Blood rain
Encyclopedia
Homer
In the Western classical tradition Homer , is the author of the Iliad and the Odyssey, and is revered as the greatest ancient Greek epic poet. These epics lie at the beginning of the Western canon of literature, and have had an enormous influence on the history of literature.When he lived is...
's Iliad
Iliad
The Iliad is an epic poem in dactylic hexameters, traditionally attributed to Homer. Set during the Trojan War, the ten-year siege of the city of Troy by a coalition of Greek states, it tells of the battles and events during the weeks of a quarrel between King Agamemnon and the warrior Achilles...
, composed ca eighth century BC, and are widespread. Before the 17th century it was generally believed that the rain was actually blood. Literature mirrors cult practice, in which the appearance of blood rain was considered a bad omen, and was used as a tool foreshadowing events, but while some of these may be literary devices, some occurrences are historic.
Recorded instances of blood rain usually cover small areas. The duration can vary, sometimes lasting only a short time, others several days. By the 17th century, explanations for the phenomenon had moved away from the supernatural and attempted to provide natural reasons. In the 19th century blood rains were scientifically examined and theories that dust gave the water its red colour gained ground. Today, the dominant theories are that the rain is caused by red dust dissolved in the water (rain dust
Rain dust
Rain dust or snow dust, traditionally known as muddy, red, coloured or blood rain, is a rain or any other form of precipitation which contains enough desert dust for the dust to be visible without using a microscope. Rain dust is common in the Western Mediterranean...
), or due to the presence of micro-organisms. Alternative explanations include sunspots and aurora
Aurora (astronomy)
An aurora is a natural light display in the sky particularly in the high latitude regions, caused by the collision of energetic charged particles with atoms in the high altitude atmosphere...
e, and in the case of the red rain in Kerala
Red rain in Kerala
The Kerala red rain phenomenon was a blood rain event that occurred from July 25 to September 23, 2001, when red-coloured rain sporadically fell on the southern Indian state of Kerala. Heavy downpours occurred in which the rain was colored red, staining clothes pink. Yellow, green, and black rain...
in 2001, dust from meteorites and extraterrestrial cells in the water.
History and use in literature
Occurrences of blood rain throughout history are distributed from the ancient, to the modern day. The earliest literary instance is in HomerHomer
In the Western classical tradition Homer , is the author of the Iliad and the Odyssey, and is revered as the greatest ancient Greek epic poet. These epics lie at the beginning of the Western canon of literature, and have had an enormous influence on the history of literature.When he lived is...
's Iliad, in which Zeus
Zeus
In the ancient Greek religion, Zeus was the "Father of Gods and men" who ruled the Olympians of Mount Olympus as a father ruled the family. He was the god of sky and thunder in Greek mythology. His Roman counterpart is Jupiter and his Etruscan counterpart is Tinia.Zeus was the child of Cronus...
twice caused a rain of blood, on one occasion to warn of slaughter in a battle. The same portent occurs in the work of the poet Hesiod
Hesiod
Hesiod was a Greek oral poet generally thought by scholars to have been active between 750 and 650 BC, around the same time as Homer. His is the first European poetry in which the poet regards himself as a topic, an individual with a distinctive role to play. Ancient authors credited him and...
, writing around 700 BC; The author John Tatlock suggests that Hesiod's story may have been influenced by that recorded in the Iliad. The first-century Greek biographer Plutarch
Plutarch
Plutarch then named, on his becoming a Roman citizen, Lucius Mestrius Plutarchus , c. 46 – 120 AD, was a Greek historian, biographer, essayist, and Middle Platonist known primarily for his Parallel Lives and Moralia...
also recounts a tradition of a rain of blood during the reign of Romulus
Romulus
- People:* Romulus and Remus, the mythical founders of Rome* Romulus Augustulus, the last Western Roman Emperor* Valerius Romulus , deified son of the Roman emperor Maxentius* Romulus , son of the Western Roman emperor Anthemius...
