in terms of fate: a survey of the indigenous egyptian contribution to ancient astrology in light of...

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In Terms of Fate: A Survey of the Indigenous Egyptian Contribution to Ancient Astrology in Light of Papyrus CtYBR inv. 1132(B) Author(s): Briant Bohleke Source: Studien zur Altgyptischen Kultur, Bd. 23 (1996), pp. 11-46Published by: Helmut Buske Verlag GmbH

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In Terms of Fate: a survey of the indigenous Egyptian contribution to

ancient astrology in light of Papyrus CtYBR inv. 1132(B)1

von

Briant Bohleke

(Tafel 1)

If not the originator of horoscopic astrology, Egypt developed the craft into an art, having a significant impact on the Roman world and the Roman elite. This article gathers the native Egyptian astrological documentation, and using the Demotic nomenclature reconstructs the missing title and text of P. CtYBR inv. 1132(B), a list of Terms which must have once constituted a section of an Egyptian astrologer's handbook. Several systems of Terms used for casting personal horoscopes are known from Ptolemy and other ancient authorities, the most widely accepted being the sequence labeled "Egyptian". As the only ancient

manuscript preserving a table of Terms, P. CtYBR inv. 1132(B) is similar to, but deviates from the Egyptian sequence. With the reconstruction of the missing column of the manuscript from data in the first two preserved columns, there appears a consistent echeloned sequence of planets similar to the

system of Critodemus. Thus P. CtYBR is the Egyptian system modified by that of Critodemus for mnemonic purposes for native Egyptians.

The Contemporary Background

Despite Augustus' decree of AD 11 strictly prohibiting the private consultation of astro

logers or the prediction of anyone's death, astrology remained firmly implanted among the Roman population2.

The popularity of personal horoscopal astrology had risen during the late Republic as

the burgeoning aspirations of individual men seeking power for themselves took pre cedence over the underpinning communal concerns of the traditional form of senatorial

1 [As the stars would have it, when the manuscript of this article was finished, L. Depuydt's

publication of pCtYBR inv. 1132(B) appeared in: Enchoria 21, 1994, 1-9, Taf. 1.1 have modified my text and noted (dis)agreements in light of this work, but neither the substance nor conclusions of my work have been affected.]

2 F.H. Cramer, Astrology in Roman law and politics, 1954, 99 (hereafter cited as ARLP). Specialists of other spheres of knowledge had come to include astral lore in their teachings, too, by the 1st century BC; Cramer, ARLP, 84f.

12 B. Bohleke SAK 23

government3. It was during the Republic in 139 BC that the first of many recorded ex

pulsions of astrologers from Rome is recorded4. Being accustomed to native forms of

augury and haruspicy more suited to group or societal divination, the Roman senate had

grown wary of the influx of foreign, mostly Oriental ideas which could - on a par with

that of Greek philosophers -

agitate minds and threaten long-held customs.

Except for the decree of AD 11, the multiple bans on practicing astrology and the

orders for the expulsion from Rome of unrepentant practitioners of the trade were not

intended to be permanent or include astrologers outside Rome itself. Whereas those

plying their trade might be accused of duping a gullible cliental or receive the scorn of

skeptics who questioned the ability of humans to interpret heavenly signs correctly, few

among the intelligencia would doubt the "exact science" of astrology5, which acknow

ledged that the regular motions of the seven wandering "stars" (the five planets plus the two luminaries, the sun and the moon) resulting from a conscious plan or divine in fluence on mundane matters6, could be interpreted using proper techniques to ascertain

the future. Augustus' decree neither aimed to vitiate the fundamental theory that one's

fate was determined astrally nor attempted to stamp out a profession which focused on

sating (or merely feeding) the human propensity for determining one's destiny. The distinct decree of AD 11 addressed two major concerns for the ruler's person and the stability of the state. Consulting an astrologer in private could be employed to seed a plot to discover a propitious moment to overthrow the emperor after obtaining an "imperial

horoscope" for oneself. Determining the time of the emperor's death could encourage a

coup d'etat for that moment, or embolden the aspirant to test his imperial horoscope by hatching a plot around the time of the predicted demise7.

