History of Astrology Another View by Robert Hand.doc

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History of Astrology Another View by Robert Hand

Copyright 1996 by Robert Hand ([email protected])

IntroductionThe material presented here originally was an introdction that ! wrote to a "olme of #ro$ect

Hindsight translations called The Record of the %arly &ages in 'ncient ree. !t consisted of

fragments and *otations that either were directly from the oldest sorces in +iddle %astern

and ,estern astrology- or were paraphrases of material that deri"ed from these sorces. 't

the time of the original composition of this "ersion of the essay there had recently been posted

on alt.astrology an article called ' /rief !ntrodction to the History of 'strology which a

contained in my "iew large nmber of factal errors. Therefore ! thoght it a good idea to

present another "iew. ,e do not e0pect e"eryone to accept the "iews presented in this paper-

bt the readers shold be aware that these "iews are close to those shared by the ma$ority of

responsible scholars in the history of astrology. (o- ! am not calling all who disagree withthese "iews irresponsible- althogh no dobt some may be.)

Ha"ing been in"ol"ed in a comprehensi"e program of translating ancient te0ts on astrology

into modern %nglish- contining this wor with 'RH'T- ! therefore belie"e that ! ha"e some

idea of what ! am taling abot e"en while recogni2ing that ,estern scholarship may ha"e to

change its "iews (and ! mine) based on what frther research brings forth.

The PaperThe accont which ! present here is mostly deri"ed from mainstream academic sorces-

althogh ! will also present some speclations in areas where there is no clear e"idence. ! do

not present sch speclations whimsically bt only where internal e"idence seems to $stify

them- and always they will be presented with clear indications that they are speclations.

3n the other hand- becase we ha"e drawn from ,estern academic sorces- one cold ob$ect

that this accont does not tae into consideration possible alternate "iews that might be

deri"ed- for e0ample- from the stdy of the astrologies of !ndia. This might be a "alid

ob$ection- bt we wold lie to assre the reader that we do not accept academic positions on

the history of astrology ncritically. ,e try to accept only what is consistent with the internale"idence of the te0ts themsel"es. ,e also recogni2e that what we say here is not to be taen

as definiti"e. There is mch to be learned abot the history of astrology- especially now that it

is being careflly stdied by those who are not hostile to the sb$ect.

/ased on the abo"e considerations- it is the thesis of this athor that astrology as we now it

came into being only once in time and in one place4 the place is +esopotamia (roghly

modern !ra*) and the time is to be discssed below. Ha"ing said this- another point needs to

be made4 what we mean by astrology as we now it is horoscopic astrology- i.e.- astrology

the intention of which is the picing of fa"orable times for doing things- the answering of

*estions- the forecasting of mndane e"ents- and the analysis of indi"idal destiny- all based

on a pecliar instrment- the theme- genesis- or birth chart. 'nd that chart has a particlar

degree or sign which is mared as the beginning point of analysis. !t is sally the degree or

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sign ascending- althogh for particlar prposes the &n- +oon- or 5ot of ortne may be

sed as well.

The reason for maing this "ery specific definition of astrology as we now it is that in a

broader sense some ind of astrology is nearly ni"ersal among ancient peoples and is not

limited to either one time or place as its point of origin. 'lmost e"ery ancient people hadsome system of e0amining the hea"ens for di"inatory prposes. ati"e 'mericans- rees

(long before they encontered +esopotamian astrology)- the peoples of !ndia- whoe"er it was

that bilt &tonehenge and ew range in the /ritish !sles- and the ancient ordic peoples- to

gi"e a partial list. +ch of the contro"ersy concerning the anti*ity of "arios peoples7

astrologies stems from confsion o"er this "ery point. The stdy of celestial omens does not

constitte astrology as we now it.

Mesopotamian Origins+esopotamia- the 5and between the Two Ri"ers- is one of the so8called cradles of

ci"ili2ation- along with %gypt- China- and the !nds alley. !t also appears to be the oldest of

these. The e"idence indicates an rban ci"ili2ation as early as :;;; /.C.%. The first people in

the area were a people nown as the <baidians. ,e now "irtally nothing abot these people

e0cept that at a fairly early period another people began mo"ing into the area and

intermarrying with them. These were the &merians who became dominant and whose

langage replaced whate"er was the langage of the <baidians. 'lso the &merians in"ented

the oldest nown form of writing- cneiform- which is done by impressing wedge8shapes into

soft clay.

