Atmospheric Signs and Disasters: Portents and Prodigies in Ancient Rome

[Laura]

Re: Portents and Prodigies in Ancient Rome

Continuing after that mysterious gap of 10 years that I don't believe for a minute (I'll continue to dig to see if anything turns up for that period.)

61a. Consulship of Decimus Junius and Lucius Murena BC 62
After Gaius Antonius as proconsul had infliced final defeat on Catiline in the neighbourhood of Pistoria, he carried his laurel-wreathed fasces with him into his province. There he was crushed by the Dardani and fled after losing his army. This showed that he had given an omen of victory to his enemies when he brought to them the conqueror's laurel that he ought to have deposited on the Capitol. (Summary CIII; cf. 56.)

62. Consulship of Quintus Metellus and Lucius Afranius BC 60
Although the entire day had been clear up to that time, about the eleventh hour night spread over the sky, and then dayllight was restored. Roofs were thrown down by the force of a tornado. Whe a bridge collapsed, people were thrown into the Tiber. In the country many trees were torn up by the roots. The Lusitanian Callaeci were subdued. (Defeat of Callaeci by caesar, Summary CIII; Dio XXXVII. lviii.)

SIX YEAR GAP? Notice that the number of the next item is out of order. It is not known why Julius Obsequens recorded it this way. An error in the transmission is possible or the whole account of Crassus' expedition may have been given in the year of the final disaster. Dio follows the same order as the MS. of Obsequens in reporting these prodigies, though I have placed it here in its correct position while retaining Obsequens' numbering.

64. Consulship of Lucius Domitius and Appius Claudius BC 54
When Marcus Crassus was crossing the Euphrates in his campaign against the Parthians, he disregarded many portents. Even when a storm came up, tore a standard from its bearer, and sank it in the stream, and the army was prevented from crossing by a black storm fog that came pouring down on them, Crassus obstinately pushed on and perished with his son and his army. (Dio CL. sviii; Florus I. xlvi. 4; Plutarch, Crassus xix. 3-5; Summary CVI)

63. Consulship of Gnaeus Domitius and Marcus Messala BC 53
Wolves were seen in Rome. The mournful howling of dogs was heard by night. The image of Mars sweated. A thunderbolt strayed over the whole city, overthrowing many images of gods, and taking people's lives. The city was purified. Because of the dictatorship of Pompey there was great civil disturbance in Rome. (Dio XL. xvii.l.) (The "dictatorship" of Pompey presumably refers to the sole consulship he was given after the riots over the murder of Publius Clodius Pulcher and the trial of the murderer, Milo.)

A "thunderbolt strayed over the whole city"???!!! "Fulmen tota urbe pervagatum pleraque deorum simulacra decussit, homines exanimavit."

That was one heck of a "thunderbolt" assuming that it was lightning. My guess is that it was an overhead explosion of some sort of body, cometary or asteroidal, possibly raining down a shower of stones, i.e. "thunderbolts".

65. Consulship of Lucius Paulus and Gaius Marcellus BC 50
A foaling mule indicated civil strife, destruction of respectable citizens, (bonorum interitum), the overthrow of the constitution, and unseemly child-bearing among matrons. A fire by which a very large section of the city was destroyed was regarded as a portentous event. The civil wars between Caesar and Pompey had their beginning. (Fragments 31 and 32; Summary CIX.) (bonorum can also mean goods but interitus suggests people rather than things, as would "decease" in English.)

The fire above is interesting in view of the events from the previous account. That the fire was considered "portentous" is suggestive that there was something unusual about it.