3 T. Barton, Ancient astrology, 1994, 38f., 41, 62f., 210. 4

Cramer, ARLP, 232-248; Barton, Anc. astrol., 32. On the edict of AD 11 specifically, see Cramer, ARLP, 232, and especially pages 250, 253, and 281.

5 Cramer, ARLP, 4. "Revelation satisfied the religious as it had appealed to astrology's earliest devotees. For rationalists, however, scientific observations over extended periods now were claimed

to have furnished the 'proof for the particular influence of each star or constellation ... Lay folk

were thus assured by both Egyptian, as well as Mesopotamian astrologers of a supposedly solid rational basis of the extravagant claims made by the pseudo-scientists" (Cramer, ARLP, 18). Seneca pointed out that mankind did not fully understand the signs and their laws (see S.J. Tester, A history of western astrology, 1990, 53).

6 Augustus himself minted coins bearing his zodiacal birth sign to promote his divinely ordained

destiny to reign, even bravely publishing his horoscope with ascendant (from which his death date could be calculated) in AD 11. See Cassius Dio, Dio's Roman History, 56 25, 5, trans. E. Cary, 1914-1927, vol. 7, 56f., and Barton, Anc. astrol., 40f. (citing Suetonius, De vita Caesarum, Augustus

94.5, trans. J.C. Rolfe, 1914, 266f.). 7

Barton, Anc. astrol., 45 (quoting Tacitus, Histories 1, 22; 2, 78, trans. C.H. Moore, 1925-1937, vol. 1, 40-43 and 284f. respectively).

1996 Astrology in light of Papyrus CtYBR inv. 1132(B) 13

The weapon of one's enemy can often be employed against him, and Augustus' successor Tiberius was himself a practicing astrologer8. With his advisor Thrasyllus9, a

Greek Alexandrian, Tiberius rooted out prominent citizens with horoscopes predicting an imperial future and had them executed. He also ruthlessly enforced the decree which

Augustus had promulgated during rumors of his own impending demise.

It was no coincidence that Egyptian astral advisors successfully served the imperial

household, for Egypt was the accepted home of astrology and the knowledge of this topic by a native would be considered nonpareil by the imperial patron10. For this reason

Thrasyllus' son Balbillus was retained to serve Tiberius' successors11. In such repute was

the astrologer held by Claudius that the emperor bestowed upon his councillor the high

priesthood of the temple of Hermes at Alexandria and oversight of "all imperial buildings and sacred groves in Alexandria and throughout the rest of Egypt", including the pre

sidency of the renowned university at Alexandria (the Serapeum) and its priceless library12. Though forbidden by the aforementioned edict, Balbillus' specialty of fore

telling deaths was applied to that of his imperial patron13. Nero kept Balbillus on the imperial payroll and appointed him praefect of Egypt14.

Other Egyptians, or Graeco-Egyptians bearing Egyptian names, were associated with this

8 Having learned how to cast horoscopes from Thrasyllus. See Cramer, ARLP, 94; Tacitus, Annals 6, 21, trans. Moore, 1925-1937, vol. 3, 188f.; Cassius Dio 55 11, 1, trans. Cary, vol. 6, 420f. 9 Cf. The Yavanajataka of Sphujidhvaja, ed., trans., and comm. D. Pingree, Harvard oriental series 48, 1978, 444f.