, founder of Rome. Roman authors Livy
Livy
Titus Livius — known as Livy in English — was a Roman historian who wrote a monumental history of Rome and the Roman people. Ab Urbe Condita Libri, "Chapters from the Foundation of the City," covering the period from the earliest legends of Rome well before the traditional foundation in 753 BC...
and Pliny
Pliny the Elder
Gaius Plinius Secundus , better known as Pliny the Elder, was a Roman author, naturalist, and natural philosopher, as well as naval and army commander of the early Roman Empire, and personal friend of the emperor Vespasian...
record some later cases of blood rain, with Livy describing it as a bad portent.
Unusual events such as a rain of blood were considered bad omens in Antiquity, and this belief persisted through the Middle Ages
Middle Ages
The Middle Ages is a periodization of European history from the 5th century to the 15th century. The Middle Ages follows the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476 and precedes the Early Modern Era. It is the middle period of a three-period division of Western history: Classic, Medieval and Modern...
and well into the Early modern period
Early modern period
In history, the early modern period of modern history follows the late Middle Ages. Although the chronological limits of the period are open to debate, the timeframe spans the period after the late portion of the Middle Ages through the beginning of the Age of Revolutions...
. Throughout northern and western Europe there are many cases of rains of blood which were used by contemporary writers to augur bad events: the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle
Anglo-Saxon Chronicle
The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle is a collection of annals in Old English chronicling the history of the Anglo-Saxons. The original manuscript of the Chronicle was created late in the 9th century, probably in Wessex, during the reign of Alfred the Great...
records that in 685, "there was a bloody rain in Britain. And milk and butter were turned to blood. And Lothere, king of Kent, died". Tatlock suggests that although the Chronicle was written long after the events, it may have basis in historical truth. He notes that although the rain may seem to be foreshadowing the death of Lothere, medieval chroniclers often noted unusual occurrences in their works "merely for their general interest". Gregory of Tours
Gregory of Tours
Saint Gregory of Tours was a Gallo-Roman historian and Bishop of Tours, which made him a leading prelate of Gaul. He was born Georgius Florentius, later adding the name Gregorius in honour of his maternal great-grandfather...
records that in 582 "In the territory of Paris there rained real blood from the clouds, falling upon the garments of many men, who were so stained and spotted that they stripped themselves of their own clothing in horror". Although the work of Geoffrey of Monmouth
Geoffrey of Monmouth
Geoffrey of Monmouth was a cleric and one of the major figures in the development of British historiography and the popularity of tales of King Arthur...
, a 12th-century writer who popularised the legends of King Arthur
King Arthur
King Arthur is a legendary British leader of the late 5th and early 6th centuries, who, according to Medieval histories and romances, led the defence of Britain against Saxon invaders in the early 6th century. The details of Arthur's story are mainly composed of folklore and literary invention, and...
, is regarded as "fantastical" rather than reliable, he too notes the occurrence of blood rain. This event was further expanded on by Layamon
Layamon
Layamon or Laghamon (ˈlaɣamon; in American English often modernised as ; ), occasionally written Lawman, was a poet of the early 13th century and author of the Brut, a notable English poem of the 12th century that was the first English language work to discuss the legends of Arthur and the...
in his poem Brut (written around 1190), who described how blood rain was one of several portents, and which itself led to destruction:
Many works which record occurrences of blood rain, such as that of Layamon, were written significantly after the event was supposed to have taken place. The 14th-century monk Ralph Higden in his work, the Polchronicon, recounts that in 787 there was a rain of blood, perhaps intended by the author as an indication of the coming Viking
Viking
The term Viking is customarily used to refer to the Norse explorers, warriors, merchants, and pirates who raided, traded, explored and settled in wide areas of Europe, Asia and the North Atlantic islands from the late 8th to the mid-11th century.These Norsemen used their famed longships to...
invasion. Written in the 12th century, the Book of Leinster
Book of Leinster
The Book of Leinster , is a medieval Irish manuscript compiled ca. 1160 and now kept in Trinity College, Dublin, under the shelfmark MS H 2.18...
records many sensational events, including showers of silver; it records a shower of blood in 868.
In the work of William of Newburgh
William of Newburgh
William of Newburgh or Newbury , also known as William Parvus, was a 12th-century English historian and Augustinian canon from Bridlington, Yorkshire.-Biography:...