65a. Consulship of Gaius Caesar and Publius Servilius BC 48
When Pompey was marshalling his line of battle against Caesar in Macedonia and had summoned some peoples friendly to himself, lightning flashes gave them an unfavourable omen as they were advancing fry Dyrrhacium. A swarm of bees on the standards foretold ruin. There were panics at night in the army. Pompey himself on the day before the battle dreamed that he was being received in his own theatre with great applause. Immediately afterward he was defeated in battle, and was put to death in Egypt. On that very day, it is well known that in many places statues turned about of their own accord, battle-cries and the clash of arms were heard at Antioch, so that twice the walls were manned; the same sounds were heard at Ptolemais, and the noise of timbrels at Pergamum. A growing palm sprang up to full-grown size in Tralles in the temple of Victory, between the joints of the stones below the statue of Caesar. Gaius Cornelius, an augur, announced at Padua on that very day, since it was indicated by the birds, that the action was taking place, and that Caesar was conquering. (Summaries CXI and CXII; Valerius Maximus I. vi. 12; Florus II. xiii. 45.; fragment 34.)

Earth movements and electrophonic sound phenomena?

66. Consulship of Gaius Caesar and Marcus Lepidus BC 46
The eagles of ten legions seemed to Gnaeus Pompeius, son of Gnaeus (Pompeius Magnus), to drop the thunderbolts they held and to fly away into the sky. Young Pompey himself was defeated and killed as he fled. (Cf. Summary CXV; Dio XLIII.xxxv.3f.)

More showers of stones, i.e. "thunderbolts", from the sky?

67. Consulship of Gaius Caesar and Marcus Antonius BC 44
Entrails without a heart were found at Dictator Caesar's sacrifice. His wife Calpurnia dreamed that the gable-top on his house, which had been added by decree of the senate, had fallen. By night when the doors of his bed-chamber were closed, they opened of their own accord, so that Calpurnia was awakened by the moonlight which streamed in brightly. Caesar himself was riddled with twenty-three wounds by the conspirators in Pompey's senate-house. (Summary CXVI; fr. 46.)

68. Consulship of Marcus Antonius and Publius Dolabella BC 44
In accordance with the will of his father Caesar, Gaius Octavius enrolled himself in the Julian clan at Brundisium. And when at the third hour of the day he entered Rome, surrounded by a huge crowd, the sun, enclosed within a small circle of clear and calm sky, surrounded Octavius with the end of an arc such as the rainbow usually displays in the clouds. At the festival of Mother Venus, which he conducted for the college, a comet appearing at the eleventh hour under the constellation of the Bear drew the eyes of everyone. Since this star appeared at the festival of Venus, it was decided to dedicate it as a crown-jewel to the deified Julius. Though Caesar (Octavian) himself suffered much because of the unnatural malice of Consul Antony, he showed a gallant steadfastness in withstanding him. Earthquakes were frequent. The ship sheds and many other things were struck by lightning. By the violence of a tornado a statue, which Marcus Cicero had placed before the temple-chamber of Minerva on the day before he was exiled by decree of the commons, fell on its face with its limbs detached and its shoulders arms, and head broken; this foretold disaster to Cicero himself. Bronze tablets were torn by the tornado from the temple of Loyalty. The doors of the temple of Wealth were broken. Trees were torn up by the roots, and many roofs were overturned. A meteor in the sky was seen to travel towards the west. A conspicuous star blazed up for seven days. Three suns shone, and around the lowest sun a wreath like the wreath of heads of grain flashed into view surrounding it, and afterward when the sun had been reduced to a single orb, its light was sickly for many months. In the temple of Castor some letters were struck from the names of the consuls Antony and Dolabella, which meant that both would be estranged from the fatherland. The howling of dogs was heard by night before the residence of the Chief Pontiff, and the fact that the largest dog was torn by the others foretold unseemly disgrace to Lepidus. At Ostia a school of fish was stranded on dry land when a flooding sea in turn receded. The Po overflowed, and when it returned within its banks, left a great abundance of vipers. The civil wars between Caesar (Octavian) and Antony had their beginning. (Octavian, Pliny, Natural History II. 28 (98); Suetonius, Augustus 95; Orosius VI. xx. 5.; comet, Dio XLV. vii l; cf. Vergil, Georgis I. 463-497; Ovid, Metamorphoses XV. 782-98, 847-51; Lucan, Pharsalia I. 522-83; Lydus, On Signs 10b; other omens, Dio XLV. xvii; three suns, Jerome on Eusebius II, anno 1973 [Mai, col. 429 f.]. Cf. Summary CXVII)

In the above, "tornado" is "turbinis".