10 Most modern scholars view Babylonia as the originator of the fundamentals of astrology (B.L. van der Waerden, in: AfO 16, 1952-1953, 216-230; Cramer, ARLP, 3-5, 15). Recent variations see the elements of this prophesying introduced from heterogenous beliefs and practices of Babylonia and

Egypt, and synthesized in the milieu of Hellenistic Greece or the Near East. For the disseminators of Hermetic astrology, see G. Fowden, The Egyptian Hermes: a historical approach to the late pagan

mind, 1986, 162. 11

Although not every astrologer endeared himself to the ruler by the news he bore. The Egyptian Apollonius foretold in his native land [emphasis mine] the actual fate of Caligula. He was arrested for clearly violating the edict of AD 11 and sent to Rome to answer for his crime. Brought before the emperor on the day of his assassination and condemned to suffer the death penalty, Apollonius survived because Caligula did not, and received amnesty under Claudius (Cramer, ARLP, 11 If., 27If., 279; Cassius Dio 59 29, 4, trans. Cary, vol. 7, 358f.). For Balbillus, see Yavanajataka, ed. Pingree, 423.

12 Cramer, ARLP, 114.

13 Cramer, ARLP, 115. In AD 52 Claudius "had renewed earlier expulsion orders banishing astrologers from the capital and from Italy as well" (Tacitus, Annals 12, 52, trans. Moore, vol. 3, 390f.). Evidently Balbillus was exempted.



emperor. Chaeremon, the head of the Alexandrian Museion and himself an author on

astrological topics, was Nero's tutor15. Pamennes, an Egyptian astrologer whose habit of

maintaining carefully preserved files would lead to calamity, worked with the opposition. When two highly prominent Roman clients were accused of lese majeste, the indictment was based on their consultation with Pamennes about their own (imperial) future and that of Nero. Though sentenced to exile on an island, Pamennes continued to be retained for

consultation. A fellow exile got wind of the clandestine contacts and rifled the astro

loger's tidy files, finding incriminating horoscopes prepared for the two aspiring clients.

He was allowed to proceed to Rome to testify against them and the astrologer. The two

Romans soon paid with their lives; the fate of Pamennes remains unknown16.

The instability following Nero's overthrow placed the astrologers' predictory arts at

the fore, though the stakes for being either right or wrong about the aspirations of the

curious and ambitious had the potential for being too high. Of (Graeco?-)Egyptian des cent, Ptolemy Seleucus incited Otho's overthrow of Galba by predicting the elderly leader's death, Otho's ascendancy to the throne, and this patron's demise as well17.

Viewed by contemporary historians as "an ambitious and unscrupulous professional

astrologer who through his craft alone had risen to influence and power"18, Ptolemy Seleucus was disliked by Vitellius, but survived this emperor's edicts against astrologers and subsequent executions of them to cast his lot with Vespasian, joining the reinstated Balbillus19.

Executions commenced once more under Domitian20, who sought to discredit the

Egyptian astrologer Asclepion's prediction of the emperor's time of death by compelling the Egyptian to predict his own death. When the astrologer replied that he would be

devoured by dogs, Domitian endeavored to prove him wrong, ordering that the astrologer be burned alive and promptly buried. During the immolation, however, a rainstorm ex

tinguished the pyre and canines soon tore apart the half-charred corpse21.

15 Cramer, ARLP, 82, 116; P.W. van der Horst, Chaeremon, Egyptian priest and Stoic philosopher, 1984.

16 Cramer, ARLP, 265, 272f.; Tacitus, Annals 16, 14, trans. Moore, vol. 4, 356-359.

17 Cramer, ARLP, 132, 272, 279.

18 Cramer, ARLP, 130 and note 447; page 160.

19 Cramer, ARLP, 134, 137f. On Vitellius' expulsion orders and execution of astrologers, see Cramer, ARLP, 242-4, 270; Barton, Anc. astrol., 47f. (quoting Suetonius, Vitellius 14.4, trans. Rolfe, 268 271).


