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  <front>
    <journal-meta>
      <journal-id journal-id-type="publisher-id">AB</journal-id>
      <journal-title-group>
        <journal-title>Archaeologia Baltica</journal-title>
      </journal-title-group>
      <issn pub-type="epub">1392-5520</issn>
      <issn pub-type="ppub">1392-5520</issn>
      <publisher>
        <publisher-name>KU</publisher-name>
      </publisher>
    </journal-meta>
    <article-meta>
      <article-id pub-id-type="publisher-id">10_094-098_POLCARO_MARTOCCHIA</article-id>
      <article-categories>
        <subj-group subj-group-type="heading">
          <subject>Article</subject>
        </subj-group>
      </article-categories>
      <title-group>
        <article-title>Were the 185 A.D. and 369 A.D. “guest stars” seen in Rome?</article-title>
      </title-group>
      <contrib-group>
        <contrib contrib-type="author">
          <name>
            <surname>Polcaro</surname>
            <given-names>Vito Francesco</given-names>
          </name>
          <email xlink:href="mailto:vitofrancesco.polcaro@iasf-roma.inaf.it">vitofrancesco.polcaro@iasf-roma.inaf.it</email>
          <xref ref-type="aff" rid="j_AB_aff_000"/>
          <xref ref-type="corresp" rid="cor1">∗</xref>
        </contrib>
        <aff id="j_AB_aff_000">Istituto Nazionale di AstroFisica, IASF-INAF, Rome</aff>
        <contrib contrib-type="author">
          <name>
            <surname>Martocchia</surname>
            <given-names>Andrea</given-names>
          </name>
          <email xlink:href="mailto:andrea.martocchia@iasf-roma.inaf.it">andrea.martocchia@iasf-roma.inaf.it</email>
          <xref ref-type="aff" rid="j_AB_aff_001"/>
        </contrib>
        <aff id="j_AB_aff_001">Istituto Nazionale di AstroFisica, IASF-INAF, Rome</aff>
      </contrib-group>
      <author-notes>
        <corresp id="cor1"><label>∗</label>Corresponding author.</corresp>
      </author-notes>
      <volume>10</volume>
      <fpage>94</fpage>
      <lpage>98</lpage>
      <pub-date pub-type="ppub">
        <day>20</day>
        <month>12</month>
        <year>2008</year>
      </pub-date>
      <pub-date pub-type="epub">
        <day>20</day>
        <month>12</month>
        <year>2008</year>
      </pub-date>
      <history>
        <date date-type="received">
          <day>01</day>
          <month>11</month>
          <year>2007</year>
        </date>
        <date date-type="rev-recd">
          <day>24</day>
          <month>07</month>
          <year>2008</year>
        </date>
      </history>
      <permissions>
        <copyright-year>2008</copyright-year>
        <copyright-holder>Klaipėda University</copyright-holder>
        <ali:free_to_read xmlns:ali="http://www.niso.org/schemas/ali/1.0/"/>
      </permissions>
      <abstract>
        <p>Since Clark and Stephenson (1977) proposed that the supernova remnant (SNR) G315.4-2.3 should be identified with the historical supernova (SN) seen by Chinese observers in the year A.D. 185, a great deal of work has been done by theoreticians and observers to test the hypothesis. Some authors have proposed the SNR G320.4-1.2 as a better candidate, while, on the basis of a reinterpretation of the Houhan-shu original text, even the very nature of the A.D. 185 event has been questioned, leading to the hypotheses of a cometary transit (Chin and Huang 1994) or a combination of Comet P/Swift-Tuttle and a nova (Schaefer 1995, 1996). In fact, a cometary transit was apparently registered in one of the Priscilla Catacomb frescoes, an ancient Roman artwork dating from the end of the second century. During our examinations of Roman Catacomb frescoes in an attempt to discover representations of “guest star” apparitions in Imperial Rome, we also discovered what seems to be a record of SN 369, indicating that this may have been the explosion which originated Cas A.</p>
      </abstract>
      <kwd-group>
        <label>Keywords</label>
        <kwd>Historical supernovae</kwd>
        <kwd>SN185</kwd>
        <kwd>SN369</kwd>
        <kwd>Cas A</kwd>
        <kwd>catacombs</kwd>
        <kwd>Paleo-Christian Art</kwd>
      </kwd-group>
    </article-meta>
  </front>
</article>