69. Consulship of Gaius Pansa and Aulus Hirtius BC 43
When distinctions and military authority against Antony were conferred by vote on Caesar (Octavian), double entrails appeared as he offered sacrifice. Success in his undertakings proceeded to attend him. A mounted statue of Consul Gaius Pansa collapsed at his home. (C. Pansae cos. statua equestris Antonii domi corruit. The name of Antony which appears in the Latin text is an intrusion for which no wholly satisfactory remedy has been proposed. Here, it has been translated without it in agreement with Dio's text.) A horse with trappings, while dashing along before his very eyes, fell dead. One of the populace slipped in the blood of the victims [of sacrifice] and gave Pansa, as he was setting out, a palm spattered with gore. These portents were deadly to the consul himself, for presently as he was fighting against Antony, he was mortally wounded. A vision of armour and weapons seemed to rise with a crash from earth to heaven. The standards of the legion which had been left by Pansa as a garrison for Rome were seen to be wrapped in spiderwebs spun over them, as though from long disuse. Several things were struck by lightning. In Caesar's camp at dawn an eagle lighted on the ridge of the headquarters above the awning, and then, being disturbed by smaller birds flying around it, disappeared from sight. At the oracle of Apollo a cry was heard, "Madness of wolves in the winter, in summer no reaping of grain." When the veterans demanded the consulship for Caesar, there was a dreadful disturbance at Rome. When Caesar was parading his forces on the Campus Martius, six vultures appeared. When thereafter he mounted the Rostra after his appointment as consul, again six vultures were seen and so, by the omen vouchsafed to a Romulus, gave the starting signal to the one who was about to found the city anew. After a reconciliation had been effected between Caesar, Antony, and Lepidus, there followed an atrocious proscription of the leading citizens. (Dio SLVI. xxxiii.; xlvi. 2; Suetonius, Augustus 95; Summary CXIX.)

In the proscription mentioned above, somebody finally had the good sense to get rid of that atrocious creature, Marcus Tullius Cicero, the most revolting human being ever to live.

70. Consulship of Marcus Lepidus and Munatius Plancus BC 42
A mule foaled in Rome by the Twelve Gates. The dead bitch of a sacristan was dragged off by a dog. Light shone so brightly at night that people got up to begin work as though day had dawned. In the neighbourhood of Mutina the memorial to the victory of Marius, which faced south, of its own accord turned towards the north at the fourth hour. While these omens were being averted by sacrifices, three suns were seen about the third hour of the day, which presently drew together into a single orb. At the Latin Festival on the Alban Mount, blood dripped from the shoulder and thumb of Jupiter while sacrifice was being offered. Campaigns were conducted under Cassius and Brutus in the provinces by plundering the allies. It was regarded as a portent that Publius Titius, as praetor, ejected a colleague from office because of disagreements; and before a year had passed, Titius died. It is known that no one who had deprived a colleague of office has lived for a year afterward. The following acted in this manner: Lucius Junius Brutus, as consul, with Tarquinius Collatinus, Tiberius Gracchus with Marcus Octavius, Gnaeus Octavius with Lucius Cinna, Gaius Cinna, as tribune of the commons, with Gaius Marullus, Tullius... [lacuna]