21 Barton, Anc. astrol., 48f. (quoting Suetonius, Domitian 15.3, trans. Rolfe, 372-375); Cramer, ARLP, 273f.


The reign of Hadrian witnessed the height of interest in astrology, the emperor himself

being a trained astrologer whose visit to Egypt in AD 130 was recorded by the grand

daughter of Balbillus in a graffito on the colossus of Memnon22. There were no trials for

breaching the edict of AD 11 during the reigns of Antoninus Pius and Marcus Aurelius,

the second of these being a Stoic who deemed that Fate was the supreme deity, "rational

and impartial to men and matter"23. Whatever the signs in the heavens indicated would

necessarily have to be accepted. On the other hand, Commodus liked neither astrology nor Stoicism. He did, however, join the cult of Isis, and having shaved his head in the tradition of an Egyptian priest carried the statue of Anubis in a religious procession24.

The Severan dynasty almost did not get its start, for its founder twice consulted astro

logers about his political future, once during the reign of Marcus Aurelius (for which there were no repercussions)25 and a second during the rule of Commodus, at which time the emperor was considered so odious that Septimius Severus was judged innocent and

his accuser crucified26. When he assumed the purple, however, Severus was not so kindly

disposed to forgiving those purported to be breaching the edict of AD 11. He put to

death men who enquired about his fate and condemned a senator and the governor of

Asia because the latter's nurse had dreamt that her master would be emperor and the

former because he had been told of this portent27. When visiting Egypt as emperor, Septimius Severus opened the tomb of Alexander

and then scoured the land for magical writings, enclosing the extensive collection in the

tomb not only because of a firm belief in Alexander's divine and magical powers28, but

also to rid the province of material which could be eventually used against him by

aspirants to the throne29.

This overview of the influence of astrology on Roman leaders, especially that

featuring an Egyptian slant, comes to an end with Caracalla. Cassius Dio recorded that an Egyptian named Serapio told the emperor to his face that his assassination was

22 Barton, Anc. astrol., 46; Cramer, ARLP, 172.


24 Cramer, ARLP, 208. (From the Scriptores historiae Augustae, Commodus 9.4-6, trans. D. Magie, 1922-1932, vol. 1, 286-289; compare Commodus 16.4 (vol. 1, 302f.), Pescennius Niger, 6.8-9 (vol. 1, 442f.), and Caracalla, 9.11 (vol. 2, 24-27).

25 Barton, Anc. astrol., 209.

26 Barton, Anc. astrol., 210, 269.

27 Barton, Anc. astrol., 212-4, 269f.; Scriptores historiae Augustae, Severus 15.4-5, trans. Magie, vol.

1, 404-407. 28

Barton, Anc. astrol., 10. 29 F. Cumont, L'Egypte des astrologues, 1937, 152f., note 4. (Both footnote 26 and 27 rely on Cassius

Dio, epitome 76 13, 2, trans. Cary, vol. 9, 224f.).


imminent and even named his successor. In appreciation for the revelation Caracalla had

Serapio thrown to a lion, which was kept at bay by the Egyptian holding out his hand. As he was slain by another more successful method, Serapio was said to have declared

that he could have survived this also if he had lived another day and conjured certain

spirits30. Most modern scholarship has assigned the origin of astrology to Mesopotamia based

on the first appearance there of the currently recognizable zodiac and the earliest casting of a personal horoscope (410 BC)31. But elements of astronomical peculiarities from

Egypt and to a lesser extent Greece entered the art, and because the reuse of earlier com

ponents in new contexts obscures the origin and original intention of astrological ante

cedents32, it may be fruitless to seek the origin, if not origins, of personal horoscopal

astrology in any one location. The melange of ideas and convictions must have been

cooked in the pot of the Hellenistic East, and understanding the social context, function

and practice of developed astrology yields more promising results than a search for

specific origins33. Ptolemaic Egypt witnessed a concerted effort to translate Egyptian texts into Greek34,

and during this era Hermetic literature began to emanate from Egypt, indicating a rapid evolution of astrology in that location and perhaps syncretism of two or three (including

Mesopotamian) cultures35.

