When Chieh executed his faithful counselors, a comet appeared. Sagan takes a cultural look at comet folklore. To East Africans, a comet signaled famine and the Zulu in South Africa believed it foretold of a coming war. The Aztec leader Montezuma II believed the arrival of Hernan Cortez was the fulfillment of a dire cometary prophecy. And it has been speculated that the destruction of Aztec civilization was due, in part, to the culture s fatalistic dread of comets.
European history reflects the appearance of comets, as well.
The Bayeux Tapestry, detailed in Norman Denny s of the same title, depicts the comet of 1066 which was believed to have predicted the overthrow of King Harold by the Norman invaders. King Louis, the son of the great Charlemagne, was convinced the comet of 837 A.D. meant he would die. And at his death in 840 A.D. his followers stated he died of fear. Marietta Moskin s book Sky Dragons and Flaming Swords looks at comets in relationship to history and discusses their significance. She reveals the appearance of comets preceded the death of Julius Caesar, the emperor Nero, King Merovingus, Pope Urban IV, the prophet Mahomet, and Attila the Hun.