As Brutus and Cassius were strenuously preparing for battle against Caesar and Antony, a swarm of bees settled in the camp of Cassius. The place was cut off by drawing the rampart farther in, on the order of the soothsayers. A huge throng of vultures and other birds which feed on the carnage of battle few up to the army. A boy who was being carried in procession in the costume of Victory, fell from the barrow. At the purification, the lictor placed the laurel on the fasces when they were reversed. As Brutus' men marched out to battle an Ethiopian met them at the gate and was stabbed by the soldiers. Cassius and Brutus perished. (Omens in Italy, Dio XLVII.xl; Titius, Dio XLVI. ilix.l f. [43 BC]; Collatinus, II.ii; Octavius, Summary LVIII; Lucius Cinna, Summary LXXIX (this instance is included neither in Dio nor the Obsequens MS.); Marullus, Dio XLIV. ix 3-x. 3; Tullius is not identifiable; omens at Philippi, Plutarch, Brutus xxxix. 1-3; xlviii; Appian, Civil Wars IV. xvii. 134; Florus II. svii. 7. Cf. Summary CXXIV.)

What seems fairly obvious is that things became very, very unsettled at the time of the assassination of Julius Caesar and continued so for the couple of years following, at least.

After the entry for 42 BC, there is nothing until 17 BC, a gap of 25 years. Considering what was going on from 44 to 42, it is unlikely, I think, for there to have been nothing in the way of portents for the following 25 years so the gap is probably due to the destruction of the records. I'll keep looking, of course, to see if there is anything to fill in that gap.

 

[Michael B-C]

Re: Portents and Prodigies in Ancient Rome

Thanks Laura for these extraordinary illustrations of what is above is below.

One comment: I would suggest that the enigma that is the ‘Thunderbolt of the Gods’ is still a mystery waiting to be solved. All the references in mythology seem to equate it with a particular omniscient force, one not as simple as a by-product of ordinary lightning or overhead explosion. It is also worth noting that the images of the thunderbolts in antiquity are suggestive of plasma discharge rather than earth bound lightning’s dendritic forms. Could it be some form of hitherto unknown planetary or atmospheric phenomenon relating to electrical interaction with incoming cometary bodies? It is clear that sun diving comets elicit violent discharge from the sun (even though this manifest connection is still absurdly denied by NASA); could not the same occur when comets get too close to large bodies such as earth or indeed other charged comets? The myth of the Titan Phaethon (perhaps a breakaway comet fragment) seems to suggest the same; that the thunderbolt of Zeus (the sky/atmosphere) brought the fiery interloper crashing to a watery grave upon the earth after its close fly by had created much devastation. There is also the matter of the extreme scarring on Mars that the Thunderbolts team have suggested to be electrical in origin (although this hypothesis is contentious).

Symbols of an Alien Sky Episode 2 The Lightning Scarred Planet Mars Clip #1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V0_UALXlLSY

Symbols of an Alien Sky Episode 2 The Lightning Scarred Planet Mars Clip #2
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RBQ7goaUZwo

Rocks could well be involved. But massive electrical discharge would remain a most likely instrument of the downpour.

 

[Approaching Infinity]

Re: Portents and Prodigies in Ancient Rome

One comment: I would suggest that the enigma that is the ‘Thunderbolt of the Gods’ is still a mystery waiting to be solved. All the references in mythology seem to equate it with a particular omniscient force, one not as simple as a by-product of ordinary lightning or overhead explosion. It is also worth noting that the images of the thunderbolts in antiquity are suggestive of plasma discharge rather than earth bound lightning’s dendritic forms. Could it be some form of hitherto unknown planetary or atmospheric phenomenon relating to electrical interaction with incoming cometary bodies? It is clear that sun diving comets elicit violent discharge from the sun (even though this manifest connection is still absurdly denied by NASA); could not the same occur when comets get too close to large bodies such as earth or indeed other charged comets? The myth of the Titan Phaethon (perhaps a breakaway comet fragment) seems to suggest the same; that the thunderbolt of Zeus (the sky/atmosphere) brought the fiery interloper crashing to a watery grave upon the earth after its close fly by had created much devastation. There is also the matter of the extreme scarring on Mars that the Thunderbolts team have suggested to be electrical in origin (although this hypothesis is contentious).