30 Cramer, ARLP, 215; Cassius Dio, epitome 79 4, 4-5, trans. Cary, vol. 9, 346-349. For extending the fingers in a gesture of magical protection, see R.K. Ritner, The mechanics of Ancient Egyptian

magical practice, SAOC 54, 1993, 227-229. This Serapio is to be distinguished from Serapio Alexandrinus, an astrologer who flourished in the first century BC or AD, and whose writings are

derived from Nechepso and Petosiris (cf. Yavanajataka, ed. Pingree, 440f.). 31 A. Sachs, in: JCS 6, 1952, 52-57; van der Waerden, in: AfO 16, 1952-1953, 216-230; Cramer,

ARLP, 3, 8, 13f. (Berossus), 15f; O. Neugebauer, The exact sciences in antiquity, 21969, 102f., 140. The surviving works of Teucer of Babylon attest his investigations of the planets, decans, signs of

the zodiac, and simultaneously rising stars. His floruit was the first century AD and his residence

the city near Memphis, not the dying metropolis in Mesopotamia (Yavanajataka, ed. Pingree, 442f.). 32

Barton, Anc. astrol., 29, 160; Tester, History, 41. 33

Cumont, L'Egypte, 18, 27. 34 Cumont, L'Egypte, 25. 35

Cramer, ARLP, 15. "The emergence of Egypt as the most important center of astrological activities in the Hellenistic world obscured the preceding long and solid Mesopotamian contributions. A

syncretistic complex of astrological literature, hermetic as well as "scientific," now widened

immeasurably the possibilities of applying astrological techniques to every field of human endeavor. Not only the individual human being, but also the separate parts of the body were now

"scientifically" connected with astral influences" (Cramer, ARLP, 18).


Astrological doctrines generated Hermetic literature, in the opinion of one expert, be

cause of their relevance "to all aspects of human experience"36. The corpus of Hermetic

writings, consisting of 42 or more works by the 3rd century AD37, comprised the re

velations of the mystagogue Hermes Trismegistus to his son and initiate Tat, imparting a divine visionary message which was the basis of this pseudo-scientific and philo

sophical dialogue38. Known now only from fragments in Greek, the earliest Hermetic

astrological treatise is the Salmeschoiniaka, a book of 72 pictures of celestial signs, their

risings, settings, what they indicate for future events, and the five-day periods over which

they are sovereign39. Because the god Nebu is mentioned and five-day intervals are a

Babylonian, not Egyptian, method of time-keeping, some scholars have sought a Meso

potamian origin for the book and derivation of the title, conceding that the developed work was the

"mingling of Babylonian and Egyptian Greek astrological traditions"40. The

majority of those who have treated the subject are convinced that the Salmeschoiniaka represents a genuinely Egyptian hermetic work whose 72 figures are in the tradition of

the 36 decans and which dates to the early or mid-2nd century BC (depending upon the

authority)41.

36 Fowden, Egyptian Hermes, 91.

37 Barton, Anc. astrol., 25. For higher, fantastic numbers, see W. Gundel/H.G. Gundel, Astrologumena: die astrologische Literatur in der Antike und ihre Geschichte, 1966, 14.

38 Fowden, Egy. Hermes, 28.

39 For a summary of the state of knowledge about the Salmeschoiniaka, see RE (neue Bearbeitung), 1914-1972, 2. Reihe, Suppl. Band V, 1931, cols. 843-846.

40 Tester, History, 21. What about, however, native Egyptian input? Additionally, note that if one halves the number of figures from 72 to 36, the number of days per figure becomes 10, the period of the Egyptian week.

