Athens, Greece — 479 BC
What was the flying object at the battle of Salamis?
A “horn-shaped object” is said to have flown over during the battle of Salamis (Salamine) near Athens, Greece, between the Greeks and the Persians. The term “horned star” has often been used to describe comets. Upon consulting Cometography: A Catalogue of Comets by Gary W. Kronk and Brian G. Marsden (Cambridge University Press, 1999, 154) we find that interestingly, these authors do include the Salamis observation in their catalogue, calling it a Cerastes type comet. Pliny writes in his Natural History (Book II, Chapter XXII) that “There are stars that suddenly come to birth in the heaven itself; of these there are several kinds. The Greeks call them ‘comets,’ in our language ‘long-haired stars,’ because they have a blood-red shock of what looks like shaggy hair at their top. The Greeks also give the name of ‘bearded stars’ to those from whose lower part spreads a mane resembling a long beard. ‘Javelin-stars’ quiver like a dart; these are a very terrible portent.” *
Source: Case: W459