Hi Michael BC. If you check out Laura's book "Horns of Moses", you'll see she's aware of the EU theory, and supports it. If you read some of the earlier entries of this thread, she even makes similar comments to the one you just made: the thunderbolts mentioned in the ancient sources are not simple lightning.

 

[Michael B-C]

Re: Portents and Prodigies in Ancient Rome

Thanks Approaching Infinity. Point taken. Indeed I have read HOM, twice in fact, and as with all of Laura’s crucial work, I am still processing all the leads and threads. I simply allowed my immediate thoughts in response to the particular language in her latest post to run away with me and didn’t think to refresh by looking back over previous in the thread. Apologies.

 

[Laura]

Re: Portents and Prodigies in Ancient Rome

Thanks Approaching Infinity. Point taken. Indeed I have read HOM, twice in fact, and as with all of Laura’s crucial work, I am still processing all the leads and threads. I simply allowed my immediate thoughts in response to the particular language in her latest post to run away with me and didn’t think to refresh by looking back over previous in the thread. Apologies.

No apologies necessary. I will, of course, be complete and explicit when I write about this more formally, but here, they are just off the cuff comments that are meant to get people thinking. Plasma phenomena can explain a LOT of things that the ancients witnessed and things that we are experiencing more and more in the present day as well.

 

[herondancer]

Re: Portents and Prodigies in Ancient Rome

One thing I found interesting was the number of times a statue was reported to have moved, looking east instead of west or turning on itself. The falling or smashed ones could be explained by earthquakes or meteorites, but what sort of force would alter a statues position without damaging it? Kind of like this:

http://www.sott.net/article/263065-The-curse-of-the-spinning-statue-at-Manchester-Museum

 

[neema]

Re: Portents and Prodigies in Ancient Rome

Fascinating. It seems that our true history is more intriguing and dramatic then most fiction.

Also looks like the emergence of a new island is another one of those signs that is repeating.

 

[Alana]

Re: Portents and Prodigies in Ancient Rome

Fascinating. It seems that our true history is more intriguing and dramatic then most fiction.

And sometimes more unbelievable even than fiction. Reading through all the accounts of everything happening at the time on/from sky and on earth, it just blows my mind that states would just pack their armies and off they go to wage wars while all of these was going on. I get it, intellectually, the wars are needed to take people's attention away from the celestial threat or the catastrophic earth changes, as Clube wrote. Just like today. But still, part of my mind has a lot of trouble understanding this insanity that most of humanity goes along with, then and now.

 

[SeekinTruth]

Re: Portents and Prodigies in Ancient Rome

Fascinating. It seems that our true history is more intriguing and dramatic then most fiction.

And sometimes more unbelievable even than fiction. Reading through all the accounts of everything happening at the time on/from sky and on earth, it just blows my mind that states would just pack their armies and off they go to wage wars while all of these was going on. I get it, intellectually, the wars are needed to take people's attention away from the celestial threat or the catastrophic earth changes, as Clube wrote. Just like today. But still, part of my mind has a lot of trouble understanding this insanity that most of humanity goes along with, then and now.

Yeah, and the most incredible part of it is that THAT makes what's happening in the sky and on Earth "heat up" more and more. The wars and the dogged struggle to save the status quo/elite's privileges MAKE the destruction much worse from the cosmic angle, but so few can notice the connection between these and the cosmic and Earth changes that it just repeats in its cyclic way; granted, history is totally falsified EXACTLY to make these connection very hard to see. It's more interesting than most fiction.

