Celestial Ethiopia: from Ancient to contemporary is a documentation of the role of Ethiopia and its perople in shaping cosmology, mythology and modern astronomy. We solict scientific documents, links to resources and views from experts in the field archeoastronomy, phylosphy and anthropology. We are particularly interested between the relationship between African mythologies and Greco-Roman thoughts.

Sunday, November 30, 2008

DEBRE BERHAN-HALLEY'S COMET

Debre Berhan was founded in the reign of Emperor Zara Yaqob, in response to a miraculous light that was seen in the sky at the time. Believing this was a sign from God approving the death by stoning of a group of heretics 38 days before, the emperor ordered a church built on the site, and later constructed an extensive palace nearby, and a second church, dedicated to Saint Cyriacus. Zara Yaqob spent 12 of the last 14 years of his life. Historian Richard Pankhurst offers the date of 1456 for the date of the founding of this church, providing a plausible argument that the light in the sky was Halley's Comet, which could have been in Shewa that year, although the traditional dates (10th day of the month of Maggabit, i.e. 6 or 7 March) do not coincide with the days that the comet was most visible (13 through 17 June).[2]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Debre_Berhan#History

No comments: