Ancient Testimony for a Comet-like Venus
Ev Cochrane
Keywords: Venus, comet, Inanna, Eye, cosmic disaster
The paper summarizes literary and iconographic evidence for a comet-like Venus in ancient sources. In the earliest writings from Mesopotamia the planet Venus is denoted by a pictograph which shows a spiraling ?comet-like? image. A very similar form is attested in the earliest religious texts from ancient Egypt?the so-called Pyramid Texts?wherein it is employed to denote a comet-like celestial phenomenon, one associated with Venus. The question arises as to how to explain such testimony? Is it possible that the planet Venus formerly presented a comet-like form?