 

[Michael B-C]

Re: Portents and Prodigies in Ancient Rome

It’s the great chicken and egg question isn’t it? As you all say, utterly fascinating and bound up with a complexity of intertwined forces that is challenging if mind expanding to unravel. Thanks to Laura we have many of the keys. The question that comes to mind is the precise relationship of the forces at work. That is if we take it that cyclical catastrophe is written, as such, into the quantum nature of this region of the galaxy (for we know next to nothing beyond our own shores), how much of this process is truly natural to location and how much natural to human determination? SeekinTruth points out, as the cosmic influences increase so does humanity (via ponerologised society) reach for its own destruction through increased warfare and psychological/ecological degradation all of which apparently attracts further ‘wrath’ from the heavens and so on. This checks and balances process is perhaps allied to our soul karma and the need to collectively learn to outgrow the STS power of psychopathic civilisation.

But we also have the suggested issue of ‘food for the moon’; the need of the moon to feed itself to grow. Is this purely an issue of 4th density STS or is there some other force at work literally allied to the growing planetary influence of our near neighbour, that adds a vibrational frequency to the mix which even the psychopaths are unable to overcome. A kind of madness that evades one and all. No matter how clever they think they are. That they are merely a tool for a greater force which uses them as a mechanic to feed on humans. A parasite feeding on another parasite so as to gain access to the food that is the host for both?! As neema states, we can get at an intellectual level the idea that the ptb ramp up the war machine to hide from the populace the truth of recurring cyclical destruction, but you would have thought by now that they would have learned enough over the millennia to direct their destructive actions with a more self-protective perspective i.e. bad enough to enjoy the rewards, not so bad as to increase chances of mutual self destruction – avoiding MADness (sic) in fact! I remember Laura’s dismay in one of the early sessions with the C’s when they told her just how much knowledge/information the STS ptb forces had regarding the true nature of things. The gap then between her wisdom and their accumulated information was massive. I know the gap has been closing but it doesn’t stop the suggestion that ‘they’ know an enormous amount about the actual nature of the cyclical process and the forces that are now bringing such change and transformation to our solar system. They have, after all, re-written history to hide all these facts.

So they know and yet they still act like bone headed numskulls! Most strange! Is it that psychopaths are blind agents of 4th density STS? Programmed robots, self destruct drones, with no other purpose than to ensure we remain trapped in the cycle? Or as I say is the localised hunger of the region as much an issue? Something missing here I think!

Ps Thank you Laura for your understanding reaction to my previous post. Hate to think that you are wasting any of your precious energies on unnecessary posting!
:)

 

[Eboard10]

Re: Portents and Prodigies in Ancient Rome

http://www.sott.net/article/268641-Archaeologists-uncover-secrets-of-Portus-once-gateway-to-Rome

Archaeologists uncover secrets of Portus, once gateway to Rome

British archeologists digging near Rome have built up an accurate picture of Portus, the once-mighty port that could host 350 ships at a time and kept the ravenous capital of the Roman empire supplied with grain, wine, oil, slaves and luxuries from around the world.

The team says it has also unravelled the mystery of how the site's luxurious palace and huge warehouse vanished almost overnight, leaving no trace of the port's scale and wealth.

Rather than being burned down by invading hordes as the empire declined, or left to disintegrate, a team lead by the University of Southampton has revealed that Portus was systematically demolished in the 6th century by the Byzantines - the eastern emperors who fought the invading Ostrogoths to regain control of Rome.

Experts discovered that the magnificent, three-storey palace was flattened and 50ft walls pushed over. "By the 6th century the Byzantines felt the port could be a threat as it was vulnerable to being occupied by the Ostrogoths, so they took the decision to destroy it themselves, said Simon Keay from Southampton University, who heads the dig.

Built by the emperor Trajan in the second century, Portus included a mile-wide main basinthat has now silted up, and an inner, hexagonal basin that still exists as a lake in woodland at the end of the runway of Rome's Fiumicino airport - its perfect hexagonal shape clearly visible from above. The remains of an amphitheatre and an enormous, 260-yard long warehouse have also been discovered.

