1 Dating the birth and death of Jesus. To fix Biblical events via astronomy is far from a simple task. While some elements certainly can be treated in this fashion, with positive results, the dating of the elements of the nativity have been confused over the years. This paper explains the nativity and crucifixion dates with supporting historical information and essential astronomical dating. The concept of the star of the wise men is a case of confusion. The Biblical narrative of the three wise men Matthew 2:1,2. is somewhat nonsensical. These characters arrived at Jerusalem from the east. They claimed to have seen the star in the east; while the narrative here does not explicitly state that they were following the star this is the implication and the suggestion that is commonly followed. Again, we query the validity of this ‘star in the east’ which is commonly thought to be guiding these wise men. Jesus was born at Bethlem which is around six miles at an azimuth of 200 degrees from the Temple Mount of Jerusalem, some 20 degrees west of due south…if this the correct Bethlehem… So we have three [wise?] men moving westwards purportedly following a star in the east which is behind them, and they end up at a stable in Bethlehem. So much for sensible navigational descriptions! But again, Mary and Joseph were from Nazareth and that is over sixty miles to the north of Bethlehem of Judea, the Bethlehem that is associated with David. They travelled to Bethlehem for the Roman census…that would have involved a journey of over two days as Joseph would have been walking with Mary on a donkey but all that travelling on a beast of burden when due to give birth? Added to which there is no reference in scripture to where they must have spent the overnight stays. It seems unlikely and we shall return to this question shortly. When was the census? There are few records of Roman census in the region prior to 6AD and Herod died between 2 and 4 BC plus it was not Herod who instigated the relevant census. A commentary at http://www.comereason.org/roman-census.asp by Lenny Esposito states the following.:- More than One Census Although on its face we seem to have a difficulty here, there are several pieces that we must consider before jumping to the conclusion that Luke and Josephus were speaking about the same event. Indeed, it seems that Caesar Augustus was the type of leader who ordered many censuses in his day. Records exist to show that Roman-controlled Egypt had begun a census as early as 10 B.C. and it was repeated every 14 years. And Augustus himself notes in his Res Gestae (The Deeds of Augustus) that he ordered three wide-spread censuses of