Last Sail in 2018

My brother Nikos, steering Okyrhoe, to her winter berth.  They are near Patroclus islet and not far from cape Sounion.

Closing towards cape Sounion with a storm looming in the east. 

The sun lights a rock of the precipice at Sounion at sunset. Cape Sounion is surrounded on three sides by the sea and is where king Aegeas waited for his son Theseus return from Crete. 

Cape Sounion which the Venetians called Capo Colonne is noted for its temple of Poseidon, one of the major monuments of the Golden Age of Greece. 

Cape Sounion is close to the city of Lavrio, which in antiquity was called Thorikon.  It was known for its silver mines the proceeds from which supported the rise of Athens to the most important city in Classical Greece.

Christmas Star

The star of Bethlehem or Christmas star is a major seasonal symbol for most of the world, and it is referred in the Gospel of Matthew in the New Testament (Matt 2:2, 7-10, King James Version). 

As we don’t know the exact day Jesus was born and the Bible does not say, leaving us though few clues such as the shepherds were out in the field “keeping watch over their flock by night” (Luke 2:8), something it was likely done in the spring when lambs were born. 

As few astronomical records exist, it is likely that the star of Bethlehem was a nova or supernova, a previously unseen star that suddenly brightened the night sky. Indeed, one such star was recorded by the Chinese in the spring of 5 B.C, and was seen for more than two months.

Another hypothesis is that the Christmas star was likely the planet Jupiter or a conjunction of Jupiter with two other planets, Saturn and Mars. According to astronomers a series of such conjunctions took place in 6 and 5 B.C.  Planets bore great astrological or mystical significance to the ancients.

   

As planets and stars move from east to west during the night it make sense that the kings followed the phenomenon as according to the Scriptures they came from the east most likely Persia.  Thus it appears that Jesus birth was likely in the spring, probably between the years 7 and 4 B.C. 

I wish you all a Merry Christmas!!!

The leaves fall and the generations pass

Like the generations of leaves, 

So are the lives of mortal men.

Now the wind scatters the old leaves 

Across the earth,

And when the spring comes round again

The living timber bursts with new buds.

And so with men, 

One generation comes to life 

While another dies away.

From Homer’s Iliad

In memory of Norbert (Nobby) Enslen a good man, father and husband who passed peacefully at the age of 68.