'fter a period of time &emitic peoples began mo"ing into the area as well. The first of these

were the 'adians centered arond their city of 'ad. !n abot =>>; /.C.%. &argon of

'ad con*ered the &merians and created the first of se"eral &emitic empires that wold

dominate not only +esopotamia bt also the +editerranean coast and e"entally e"en %gypt.

The langage of the 'adians was the direct ancestor of the 'ssyrian and /abylonian

langages- these being in fact dialects of 'adian.

The 'adian %mpire fell in abot ==1? /.C.%. 'fter this "arios &emitic and other peoples

strggled for control of the area. This constant strggle among "arios peoples in fact mars

the ma$or difference between the +esopotamian ci"ili2ation and that of %gypt. %gypt had

many centries of relati"e peace with occasional periods of distrbance- bt nothing lie thechaos of +esopotamia.

'fter a period of time in the second millennim /.C.%. two peoples began to assme

dominance- the /abylonians who had been cltrally dominant for many centries in the

soth- and the 'ssyrians in the north. 's it trned ot- while both grops were politically

dominant at times- in general it can be said that the 'ssyrians were more often politically

dominant while the /abylonians were cltrally dominant. !n fact the 'ssyrians e"en sed the

/abylonian dialect of 'adian for their own official records.

Here are some dates in +esopotamian history from this point on. 'll dates assme something

lie the modern system of chronology. %"en in modern sorces these dates "ary. The ones

here are from the 199: "ersion of +icrosoft7s %ncarta.




1!"#1$% &'('). Hammrabi nifies the area arond /abylon.

1*$% &'(')' The rise of the 'ssyrian %mpire.

*%#+$% &'(')' 'ssyrian %mpire controls all of +esopotamia- parts of #ersia- &yria-

#alestine- and %gypt. This is also notable as the first time that %gypt and /abylon were nderthe same regime.

+1" &'(')' The fall of 'ssyria and the rise of the &econd /abylonian %mpire. The

/abylonian people that broght this abot were also nown as Chaldeans- hence the term

Chaldean %mpire.

$*! &'(')' The con*est of /abylonia by #ersia. or a second time %gypt and /abylon were

nder one regime.

**1 &'('). The con*est of +esopotamia by 'le0ander the reat. The entire area becomes

dominated by ree langage and cltre. The &elecid dynasty descended from 'le0ander7sgeneral &eleos rled the area inclding +esopotamia.

1"+ &'(')' The #arthians- a #ersian tribe- con*ered +esopotamia.

"" (')' The &assanids- a people from the central area of #ersia- o"erthrow the #arthians and

establish the &econd #ersian %mpire- or &assanid %mpire.

+*$ (')' The +oslem 'rabs o"erthrow the &assanid %mpire and +esopotamia comes nder

the rle of "arios Caliphates.

/efore mo"ing on to a discssion of how and where astrology e"ol"ed- let s gi"e a similar

chronology for %gypt.

*"%% &'(')' irst e"idence of strong political forces in the ile basin. 'lso the earliest

hieroglyphic writings. %"idence of a fairly high cltre in the area precedes this by se"eral

centries.

c'"$$#""$$ &'(')' The 3ld ingdom. The pyramids date from this time. The first solar

calendar was de"eloped.

c'""$$#"1*, &'(')' !nterregnm.

c'"1*,#1++- &'(')' The +iddle ingdom.

c'1++-#1$% &'('). The second interregnm- the period of the Hysos- a race of what were

probably &emites dominated %gypt dring this period.

1$%#1%% &'(')' The ew ingdom. This is the period of the ings 'menhotep- 'hnaten-

Ttanhamem- and the "arios ings named Rameses. The e0ods of the !sraelites is widely

belie"ed to ha"e occrred in this period.

1%% # +1 &'(')' The third interregnm. arios regional dynasties rled. !n 6A1 /.C.%. the'ssyrians con*ered %gypt for a time.



$"$ &'(')' The #ersians o"erthrew the last nati"e rler of %gypt.