, a rain of blood proves the drive and determination of Richard the Lionheart
Richard I of England
Richard I was King of England from 6 July 1189 until his death. He also ruled as Duke of Normandy, Duke of Aquitaine, Duke of Gascony, Lord of Cyprus, Count of Anjou, Count of Maine, Count of Nantes, and Overlord of Brittany at various times during the same period...
. According to William of Newburgh
William of Newburgh
William of Newburgh or Newbury , also known as William Parvus, was a 12th-century English historian and Augustinian canon from Bridlington, Yorkshire.-Biography:...
, a contemporary chronicler, in May 1198 Richard and the labourers working on the castle were drenched in a "rain of blood". While some of his advisers thought the rain was an evil omen, Richard was undeterred:
In Germany, a shower of blood was one of several portents for the arrival of the Black Death
Black Death
The Black Death was one of the most devastating pandemics in human history, peaking in Europe between 1348 and 1350. Of several competing theories, the dominant explanation for the Black Death is the plague theory, which attributes the outbreak to the bacterium Yersinia pestis. Thought to have...
in 1348–1349. The phenomenon gained exposure to a wide audience in the 16th century, during the Renaissance
Renaissance
The Renaissance was a cultural movement that spanned roughly the 14th to the 17th century, beginning in Italy in the Late Middle Ages and later spreading to the rest of Europe. The term is also used more loosely to refer to the historical era, but since the changes of the Renaissance were not...
, when it was used as an example of the power of God; a form of literature using prodigies such as blood rain as cautions against immorality proliferated across Europe having originated in Italy. In Germany, such works were particularly popular amongst Protestants. Although unusual events such as rains of blood were still treated with superstition, often as demonstrations of godly power, Nicolas-Claude Fabri de Peiresc
Nicolas-Claude Fabri de Peiresc
Nicolas-Claude Fabri de Peiresc was a French astronomer, antiquary and savant who maintained a wide correspondence with scientists and was a successful organizer of scientific inquiry...
(1580–1637) was one of the few who proposed natural causes; after hearing of a bloody rain in Aix-en-Provence
Aix-en-Provence
Aix , or Aix-en-Provence to distinguish it from other cities built over hot springs, is a city-commune in southern France, some north of Marseille. It is in the region of Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur, in the département of Bouches-du-Rhône, of which it is a subprefecture. The population of Aix is...
, he suggested it was caused by butterflies. Although his theory would later be rejected, he helped the likes of Pierre Gassendi
Pierre Gassendi
Pierre Gassendi was a French philosopher, priest, scientist, astronomer, and mathematician. With a church position in south-east France, he also spent much time in Paris, where he was a leader of a group of free-thinking intellectuals. He was also an active observational scientist, publishing the...
and René Antoine Ferchault de Réaumur
René Antoine Ferchault de Réaumur
René Antoine Ferchault de Réaumur was a French scientist who contributed to many different fields, especially the study of insects.-Life:Réaumur was born in a prominent La Rochelle family and educated in Paris...
to lay the foundations for removing superstition from explanations of the phenomenon.
In Europe, there were fewer than thirty recorded cases all together of blood rain in the 13th, 14th, and 15th centuries. There were 190 instances across the 16th and 17th centuries; there was a decline in the 17th century when only 43 were recorded, but this picked up again with 146 in the 19th century. There is little literature on the subject of blood rain, although it has gained the attention of some naturalists. The phenomenon received international coverage in 2001, after red rain fell in Kerala
Red rain in Kerala
The Kerala red rain phenomenon was a blood rain event that occurred from July 25 to September 23, 2001, when red-coloured rain sporadically fell on the southern Indian state of Kerala. Heavy downpours occurred in which the rain was colored red, staining clothes pink. Yellow, green, and black rain...
, India.
