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| Hellenistic
Astrology |
| Boekbesprekingen
van Win Rowe: astrologie bij de Grieken in de Oudheid. |
- Dorotheus of Sidon, Carmen Astrologicum ed David Pingree
(Leipzig, B.G.Teubner, 1967).
This is a publication of an arabic text of the Carmen Astrologicum
collated with the existing greek fragments, and translated
by David Pingree. As part of the Teubner Library it is probably
the authoritative text. Hellenistic astrology is my term
for what Tester calls Byzantine astrology. I like it because
it allows us to distinguish between the astrology of the
classical (stoic?) period (ie C. Ptolemy) and the somewhat
different astrologers of Syria, separated not so much in
time, as in cultural characteristics, less "scientific",
more inclined to pseudepigrapha, to "revelations", to post
neoplatonic mysticism and magic, and so forth. It is important
to note that Dorotheus of Sidon was an almost exact contemporary
of Jesus of Nazareth in the same part of the world. Beirut
is only about 147 miles from Jerusalem.
- Ibn Ezra, Abraham The Beginning of Wisdom, eds Raphael
Levy and Francisco Cantera, (Baltimore MD, The Johns Hopkins
Press, 1939).
A seminal work for Renaissance astrology. In some ways a
typical example, though far from the key one, of the transmission
of arabic astrological methods to medieval/renaissance europe.
Ibn Ezra was Jewish, and in another department of his life,
a distinguished commentator on the scriptures, who left
an enduring legacy as an exegete. He lived in Spain, an
example of "Moorish" transmission of arab culture to the
west.
- Maternus, Julius Firmicus Mathesis; Ancient Astrology,
Theory and Practice trans. Jean Rhys Bram, (Park Ridge,
Jew Jersey, Noyes Press, 1975.
Firmucus Maternus has the distinction of being the only
serious writer on astrology who was also a Father of the
Church, hence his works were not destroyed. He was a Senator
from the time of Constantine, and a supporter of Imperial
policy. HIs writing is influenced by a high minded stoic/neoplatonic
sort of point of view, and he is paraticularly concerned
in his Christian writing, with matters of public policy;
though this is not particularly evident in the Mathesis.
He achieves almost no astrological influence in his own
day, but his works directly transmit late hellenistic astrological
methods to the reniassance practitioners, by-passing arab
influence,( and also in another sense paving the way for
them). He is the best (most complete) source for the doctrine
of the Antiscia, See p. 58 and on, of the work. The Mathesis
also contains a copy of the famous Thema Mundi, the horoscope
of the creation. Firmicus Maternus is essentially a literary
astrologer, and only a few of his charts really represent
attempts to record the heavenly positions at a particular
time. His horoscope of Plato for example, is clearly not
authentic.
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