1. The definitive biography is: Max Caspar, Kepler (trans. C. Doris Hellman; reprint, New York: Dover, 1993) ISBN 0-486-67605-6.

  2. They are: (1) All planets move about the Sun in elliptical orbits, having the Sun as one of the foci. (2) A radius vector joining any planet to the Sun sweeps out equal areas in equal lengths of time. (3) The squares of the sidereal periods (of revolution) of the planets are directly proportional to the cubes of their mean distances from the Sun.

  3. De stella nova, 1606, and De anno natali Christi, 1614.

  4. The ancients did not use our modern calendar system, of course, but the years they identified are in our system 3/2 BC. That is the dating of Irenaeus, Clement of Alexandria, Tertullian, Africanus, Hippolytus of Rome, Hippolytus of Thebes, Origen, Eusebius, Epiphanius, Cassiodorus, Orosius and others.

    See, Jack Finegan, The Handbook of Biblical Chronology (Revised Edition; Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson Publishers, 1998) ISBN 1-56563-143-9. Just before his death, Finegan revised this standard 1964 Princeton University Press chronological work. His final revision is based on the latest scholarship and supports the chronology used on this web site.

  5. A typical statement from a reference work, perhaps uninformed by recent scholarship on this issue: "...Jesus' birth happened before Herod the Great's death, which was no later than March or April in 4 BC", Nelson's New Illustrated Bible Dictionary (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, Inc., 1995) ISBN 0-8407-2071-8.

  6. An interesting historical novel first published in 1887 and in which Josephus is a central figure is: G. A. Henty, For the Temple (Reprint; Mill Hall, Penna.: Preston/Speed Publications, 1996) ISBN 1-887159-00-2.

  7. In this same war, the entire population of the Jewish fortress-city of Masada commited suicide to avoid capture.

    Josephus tells that tale in The Wars of the Jews Book VII, Chapter 9. When most of the terrible work was done, "they then chose ten men by lot out of them to slay all the rest; every one of whom laid himself down by his wife and children on the ground, and threw his arms about them, and they offered their necks to the stroke of those who by lot executed that melancholy office... and he who was the last of all... with the great force of his hand ran his sword entirely through himself, and fell down dead near to his own relations. So these people died with this intention, that they would not leave so much as one soul among them all alive to be subject to the Romans."

  8. Harold W. Hoehner, Chronological Aspects of the Life of Christ, Chapter VI: "Daniel's Seventy Weeks and the New Testament Chronology" (Grand Rapids: Academie Books, 1977) ISBN 0-310-26211-9.

  9. Josephus does not state the date of Herod's death as we would today with our modern calendar system. Deriving the date of death from his writings necessarily involves inference. The primary bases for the inference are the date of a lunar eclipse mentioned by Josephus as closely preceding Herod's death, the duration of his term in office, and the term of office of his son and successor, Philip. For thorough treatments of the date of Herod's death as being 1 BC, see Finegan, at footnote 4 and Martin, at footnote 11. See also, Beyer, at footnote 10.

  10. David W. Beyer, "Josephus Re-Examined: Unraveling the Twenty-Second Year of Tiberius", in Chronos, Kairos, Christos II, edited by E. Jerry Vardaman (Macon: Mercer University Press, 1998) ISBN 0-86554-582-0.

  11. Ernest L. Martin, The Star That Astonished the World (Second Edition; Portland, Oregon: ASK Publications, 1996) ISBN 0-94-5657-87-0. This book is a "must have" reference work if you would like to study the Star. It contains a wealth of material corroborating the date of Herod's death as 1 BC.

  12. For example: Starry Night, the program used for the present investigation, is available at www.space.com.

  13. The New Columbia Encyclopedia (New York: Columbia University Press, 1975) ISBN 0-231-03572-1.

  14. The Book of Deuteronomy 17.2-5.

  15. Raymond E. Capt, The Glory of the Stars (Reprint; Muskogee, Oklahoma: Hoffman Printing, 1998) ISBN 0-934666-02-4.

  16. The Book of Daniel, Chapter 2.

  17. Says Philo at QUOD OMN. PROB. (74): "Among the Persians there is a body of the Magi, who, investigating the works of nature for the purpose of becoming acquainted with the truth, do at their leisure become initiated themselves and initiate others in the divine virtues by very clear explanations."

  18. Tacitus, The Histories, Book V: "...among themselves [the Jews] are inflexibly honest and ever ready to show compassion, though they regard the rest of mankind with all the hatred of enemies.".

  19. As examples, Suetonius reports in De Vida Caesarum: Tiberius (LXIX) that Tiberius Caesar, who reigned at the time of Christ's birth, was "addicted" to astrology. Tacitus reports in The Histories (Book II) that Emperor Vespasian kept a personal astrologer, Seleucus, and that his troops were familiar with celestial signs. See also, Martin, at footnote 11.

  20. Tacitus, The Histories (Book V), writes: "...most [of the Jews] firmly believed that their ancient priestly writings contained the prophecy that this was the very time when the East should grow strong and that men starting from Judea should possess the world."

    In De Vita Caesarum: Divus Vespasian, Suetonius records that "[t]here had spread over all the Orient an old and established belief that it was fated at that time for men coming from Judaea to rule the world."

    He goes on to say that Vespasian was so concerned with this prophecy of the Christ that he attempted to exterminate the entire Davidic family line—even helpless old men were killed.

    Josephus appears not to have believed the prophecy, but he records that it had great influence on others. In Wars (6.5.4), he even states his belief that the prediction was the cause of the first Jewish War against the Romans. "But now, what did most elevate [the Jews] in undertaking this war was an ambiguous oracle that was also found in their sacred writings, how 'about that time, one from their own country should become governor of the habitable earth.' The Jews took this prediction to belong to themselves in particular, and many of the wise men were thereby deceived in their determination."

    The Pharisees of Jesus' day were plainly on the lookout for the Christ. The Book of John 1.14-27.

    Upon meeting Jesus, Andrew immediately told others that he had found the Christ. The Book of John 1.41.

    Even the Samaritan woman at the well had this on her mind. She told Jesus, "I know that Messiah (called Christ) is coming." The Book of John 4.25.

  21. Suetonius, De Vita Caesarum: Divus Augustus (94), recounting the report of Julius Marathus. As some of their wives were pregnant at the time of the prediction, senators conspired to insure that the Senate's decree was not recorded in the treasury. Each perhaps hoped that their unborn child might be the ruler-to-come. The decree was apparently not implemented widely, if at all.

  22. Nearly everything in the sky has at one time or another been proposed as the Star, usually with near complete disregard for the Biblical criteria.