Explanation
Cicero
Marcus Tullius Cicero , was a Roman philosopher, statesman, lawyer, political theorist, and Roman constitutionalist. He came from a wealthy municipal family of the equestrian order, and is widely considered one of Rome's greatest orators and prose stylists.He introduced the Romans to the chief...
rejected the idea and instead suggested that the red rain may be caused by "ex aliqua contagion terrena", "from some earthly contagion". The two cases in the Iliad are explained by Heraclitus
Heraclitus
Heraclitus of Ephesus was a pre-Socratic Greek philosopher, a native of the Greek city Ephesus, Ionia, on the coast of Asia Minor. He was of distinguished parentage. Little is known about his early life and education, but he regarded himself as self-taught and a pioneer of wisdom...
as simply red-coloured rain rather than literally blood; however, a later scholiast (a critical or explanatory commentator) suggests that it was precipitation of blood which had evaporated earlier: after a battle, blood would flow into nearby water courses, evaporate, and then fall as rain. This explanation demonstrating unfamiliarity with the properties of distillation
Distillation
Distillation is a method of separating mixtures based on differences in volatilities of components in a boiling liquid mixture. Distillation is a unit operation, or a physical separation process, and not a chemical reaction....
was echoed by Eustathius of Thessalonica
Eustathius of Thessalonica
Archbishop Eustathius of Thessalonica was a Greek bishop and scholar. He is most noted for his contemporary account of the sack of Thessalonike by the Normans in 1185, for his orations and for his commentaries on Homer, which incorporate many remarks by much earlier researchers.- Life :After being...
, a 12th-century archbishop.
Tatlock, in a study of some medieval cases of blood rain, notes that the medieval cases of blood rain "agree well" with their classical counterparts. Although there are variables – for example the rain sometimes lasted only for a short period, while on other occasions it can last days – they were widely considered to be bad omens, and warnings of events to come. He also suggests that the phenomenon may only be recorded in small areas because the colour of the rain would not always be noticed, and may only be obvious against pale backgrounds. In the classical period, events such as a shower of blood was seen a demonstration of godly power; in the medieval period, Christians were less inclined to attribute the phenomenon to such reasons, although followers of nature-religions
Nature worship
Nature worship describes a variety of religious, spiritual and devotional practices that focus on natural phenomenon. A nature deity can be in charge of nature, the biosphere, the cosmos or the universe. Nature worship can be found in panentheism, pantheism, deism, polytheism, animism, totemism,...
were happy to do so.
In the 19th century, there was a trend towards examining events such as rains of blood more scientifically; Ehrenberg conducted experiments at the Berlin Academy, attempting to recreate "blood rain" using dust mixed with water. He concluded that blood rain was caused by water mixing with a reddish dust mostly composed of animal and vegetable matter. He was unclear on the origin of the dust, stating that it lacked the characteristics of African dust which might have indicated it came from the Sahara Desert. Instead, he suggested that the dust came from dried swamps where it was picked up by violent winds and would later fall as rain. This explanation has persisted, and the Academic Press
Academic Press
Academic Press is an academic book publisher. Originally independent, it was acquired by Harcourt, Brace & World in 1969. Reed Elsevier bought Harcourt in 2000, and Academic Press is now an imprint of Elsevier....
Dictionary of Science and Technology (1992) attributes the colour of blood rain to the presence of dust containing iron oxide
Iron oxide
Iron oxides are chemical compounds composed of iron and oxygen. All together, there are sixteen known iron oxides and oxyhydroxides.Iron oxides and oxide-hydroxides are widespread in nature, play an important role in many geological and biological processes, and are widely utilized by humans, e.g.,...
.
Other reasons for blood rain aside from dust are sometimes given. Schove and Peng-Yoke have suggested that the phenomenon may be connected to sunspot
Sunspot
Sunspots are temporary phenomena on the photosphere of the Sun that appear visibly as dark spots compared to surrounding regions. They are caused by intense magnetic activity, which inhibits convection by an effect comparable to the eddy current brake, forming areas of reduced surface temperature....
s and aurora
Aurora (astronomy)
An aurora is a natural light display in the sky particularly in the high latitude regions, caused by the collision of energetic charged particles with atoms in the high altitude atmosphere...
e. When red rain fell in Kerala, dust was the suspected cause. Alternative theories included dust from a meteorite and extraterrestrial cells in the water. These were later dismissed. The particles causing the red colour in Kerala were "morphologically similar" to algae and fungal spores.