**" &'(')' 'le0ander the reat con*ered %gypt. !t then came nder the rle of the

#tolemies descended from #tolemy !- another of 'le0ander7s generals.

*% &'(')' Cleopatra- the last of the #tolemies- dies and the Romans tae o"er.

&bse*ently %gypt fell nder 'rabic rle at abot the same time as the &assanid %mpire was

o"erthrown.

Mesopotamian Astrology .irst /tages

!n the beginning +esopotamian astrology was mch lie that of other cltres- a simple

e0amination of the hea"ens for omens that might affect the ingdom. 3ften these obser"ationsof omens wold inclde weather phenomena intermi0ed with tre astronomical ones. ,hat

made the +esopotamians different is that they began at an early time to mae systematic

obser"ations of phenomena with an eye to finding reglar patterns in the hea"ens that might

correlate with patterns in hman e"ents.

'ccording to an der ,aerden (&cience 'waening- ol. !!- 30ford <ni".#ress) the earliest

astronomical writings nown in +esopotamia are from the old /abylonian period- roghly the

time of Hammrabi. !t is not nown whether the &merians were in"ol"ed in astronomical

stdies or not- bt it wold seem plasible that they were. There are also some writings which

refer to the 'adian period and which may date from abot =>;; /.C.%. Here is an e0ample

of one of these early writings.

!f ens appears in the %ast in the month 'ir and the reat and &mall Twins srrond her-

all for of them- and she is dar- then will the ing of %lam fall sic and not remain ali"e.

The most e0tensi"e omen lore was contained in a compilation referred to as %nma 'n %nlil.

These were assembled somewhere in the second millennim /.C.%. 'nother collection of

omens is an important wor- the dating of which is e0tremely contro"ersial- the ens Tables

of 'mmi2adga. This consists of systematic obser"ations of the phases of ens combined

with their omen significations- the significations being clearly based on past obser"ations. The

general belief is that these tables date from the reign of 'mmi2adga abot 1:6 years after

Hammrabi. /ased on the astronomy- "an der ,aerden assigns the following years as possible dates for the obser"ations- 1A;=- 16:6-16>?- and 1B?= /.C.%. 3ne of the reasons that

these dates ha"e become contro"ersial in certain circles is that if these dates are correct- then

elio"sy is seriosly in error. That contro"ersy is otside of this scope of this introdction

howe"er- and we will contine on the assmption that orthodo0 scholarship is at least

reasonably correct. &till ! rge readers to tae the dates with e0treme cation. The

/abylonians themsel"es- mch lie modern Hinds- attribted an anti*ity to themsel"es and

their obser"ations that seems fantastic by modern ,estern standards- hndreds of thosands-

e"en millions of years. &ch anti*ity is not consistent with the e"idence of scholarship- bt

we ha"e to eep something of an open mind. &cholars are often limited by their "ery

speciali2ation with the reslt that one discipline- sch as modern astronomy for e0ample- may

often ha"e powerfl conse*ences for another sch as archeology. The wor of erald

Hawins on &tonehenge comes to mind. /t first someone has to bring the two disciplines




together. This may yet happen in +esopotamian stdies in sch a way as to radically alter or

historical nderstanding. an der ,aerden concldes that the ens tables were compiled

and preser"ed ot of moti"es of astral religion- i.e.- the +esopotamians belie"ed that the stars

and planets were associated with- or were in fact themsel"es the gods. !shtar8ens was one

of the ma$or di"inities of the +esopotamian peoples. +any other ancient peoples had similar

notions. The %gyptians identified the constellation of 3rion with 3siris. /t 3siris was a deadgod who rled the nderworld. His transportation to the hea"ens was "ery similar to other

transportations made in classical mythology. The +esopotamians seem to ha"e been ni*e

in their emphasis on the stars and planets as being the primary indicators of di"ine will in the

Here and ow. This is the probable moti"e of the stdies that led to astrology. 3"er the ne0t

centries the +esopotamians- especially the /abylonians- contined obser"ing and compiling

lists of phenomena e"entally getting to the point where- based on obser"ed recrrence cycles

of the planets- they cold reasonably accrately estimate the positions of the planets at any

time in the ftre. #tolemy records- and modern scholarship does not dispte this- that

accrate and systematic eclipse records were ept from A:A /.C.%. onward into the

Hellenistic period after the con*ests of 'le0ander the reat.