41 Gundel/Gundel, Astrologumena, 15f., 49, note 18; F. Boll, Sphaera: neue griechische Texte und

Untersuchungen zur Geschichte der Sternbilder, 1967, 376ff., 377, note 3 for posited non-Egyptian derivations of the title of the work, page 378 for Egyptian derivation of the title; Cramer, ARLP, 16; Fowden, Egyptian Hermes, 32, 37, 39, 139f. The integration or wholesale absorption of foreign

elements into Egyptian religious thought has an extended history from the "hocus pocus" spells of the Pyramid Texts (PT 280, 281; Pyr., 219f.) to pHarris Magical (H.O. Lange, Der magische Papyrus Harris, Det Kongelige danske Videnskabernes Selskab. Historisk-filologiske Meddelelser, Bind 14, No. 2, 1937, 98f. Spell Z [XII, 1-5]) and into the Graeco-Roman period as witnessed in the Greek and Demotic magical papyri (for example, PGM IV.296-466; PGM IV.850-929; PGM

V.424-435; PGM VII.795-821; PGM VII.846-861; ed. H.D. Betz, The Greek magical papyri in

translation, including the Demotic spells, 21992, 44-46, 55f, 109, 140, 141 respectively). Further, foreign gods were on occasion absorbed into the Egyptian pantheon and mythologized (e.g. Astarte and the Sea; LESt, 76-8la). The use of Nebu (=Mercury) is consonant with this tradition and may lend a mystical or potent air to the text or be the writer's nod to the "Chaldeans" to enhance the efficaciousness of his text.


The Salmeschoiniaka is mentioned in the earliest astrologer's handbook, that pseudo

epigraphic work said to have been composed by the priest Petosiris who received the

revelation of its contents from King Nechepso42. Based on the idea of the Hermetic

model of dialogue between Hermes and Tat, the manual retained its legitimacy by

assigning its composition to distinguished compatriots of the hoary past43. Numerous

42 The expounding was, however, mutual. See Depuydt, in : Enchoria 21, 1994, 6 note 14, citing Vettius Valens, Anthologiae. Vettii Valentis Antiocheni Anthologiarum libri novem, ed. D. Pingree, 1986, 138, 4-5 and 337, 25.

43 A. Bouch6-Leclercq, L'astrologie grecque, 1899, xi. Searching for historical figures behind the names Nechepso and Petosiris, modern scholars have postulated that "King Nechepso" might have been anciently identified with Manetho's Nechepso, second king of his 26th dynasty (Manetho, Aegyptiaca (epitome), ed. and trans. W.G. Waddell, 1971, 168-173). This would most likely be the Delta dynast Nikauba, about whom nothing is known, his Egyptian name being preserved on a broken counterpoise (K.A. Kitchen, The Third Intermediate Period in Egypt, 1100-650 B.C., with suppl., 21986, ??116, 351, 356, 363; Table 4).

The "priest Petosiris" seems to have been the product of a conscious association with the high priest

of Thoth of Hermopolis Petosiris, who flourished in the mid-4th century BC, and whose tomb shows noticeable Hellenistic architectural and artistic influence. The hieroglyphic inscriptions in the tomb

(for which, see G. Lefebvre, Le tombeau de Petosiris, IFAO, 1923-1924, preserve ancient and traditional Egyptian religious concepts by including material from the Pyramid Texts, Book of the

Dead, and sun hymns. Even newly composed texts (by Petosiris himself?) appear on the tomb walls. (For recent translations of select texts, see M. Lichtheim, Ancient Egyptian literature III, 1980, 44-54).

Barton (Anc. astrol., 26), following Gundel/Gundel (Astrologumena, 28, note 1) and F. Boll (Sternglaube und Sterndeutung, 1926, 23f.), believes the pair were chosen as the composers of the seminal textbook on astrology because Petosiris represented "the prestige of the Egyptian priesthood, and Nechepso that of the Egyptian monarchy." Gundel/Gundel (Astrologumena, 29) postulated that

Nechepso was chosen because he ruled during the time of the Assyrian invasions and introduction of Mesopotamian influences. Whereas it seems that Petosiris' reputation outlasted his life and that he was viewed as a kind of "saint" (Gundel/Gundel, Astrologumena, 3If.; Cramer, ARLP, 17; Yavanajataka, ed. Pingree, 436), it is harder to imagine why the obscure kinglet Nechepso was assigned the role of revelator of divine wisdom. The notion that he was an early astrologer should be rejected (RE, v. 16, col. 2167; Cramer, ARLP, 17). Considering the heros of Demotic tales and hellenistic romances, such as Pedubast, Inaros, Pemu, Pedikhons, and Sesonchosis (Sheshonq I, not Senwosret III!) were Libyan kings or princes, it becomes apparent that these dynasts were looked back upon as heros of a golden age, much as "knights in shining armor" are treated in our own "once upon a time" fairy tales. An astrological treatise was said to have been written in the time of "Psammethicus" (Gundel/Gundel, Astrologumena, 35, 69).


fragments in Greek survive44. For philological reasons, an original work in Egyptian has

been presumed45; more likely, however, the work was initially written in Greek by an

Egyptian educated in the language of the socially dominant ethnic group. This handbook, first set down on papyrus around 150 BC or a century later46, became the basis of horo

logical astrology and the source from which all subsequent authors on the topic drew

their information for casting personal horoscopes, referring back to the purported authors

as "the Egyptians" or "the ancients"47.

By the time of Chaeremon, himself an author of an astrological treatise, the names

Petosiris and Nechepso were household words. Their work by then had become canon,

synthesizing all the principles and techniques of astrology and enshrining the system as

the basis for all later doctrine through manipulation and dissemination48. The duo's work was said to have been in verse and very dense, containing strong elements of theology and mysticism49. From preserved fragments the topics covered in the opus fell into four

categories, one of which is of direct relevance to this paper: horoscopic astrology50. Later

astrologers and compilers excerpted heavily from Petosiris and Nechepso, among them

(in chronological order) Dorotheus of Sidon (late 1st cent. AD), Ptolemy (2nd cent. AD), Vettius Valens (2nd-3rd cent. AD), Firmicus Maternus (4th cent. AD), Paul of Alexandria (fl. AD 380), and Hephaestion of Thebes (fl. AD 415). These notables, writing in Greek (except for Firmicus Maternus) compiled a more or less helpful record of astrological "facts" and facets to construct a horoscope and calculate the length of life

(by their time an illegal act).

44 E. Riess, in: Philologus Supp. 6, 1891-1893, 325-394. Additional fragments have been published in the Catalogus Codicum Astrologorum Graecorum, 12 vols., 1898-1953.


46 J. Schwartz, in: Livre du centenaire, 1880-1980, MIFAO 104, 1980, 320; Gundel/Gundel, Astro logumena, 105; Fowden, Egyptian Hermes, 3, note 11; Barton, Anc. astrol., 27f.; see too Boll,

CCAG VII, 129-131. The date 150 BC was favored because the circumstances in the treatise reflect the political and military events in Egypt and Syria at this time; see O. Neugebauer, in: JAOS 63, 1943, 121, citing W. Kroll, in: RE, vol. 16, col. 2160-2167 and Cumont, L'Egypte, 39. 47

Tester, History, 22, 49, 60; Gundel/Gundel, Astrologumena, 220; Yavanajataka, ed. Pingree, 201. For only a few of the numerous examples, see Vettius Valens, Anthologiae, ed. Pingree, 103, 8 and 453, 8; Ptolemy, Tetrabiblos 111.10,127, trans. F.E. Robbins, 1971, 270f., note 1; and Hephaestion of Thebes, Hephaestionis Thebani Apotelesmaticorum, ed. D. Pingree, vol. I, 1973, 4,23; 32,10; 52,9; 82,10 (mentioning Petosiris); 120,23 (mentioning Nechepso and Petosiris by name); vol. II (the Terms per Dorotheus and "The Egyptians"): 138,17,25; 140,5,14; 142,4,13; 144,3,10; 145,27; 146,6; 148,1; 152,14; (the Terms per Ptolemy and "The Egyptians"): 154,18; 156,12). 48

Gundel/Gundel, Astrologumena, 34; Barton, Anc. astrol., 26. 49 Gundel/Gundel, Astrologumena, 32.



