Supernovae are powerful explosions of massive stars that have reached a terminal stage in their evolution. A huge amount of energy is released during the explosion in a wide range of wavelengths. The supernova explosion causes a sudden rise in the dead star’s luminosity which may outshine momentarily the entire galaxy in which it resides. The explosion is produced by a catastrophic collapse of the iron core of a massive star or the collapse of a white dwarf after accreting enough mass from its companion to reach the Chandrasekhar limit. The first record of a supernova occurrence goes back to 185 CE. Subsequently, humans have witnessed across the centuries a series of such violent events that appear suddenly in the sky and illuminate the darkness of the night for several weeks or months. In the first part of this paper, we briefly describe the processes that lead to a supernova explosion. In the second part, we discuss historical supernovae as appearing in the records of human civilizations. In the third part, we highlight ancient records relating the sudden appearance of a supernova or a comet to the spread of epidemics in certain regions of the world.
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