'n interesting *estion abot which there is mch contro"ersy is what ind of 2odiac were

the +esopotamians sing !n the earlier material they simply recorded planets as being so

many degrees from a star.

19 from the +oon to the #leiades4

1A from the #leiades to 3rion4

1: from 3rion to &iris. . .

This is de facto a sidereal obser"ation- bt it is not a 2odiacD ' 2odiac re*ires a fidcial

point- a point on the circle from which measrements are made. 'lso normally a 2odiac has

some fi0ed nmber of reglar di"isions sch as the twel"e signs of the modern 2odiacs- the

twenty8se"en lnar mansions of the Hind lnar 2odiac and so forth. /t all of these early

obser"ations are lie this one in sing indi"idal stars as marers for positions.

an der ,aerden arges that the e"oltion of astrology went throgh three phases. The first

phase consists of the omen lore that we ha"e already described. The second phase is closely

related to this bt has a 2odiac in the modern sense- twel"e >;8degree signs. There is no

personal horoscopy in this middle le"el- bt great attention is paid to the transits of Epiter

throgh the signs at the rate of appro0imately one sign per year. rom this is clearly

descended the Chinese practice of assigning each year to a 2odiacal sign- and probably also

the system of annal profections in later horoscopic astrology. There are also of corse nohoses of any ind. an der ,aerden dates this middle phase as being from abot 6>; to :B;

/.C.%. The 2odiac at this point is clearly a sidereal one and its ayanamsha is at least close to

the agan8'llen "ale.

The third phase is horoscopic astrology. arios ancient sorces mention Chaldeans who

cast birth charts for "arios persons- inclding Fiogenes 5aertis who said that according to

'ristotle- a Chaldean forecast &ocrates7 death from his birth chart- and that %ripides7 father

also had his son7s chart read getting a forecast of his brilliant career. The reference to

Chaldeans of corse refers to astrologers and maes it clear that the art in this period was

completely associated with late /abylonians- i.e.- Chaldeans.



&e"eral birth charts ha"e been fond written in cneiform. +ost of them date from well

within the Hellenistic era- bt the oldest has been dated by '. &achs to 'pril =9- :1; /.C.

Here is the translation as gi"en by agan.

"1 Month (?) Nisan (?) night (?) of (?) the (?) 14th (?). . .

2 son of Shuma-usur, son of Shumaiddina, descendant of Deke as !orn. #t that time the Moon as !e$o the "%orn" of the Scor&ion

4 'u&iter in isces, enus

* in +aurus, Saturn in ancer.

Mars in emini, Mercur/ hich had set (for the $ast time) as (sti$$) in (0isi!$e).

. . . etc., etc."

's the reader can see this is a "ery rogh chart with only sign positions gi"en- and no

delineations at all. The other cneiform charts- thogh mch later- are almost as terse-

althogh positions are gi"en to mch greater precision.

's Cyril agan correctly points ot- the positions in the charts also correspond more nearly tothose of the sidereal 2odiac sing the agan8'llen ayanamsha than to tropical positions.

/t do we ha"e at this point anything lie the elaborate horoscopic astrology of the later

Hellenistic era o we do notD 'lthogh academic historians ha"e not nco"ered mch

concrete information abot the e"oltion of astrology after the early /abylonian charts- there

is considerable internal e"idence for the place of origin in the earliest te0ts. +any of these old

te0ts e0ist in ree. 'ccording to these te0ts the birthplace of astrology as we now it is

%gypt.

This wold not ha"e been a srprise to Cyril agan. He maintained almost alone that %gypt

had been the birthplace of horoscopic astrology. The troble with his theory howe"er is that

he belie"ed that horoscopic astrology came into being in the %gypt of the pharaohs. or this

there is "ery little e"idence otside of agan7s own somewhat *estionable interpretations of

the e"idence. !t was a later %gypt that ga"e birth to horoscopic astrology- an %gypt that had

made close contact with the ideas of the /abylonians.

#haraonic %gypt had a great interest in astronomy. This is e"ident in too many ways to

mention. /t it was the ind of astronomy that in"ol"ed stars rather than planets. The

%gyptians were masters of aligning bildings- temples and especially the pyramids to fi0ed

stars- apparently in an effort to bring abot sympathy between terrestrial strctres and the

stars with which they were associated. Their ability to sr"ey and align bildings with starswas incredibly accrate- often within mintes of arc of the perfect alignment. /t they do not

seem to ha"e had any planetary theory- nor did they ha"e the proper mathematical techni*es.

The +esopotamians inherited the se0agesimal system of nmbers from the &merians- a

system which sed place notation in nmbers mch lie or modern decimal system- and

which had se0agesimal fractions "ery similar in ind to or decimal fractions. This enabled

the +esopotamians to do comple0 comptations that wold ha"e been difficlt in any other

ancient system of nmerical notation. The other ancient peoples paid +esopotamian

mathematical notation the spreme compliment. They sed it whene"er they had to do similar

calclations of their own. The %gyptians had nothing lie it. /t they did ha"e a strong sense

of a need for terrestrial matters to be broght into synchrony with the hea"ens.



The critical factor in the fsion of %gyptian ideas with /abylonian astronomy was one or both

of two historical e"ents- the con*est of %gypt by #ersia- and the con*est of both #ersia and

%gypt by 'le0ander the reat. 3n both of these occasions %gypt was broght nder the same

regime as the /abylonians. !n the case of the #ersian %mpire- the #ersians themsel"es became

ardent de"otees of astrology which no dobt assisted the mo"ement of astrological ideas into

%gypt.

'nd if yo were to e0amine the te0ts inclded in the "olme on the &ages- yo wold

disco"er something that is not all ob"ios from history te0ts that deal with astrology. The

ancients clearly new that astrology had something to do with /abylon (after all they did call

astrologers Chaldeans) bt the principle credit was gi"en to the %gyptians. !t is cstomary

among academics to pass this off as something that was merely a fashion among ancient

writers with no real historical basis. 'nd in fact the ancient writers did often attribte

astrology to persons dating bac to the pharaohs sch as echepso and #etosiris.

e"ertheless- there is no reason to assme that the ancients were not correct as to %gypt7s

being the primary sorce of horoscopic astrology4 it was $st somewhat later than they

spposed.

,hat did the %gyptians add to /abylonian astrology ,e cannot say for certain- bt internal

e"idence indicates the following. The se of a rising degree may or may not ha"e been fond

in pre8Hellenistic /abylonian astrology. /t the Hellenistic writers attribted the se of

hoses- or signs sed as hoses to Hermes. or Hermes we shold nderstand a reference to

Hellenistic %gyptian sorces. !t is probable that aspects are also %gyptian bt we cannot say

for certain. The lots are almost certainly %gyptian as well as most of the systems of rlership.

3nly the e0altations ha"e a clearly +esopotamian origin.

't any rate it is *ite liely that the entire apparats of horoscopic astrology was in place by 1

C.%.- *ite possibly se"eral centries earlier. 3ne of things that we ha"e fond in or stdies

of the later ree writers is that they are already dealing with a later era of astrology. They

ha"e their ancients and they ha"e already begn to misnderstand some of the ancient

teachings. 3ne of these writers- ettis alens- actally went tra"eling throgh %gypt looing

for masters of the old traditions- mch lie modern 'mericans ha"e gone to !ndia to stdy

astrology and "arios sacred teachings. ,hile most of the ree writers seemed to ha"e

stdied from boos- alens stdied with at least a few li"ing teachers of the old traditions.

'nd it is clear from his wor that mch of what they taght wold ne"er ha"e been written

down bt for alens.

0hat Happened e2t

,hate"er may ha"e been the langage of %gyptian astrology when it first began to come into

being- by 1 C.%. it was ree. This is not to say that there were no astrology te0ts written in

Coptic- the last form of ancient %gyptian- bt no clear reference to any has sr"i"ed. 'll of

the %gyptian te0ts that are referred to in the later literatre seem to ha"e been written in

ree. #ossibly some were translations from Coptic.

