Beck Roger. A Brief History of Ancient Astrology

Blackwell Publishing, 2007. — xiii+159 p.In setting out to write ‘‘a brief history of ancient astrology’’ I am in effect making four initial commitments. The first, brevity, will be easy enough to meet; and if I do not meet it myself, my editors will meet it for me. The third and fourth, defining the book’s subject matter, ‘‘ancient astrology,’’ are not very difficult either. ‘‘Antiquity,’’ for our purposes, spans roughly the last century bce and the first four centuries ce. Classical antiquity is intended: that is, the culture – or cultures – of the Mediterranean basin and Europe west of the Rhine and south of the Danube in the period indicated. Politically, that vast area was unified under Roman rule; culturally, it was diverse, but the predominant form was Greek, as was the language in which cultural forms were communicated. Thus ‘‘ancient astrology’’ means essentially ‘‘Greek astrology,’’ although most of its practitioners and clients were not Greeks in any meaningful ethnic sense. Rome’s empire, to its credit, was multi-ethnic and multi-cultural.
The problematic commitment is the second, offering a ‘‘history’’ of ancient astrology. Certainly one can construct narratives about aspects of ancient astrology. One can tell, in chronological sequence, the story of astrology’s reception in its host culture, particularly in official Rome where episodes of exclusion alternated with periods of grudging xiacceptance and unofficial toleration. In fact this story has been told – and well told – by F. H. Cramer in Astrology in Roman Law and Politics (1954). Similarly, because horoscopes are datable, one can display and comment on the extant examples in chronological order as did O. Neugebauer and H. B. Van Hoesen in their magisterial compilation Greek Horoscopes (1959). Again, one can survey the extant astrological literature and trace the author-to-author flow of influence, as the Gundels did in their Astrologumena (1966). But to write a comprehensive history of ancient astrology as an art or technique that developed in a meaningful way over time would be a dubious undertaking. Changes no doubt occurred, though astrology was an unusually conservative art and indeed is still much the same today as it was in antiquity. But meaningful development implies progress, and by what standard can we measure progress in a pseudo-science? Overall, then, there is no satisfying narrative of ancient astrology to be told. There is simply no parallel to the story of the progressive mathematical refinement and enhanced predictive power of ancient astronomy. Consequently, my ‘‘history’’ of ancient astrology will actually be something less ambitious, more in the nature of an account of various aspects of the subject, treated synchronically except where there is a tale to be told diachronically.List of Figures
List of TablesIntroduction. What Was Astrology in Ancient Greece and Rome?
Origins and Types of Astrology. The Transfer of Astrology from Babylon. The Pseudo-History of Astrology: ‘‘Alien Wisdom’’
The Product: How to Construct a Simple Horoscope, Ancient Style
Structure and Meaning in the Horoscope, 1: The Aspects and the ‘‘Places’’
Structure and Meaning in the Horoscope, 2: The Zodiac and its Signs
Structure and Meaning in the Horoscope, 3: The Planets
Horoscopes and Their Interpretation
A Matter of Life and Death: ‘‘Starters,’’ ‘‘Destroyers,’’ and ‘‘Length of Life.’’ Some Sociopolitical Implications of Astrology
Conclusion: Why Bother with Ancient Astrology in the Twenty-First Century?
NotesISBN13: 978-1-4051-1087-7.
ISBN10: 1-4051-1087-2.
ISBN13: 978-1-4051-1074-7.
ISBN10: 1-4051-1074-0.