Men.
Starting point of our considerations was the meaning of the Babylonian Pleiades calendar rule with the symbol of the thick moon crescent at the Pleiades (fig. l and on the sky disk of Nebra fig. 2).
In the north this rule was adopted. But the calendar was optimized by the observations of lunar eclipses (sun chariot of Trundholm fig. 3 and Berliner Goldhut fig. 4). Eventually it was possible to predict not only lunar eclipses but even solar eclipses by the clever combination of observations of solar and lunar eclipses. Due to this method the Thales eclipse could be predicted not only by the date, but also by the local course. Thales must have known about this prediction and was its beneficiary. His image rose immeasurably and he became not only one of the seven wise men, but also father of science and philosophy.
To summarize Rink, Hansen 2014 (there also further literature of us to the topic).
The very great importance of the plejades for early cultures (Fig. 6) is shown in Hansen, Rink 2014 and 2015. In Hansen, Rink 2013 we suggest that Hamurabi already knew the Pleiades rule. When at that time the last visibility of the Pleiades coincided with the new light (Fig. 7), the following full moon was the beginning of spring (Fig. 8).
This is the origin of the concept of the Idealsituation.
Because of the precession this connection was lost and led to a crisis of the old religious ideas ("Plejadenschock"). Here we see the trigger for the phenomenon, which Karl Jaspers calls Achenzeit.
In the consequence of the Plejadenschock monotheistic tendencies developed as alternative to the traditional religions (Hansen, Rink 2013).
In this crisis of religions Thales was able to predict "his" solar eclipse. As we could show, he was not dependent on luck, but could fall back on knowledge from the north. How one can with the help of several gold hats and with methodological skill could have predicted the eclipse, we show in Rink, Hansen 2014. The coincidence of the Plejadenschock on the one hand and the successful prediction of its eclipse led to the birth of science.
Hansen, Rink 2013 Erste Ideen zum Einfluss der Astronomie auf das Aufkommen des Monotheismus, speziell das Auslaufen der Plejaden-Kalender-Schaltregel. Nuncius Hamburgensis 29, 2013. S. 250 - 277, hier besonders S. 268 - 272.
After we have examined in several articles the consequences of the expiry of the validity of the Babylonian leap rule for the regulation of a lunisolar calendar on the development of religions and found that these cosmic changes could have contributed significantly to the emergence of monotheisms in Judaism and Islam, we would now like to turn to the emergence of monotheism in ancient Egypt under Akhenaten. The stars played an important role in ancient Egypt. But at the time of Akhenaton an important constellation, the bull ham (Big Dipper), lost its nimbus. Because of the precession, a star of these "eternal" stars sank in the course of time and submerged into the underworld. This change could be propagandistically exploited to increase the importance of the sun in contrast. The turn to monotheism weakened the classical priesthood and strengthened the position of the Pharaoh. For this investigation, the visual conditions of the stars on the horizon, including refraction and extinction, are of decisive importance. These in turn are related to the weather conditions and therefore vary. This has to be taken into account for the dating. This example shows again how astronomy affects religions.
At the end of the 1st century a new exotic cult appeared in the Roman Empire - the Mithras cult. The name refers to the Persian sun god Mithras. In Persia, however, there was no cult of the sun god Mithra that resembled the later Roman cult. Merkelbach suspects a creation of the cult from the surroundings of the imperial house. We would associate the idea of the cult with the procession of Tiridate. The new Armenian ruler moved through the Roman Empire with a troop of thousands of Parthian horsemen. In gold-decorated Rome he threw himself at Nero's feet, worshipped him as his god Mithra and received his reign from Nero. Through this propagandacoup a threatening war between Rome and Parthia for the rule in Armenia could be prevented. As a sign of the solidarity between the two peoples, there could have been an agreement that a Persian god should also be worshipped in Rome.
The cult image of the bull-killing Mithras gives puzzles away. This picture cannot be understood from Persian mythology - but from the Roman imperial propaganda: Since Julius Caesar the Roman rulers increasingly connected their power with the sun. Thus the Egyptian solar calendar was introduced by Caesar in Rome, Augustus sacrificed Apollo after his decisive victory in Actium and erected an Egyptian obelisk as a sign of victory and pointer of a sundial in Rome. Nero received Tiridates disguised as sun god and Aurelian introduced in the 3rd century the December 25th as feast day of the invincible sun god in Rome.
In the Mithras relief, the sun-god kills a bull, that is curved to a (thick) crescent moon. The portrait is full of astral allusions. It is often framed by the zodiac and the participating animals partly represent the celestial equator. The zodiac and celestial equator together symbolize the whole cosmos, which is dominated by the sun god. In the calendar the sun replaces the triad sun, moon and stars. In a Babylonian leap rule, which enjoyed wider distribution, the thickness of the crescent moon in the Plejades in the constellation of Taurus in the supposed spring month is used to conclude the necessity of switching on a month. Thus sun, moon and stars (in particular the Pleiades) regulate the calendar and thus the order of the sky. However, this regulation had begun to waver around 500 BC. Due to the precession of the Earth's axis, the validity of the leap rule moved slowly from the spring month towards summer. An adaptation of the leap rule in the spring month would have led to a thicker moon crescent, than indicated in the Babylonian tradition. If one measures the cult images of the Mithras, then quite uniform "thicknesses" of the moon crescents result from the bull body. Converted into the age of the moon they correspond to a lunar thickness, which one would have had to use adapted in this time for the Babylonian leap rule - which however would have been clearly wrong for all experts. Thus the cult picture symbolizes the "falling" switching rule to the initiate and thus the failure of the triad moon, sun and stars. Only the sun alone could be relied upon. Thus the Mithras cult supports the supremacy of the sun over all other gods and thus also the legitimacy of the emperors, who increasingly referred to the sun. Just as the sun orders the cosmos, so does the emperor on earth. The Mithras cult was thus appropriated for the rule of the emperors - the Mithras relief contributed its part to this.