Hellenistic astrology
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Hellenistic astrology is a tradition of horoscopic astrology that was developed and practiced in Hellenistic Egypt and the Mediterranean, whose texts were written in Greek (or sometimes Latin), sometime around the late 2nd or early 1st century BCE. [1] Although the Hellenistic period properly ended in the early part of the Common Era, this type of astrology that was developed sometime during the early Hellenistic period was practiced in essentially its original form until the 6th or 7th century CE and thus it is still referred to as 'Hellenistic astrology'.
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[edit] History
The origins of much of the astrology that would later develop in Asia, Europe and the Middle East are found among the ancient Babylonians and their system of celestial omens that began to be compiled around the middle of the 2nd millennium BCE. This system later spread either directly or indirectly through the Babylonians to other areas such as India, China and Greece where it merged with preexisting indigenous forms of astrology. It came to Greece initially as early as the middle of the 4th century BCE, and then around the late 2nd or early 1st century BCE after the Alexandrian conquests this Babylonian astrology was mixed with the Egyptian tradition of Decanic astrology to create horoscopic astrology. This system is labelled as "horoscopic astrology" because, unlike the omen system, it employed the use of the ascendant, otherwise known as the horoskopos ("a look at the hours" or "marker of the hour") in Greek, and the twelve celestial houses which are derived from it. Its endeavour to trace the horoscope of the individual from the position of the planets and stars at the time of birth represents the most significant contribution of the Greeks to astrology. This new form of astrology which appears to have originated in Alexandrian Egypt quickly spread across the ancient world into Europe, the Middle East and India.
The system was carried to such a degree of perfection that later ages made but few additions of an essential character to the genethlialogy or drawing up of the individual horoscope by the Greek astrologers. Particularly important in the development of horoscopic astrology was the astrologer and astronomer Ptolemy, whose work, the Tetrabiblos, laid the basis of the Western astrological tradition. Under the Greeks and Ptolemy in particular, the planets, houses, and signs of the zodiac were rationalized and their function set down in a way that has changed little to the present day. [2] Ptolemy's work on astronomy was also the basis of Western teachings on the subject for the next 1,300 years.
To the Greek astronomer Hipparchus belongs the credit of the discovery (c. 130 B.C.) of the theory of the precession of the equinoxes, for a knowledge of which among the Babylonians we find no definite proof; but such a single advancement in pure science did not prevent the Greeks from developing in a most elaborate manner the theory of the influence of the planets upon the fate of the individual.
[edit] Mythical origins
Several Hellenistic astrologers ascribe its creation to a mythical sage named Hermes Trismegistus. Hermes is said to have written several major texts which formed the basis of the art or its evolution from the system of astrology that was inherited from the Babylonians and the Egyptians. Several authors cite Hermes as being the first to outline the houses and their meaning, so the houses appear to date back to the very beginning of horoscopic astrology and indeed they are one of the major defining factors which separate Hellenistic astrology and other forms of horoscopic astrology from Babylonian astrology and other traditions in different parts of the world. This system of horoscopic astrology was then passed to another mythical figure named Asclepius to who some of the Hermetic writings are addressed.
According to Firmicus Maternus, the system was subsequently handed down to an Egyptian pharaoh named Nechepso and his priest Petosiris. [3] They apparently wrote a major textbook which explicated the system and it is from this text that many of the later Hellenistic astrologers draw from and cite directly. This system formed the basis of all later forms of horoscopic astrology.
[edit] Astrology in Rome
Like so much else, astrology came to Rome due to Greek influence. Among the Greeks and Romans, Babylonia or Chaldea was so identified with astrology that "Chaldaean wisdom" became the synonym of divination through the planets and stars. Astrologers became very much in vogue in Imperial Rome. [4] Indeed the emperor Tiberius had had his destiny predicted for him at birth, and so surrounded himself with astrologers. These were called by Juvenal his 'herd of Chaldeans'. According to Juvenal 'there are people who cannot appear in public, dine or bathe, without having first consulted an ephemeris'. Claudius, on the other hand favoured augury and banned astrologers from Rome altogether. It is perhaps not surprising, that in the course of time, to be known as a "Chaldaean" carried with it frequently the suspicion of charlatanry and of more or less willful deception.
[edit] Transmission
This tradition of Hellenistic astrology was passed to India sometime around the 1st century CE where it was merged with the preexisting tradition of Babylonian astrology and the indigenous lunar astrology of the Nakshatras and this founded the vast tradition of Indian astrology. Hellenistic astrology was practiced from the 2nd century BCE until sometime around the 7th century CE when Europe entered the Middle Ages. Astrology was then passed to and further developed by individuals working within the Islamic Empire from the 7th to the 13th century.
[edit] References
- ^ See David Pingree - From Astral Omens to Astrology from Babylon to Bikaner, Roma: Istituto Italiano per L'Africa e L'Oriente, 1997. Pg. 26.
- ^ Derek and Julia Parker, The New Compleat Astrologer, p16, Crescent Books, New York, 1990
- ^ See Firmicus Maternus, Ancient Astrology Theory and Practice – Matheseos Libri VIII, translated by Jean Rhys Bram, Noyes Press, 1975. Pg. 118.
- ^ Derek and Julia Parker, Ibid, p16, 1990
[edit] Sources
- AstrologyNotes article on the History of Astrology - retrieved 7/3/2006 under the GNU Free Documentation License