The se of ree had important conse*ences. 'lthogh the #ersian empire was a trly

cosmopolitan empire with a considerable le"el of e*ality among the races that made p the

empire- no one langage came to predominate. o dobt #ersian was sed for official




prposes- bt /abylonian and %gyptian also contined to be sed in their own areas in

preference to #ersian. /t when 'le0ander the reat con*ered all of #ersia and %gypt- and

ad"anced all the way into northwest !ndia- ree became the dominant langage not only for

official prposes- bt also for any prpose that in"ol"ed commnicating from one ethnic area

to another. The original langages contined to be sed for local prposes- sch as 'ramaic

(which completely spplanted /abylonian) and Coptic. /t a scholar or tra"eler cold goanywhere from reece in the west to !ndia in the east and %gypt in the soth and be

nderstood. 'ny idea e0pressed in ree cold ha"e a similar range of tra"el.

%"en after the #ersian re"i"al beginning first with the #arthians and later with the &assanids

(see chronology gi"en earlier)- the /actrian peoples of what is now 'fghanistan and #aistan

contined to ha"e ree speaing rlers ntil the early centries C.%. Conse*ently the

/abylonian methods embodied in %gyptian astrology as well as the %gyptian methods

themsel"es cold tra"el into !ndia withot difficlty. This acconts for the fact that all of the

technical words in !ndian astrology whose origins can be fond in another langage are

ree- not /abylonian- not Coptic- nor earlier %gyptian. ,hat is also interesting is that there

appear to be few- if any- technical words in ree astrology that ha"e their origins in anyother langage.

/elow is a partial list of some of the terms in Hind astrology that appear to ha"e a ree

origin.

Table 1' 3odiacal /igns

/ans4rit 5ree4 )nglish /ans4rit 5ree4 )nglish

riya rios 'ries Ea Ggos 5ibra

Ta"ra Tars Tars arpi &orpios &corpio

Eitma Fidmoi emini Tashia To0otes &agittaris

lira arinos Cancer 'oera 'igoeres Capricorn

5eya 5eon 5eo Hridroga Hdrochoos '*aris

#athona #arthenos irgo Chettha !chthes #isces

Table "' Planets


Hermnan Hermes +ercry 'ra 'res +ars

'sph$it 'phrodite ens Eee"a Ges Eo"e

Heli Helios &n ona ronos &atrn

'll of the abo"e had &ansrit e*i"alents which probably preceded the introdction of the




abo"e words into !ndia- and which also e"entally completely displaced these words of

Hellenic origin. The following are terms for which there are no pre"ios &ansrit roots and

appear to ha"e come completely from ree. These words ha"e remained standard

astrological terms in !ndia to this day.

Table *' House and Aspect 0ords


Hora Hora Hor endra entron 'ngle

5iptaa 5epta +inte #anaphara %panaphora &ccedent

Hiptaa Hpogeion!mm

Coeli'polima 'polima Cadent

Eamitra Fiametros Fiameter Freana Feanos Fecan

+esrana +esora8nema

+idhea"en &napha &naphe 'pplying

+enyai"a +eniaios o %*i". 'naphara 'naphora &eparating

Triona Trigonon Trine Faradhra Forphoria Foryphory

Fyna Fnon &etting emadrma enodromiaoid of

CorseI

's the heading at the top of Table > indicates- these are all hose and aspect words- indicatingthat this was an area of Hind astrology on which Hellenistic astrology had great impact. The

*estion of the debt or lac thereof of Hind astrology to Hellenistic is an e0tremely

contro"ersial one. +any athors of the Hind school wold lie to deny that there was any at

all. This position is a bit hard to spport gi"en the abo"e- and also gi"en the "ery fre*ent

references to the Ja"anas who were rees or more precisely ree speaing persons of

"arios ethnic e0tractions.

3n the other hand there are ,esterners- of whom this athor is not one- who belie"e that

Hind astrology comes entirely from the ,est (or more precisely +iddle %ast). Fa"id

#ingree in his stdy of the Ja"ana$ataa does an e0tremely thorogh $ob of cataloging the

parallels between the astrology of that wor and that of the rees- and e"en he is forced toadmit that there are many differences. Howe"er sch differences do not re*ire two different

origins. 'll it re*ires is a period of isolation between two branches of a tradition after an

earlier period of nity- sch that the two branches can di"erge- and one- the eastern- merge

with nati"e traditions already in place. ,hile we do not insist that Hind astrology is entirely

or e"en principally an offshoot of Hellenistic astrology- it mst be said that the re*ired

period of isolation did occr which cold ha"e cased a single tradition to become two.