Keay said Portus's importance to Rome was proven by the team's excavation of the 60-room imperial palace covering nine acres. It was fronted by a long colonnade and boasted a first floor courtyard with a pool fed by a cistern below - a level of grandeur that matched Hadrian's villa near Rome. "The palace shows how central Portus was to the city and to making sure Rome was fed," said Keay.

But more impressive was evidence that the palace and the warehouse were torn down methodically by the Byzantines, who gained and lost control of Portus on various occasions during their struggles with the Ostrogoths.

"These were solid structures, and you really must have wanted to pull them down," said Keay, who discovered walls flattened by the Byzantines as they sought to reduce the danger of the port being occupied and put to use by their foes.

http://www.sott.net/article/268641-Archaeologists-uncover-secrets-of-Portus-once-gateway-to-Rome
he added. "Portus was a great hub, but as Rome wound down, Portus mirrored it."

In light of the findings uncovered by Laura regarding the cometary bombardments that were taking place throughout that period and in particular during the 6th century in Western Europe, I am left to wonder whether the true cause for the destruction of Portus, Rome's main port at the time, was actually an overhead cometary strike. I am pretty baffled by the archeologists' conclusion on how the port was demolished which IMO lacks evidence of any sort:

The team says it has also unravelled the mystery of how the site's luxurious palace and huge warehouse vanished almost overnight, leaving no trace of the port's scale and wealth.
[...]
But more impressive was evidence that the palace and the warehouse were torn down methodically by the Byzantines

If I remember correctly, Laura mentioned in one of the SOTT radio talk shows (I believe it was the one on Julius Caesar) that at a certain time Rome was covered by several metres of mud. Given that the evidence points to the fact that the works of Gregory of Tours were likely a forgery used to legitimize the noble ancestry of the Franks, this further supports the conclusion that most of Western Europe, the big cities in particular, was already laying in ruins during the time the port was destroyed and that there was little if nothing left to protect.

More to the point, given the size and vastity of the port, I would be surprised if the Byzantines could have even managed to tear down the whole complex to prevent the Ostrogoths from attacking. Could the Port and city have already been in ruins at the time?

 

[Laura]

Now we continue after that gap (and my busy period) from 42 BC to 17 BC - 25 years.

71. Consulship of Gaius Furnius and Gaius Silanus BC 17
At the estate of Livia, the wife of Caesar (Octavian), in the Apennines the earth trembled in a great quake. A meteor reaching from south to north made night as bright as the light of day. A tower in the gardens of Caesar by the Colline Gate was struck by lightning. The Romans under the deputy Marcus Lollius were trapped into ambushes by the Germans and suffered severely. (Disaster to Lollius, 16 BC, Dio LIV. xx. 4-6; Velleius II. 97; Suetonius, Augustus 23, cf. Tacitus, Annals I.10 Dio Liv. xix.7 mentions some portents omitted here.)

A gap.

72. Consulship of Paulus Fabius and Quintus Aelius BC 11
In Germany in the camp of Drusus, a swarm of bees settled on the tent of Hostilius Rufus, the prefect of the camp, in such a way that it enveloped the forward guy rope and the epear planted before the tent. The whole force of Romans was crushed in an ambush. (Summary CXLII, end; Pliny, Natural History XI. 18 (55). Since pliney points out that the immediate sequel to the bees was success by Drusus, either Obsequens has picked on some details of Drusus' campaign in order to support the conventional view that a swarm of bees is a bad omen, or else, as Rossbach suggests, the disaster was that of Varus, the lapse of time being disregarded.)

And that's it for Julius Obsequens' collection of fragments of Livy's lost volumes that are about portents and prodigies and such.

Now, I'm going to go through Dio and insert his portents and prodigies in the preceding posts where they belong chronologically. Then I'll do the same with what other sources there are and hopefully, at the end, we'll have a better idea of what may have been going on.

 

[dant]

Awesome! Thanks for picking up this thread!