'fter 1=6 /.C.%. the #arthians- a #ersian people- rose p against the &elecids who scceeded

'le0ander the reat- and they re8con*ered most of the old #ersian %mpire e0cept for the

portion near the +editerranean- and the portion in the northwest of !ndia. The #arthians were

e0tremely hostile to the rees (and later the Romans) and effecti"ely ct off commnication(or at least ct it down to a tricle) between the main body of Hellenistic peoples toward the



,est and the /actrian rees in 'fghanistan and #aistan- who in trn remained in power

ntil the early centries C.%. The /actrian rees e"entally con"erted to Hindism and their

langage disappeared. Howe"er as of abot =;; C.%. they still e0isted as an identifiable

grop. These are the Ja"anas of the Ja"ana$ataa.

&till later the historian ay mentions Hind records from the :th and Bth Centries C.%. of anew &n od clt coming in from the ,est. i"en that Christianity displaced the worship of

&ol !n"icts- the <ncon*ered &n- it is tempting to postlate that Hind astrology recei"ed a

second brst of inpt from a new grop of Ja"anas fleeing Christian persection in the ,est.

The central problem is how mch of Hind astrology is indigenos and how mch comes

from the ,est. 3ther than the few sggestions ! ha"e made here- this is not the place to

attempt an answer. !n any case it is "ery clear that whate"er the Hinds got from the ,est

they did not $st tae and passi"ely apply. They altered- modified- and *ite possibly

impro"ed whate"er they may ha"e recei"ed from the ,est and combined it with their own

nati"e traditions.

There is one other conse*ence of the #arthian separation. The #ersian peoples had always

been enthsiastic astrologers. !t seems logical to conclde that they mst ha"e de"eloped their

own traditions from the astrology that they had inherited from the +esopotamians and the

rees. Then in ==A C.%. they were o"erthrown by the &assanid #ersians who wold ha"e

contined the de"elopment of the #ersian traditions of astrology. <nfortnately when the

'rabs came- almost all of the literatre of the Goroastrian &assanids was destroyed. This

incldes their astrological wors. Howe"er we do ha"e a strong cle as to what their astrology

mst ha"e been lie. +ost of the greatest astrologers in the 'rab era were #ersiansD 'nd the

astrology they taght is *ite different from both the Hind and the ree. !t had orbs of

aspect- the reat Cycles of Epiter and &atrn- all of the elaborate systems of planetary

interactions sch as Refrenation- rstration- 'bscission of 5ight- Translation of 5ight and so

forth. ,hile 'rab era astrology clearly owes a large debt to Hellenistic astrology- it is also

clear that in the two or three centries between the last nown Hellenistic astrologers and the

first nown 'rab era ones- something new had come into the stream. This cold ha"e been-

and probably was the #ersian stream of astrology. 'nd 'rab era astrology is the immediate

ancestor of the ,estern astrology of today. 3r astrology may be in fact the sccessor to that

third stream of ancient astrologies.

A .inal ote on 3odiacs

,e ha"e mentioned pre"iosly in this essay that the first /abylonian birth charts were cast in

the sidereal 2odiac. (&ee or article 3n the !n"ariance of the Tropical Godiac). 'lso it has

been traditional for Hind astrologers to se one or another sidereal 2odiac. This whole matter

is as contro"ersial as the isse of the indebtedness or lac thereof of Hind astrology to

+iddle %astern astrology. /t there is not enogh space in this essay to go into the matter at

this time. !n pre"ios writings (in #ro$ect Hindsight) we ha"e stated that the 2odiac did not

seem to be an isse of great import to the ancients. ,e still hold that position. /t at some

point in a ftre introdctory essay we will go into that matter in some depth. or the moment

it will ha"e to sffice to say that the matter is far from closed in fa"or of either 2odiac.

http://www.robhand.com/tropzo.htm






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