The Egyptian Astrological Documentation

Extant horoscopes on papyri from the ancient world are nearly without exception in

Greek, the lingua franca of the East and the intellectual stratum of Alexandria. With a

paying clientele either native Greek speakers, or in the West a gentry expected to have

been educated to understand the language and view it as the conveyor of philosophy and

wisdom, Greek would have been the expected medium for recording the positions and

aspects of the heavenly wanderers. Because the synthesis of astrology was attributed to

the Egyptians -

Nechepso and Petosiris in particular and the ancient civilization in

general -

and the Hermetic works purported to have been composed in the native script, it may seem odd that so little remains of astrological works in Demotic51.

The sum of the astrological corpus in Demotic stems from the first two centuries AD

and has been viewed as a transient phenomenon. The horoscope cast for the earliest date,

though doubtlessly written down years or decades afterward, is O. Ashmolean, which

antedates the oldest Greek horoscope from Egypt by nearly two decades. Inked in

Demotic and hieratic, and presenting several orthographic and lexical difficulties, O.

Ashmolean is dated by the lunar calendar in the first two lines to the reign of a Queen52. After the positions of the sun, Jupiter, and moon are subsequently given in two more

lines, the civil calendar date is noted, this being a Year 14. Comparing the discrepancy between the lunar and civil dates allows the occurrence of the new moon to be placed within the 19th year of the 25 year lunar cycle, thus in 38 BC, during the reign of Cleopatra VII53.

The ostracon continues for eight more lines in decreasing states of preservation with

the positions of the remaining planets (except for Mercury)54 and the four cardines: the

51 For the Greek evidence, see O. Neugebauer/H.B. Van Hoesen, Greek horoscopes, Memoirs of the American Philosophical Society 48, 1959, and D. Baccani, Oroscopi Greci: documentazione papirologica, Ricerca Papirologica 1, 1992. Gundel and Gundel (Astrologumena, 35) postulated that there ought to have been handbooks in Demotic corresponding to those from the hands of the Greek and Latin compilers. If there was a non-historical construction which had been based on a fictitious attribution of the birth of astrology to Egypt, then there would be only derivative works and no

original handbooks equivalent to those in Greek and Latin. 52 O. Neugebauer/R.A. Parker, in: JEA 53, 1968, 231-234, pi. XXXVI, 2. 53

Neugebauer/Parker, in: JEA 53, 1968, 233; R.A. Parker, The calendars of ancient Egypt, SAOC 26, 1950, 25. See also the discussion of pCarlsberg 9 below.

54 It is odd that Jupiter is repeated after Venus in line 10. From line 7 to line 11 inclusive, the order of planets is: Saturn, (Jupiter mentioned in line 3 with the sun), Mars, Venus, and then Jupiter again. Perhaps the sequence should have been from the slowest (outermost) planet to the swiftest (innermost), Mercury. Thus, Jupiter in line 11 may be an error for Mercury. (For another substitution by error, see R.A. Parker, in: Grammata Demotika. Festschrift fiir Erich Liiddeckens zum 15. Juni 1983, 1984, 142 in which Mars is written instead of Venus.)


ascendant, descendant, mesuranema (medium caelum, or MC), and the hypogeion (imum caelum, or IMC)55. Each of the cardines receives the label ib "heart", here specialized to

mean "center".

There are a number of difficulties which obscure the full reading of the text. While some signs are illegible traces (end of line 11), several others defy interpretation, es

pecially the group ending lines 5, 8, 9, and 10. The significance of Libra 6? in line 4

hinges on the sign preceding it, which has a star determinative indicating an otherwise

unknown astronomical(?) phenomenon in that section of the sky56. And whereas the publishers of O. Ashmolean could not venture a guess as to what preceded Pisces and

Scorpio in line 12, the presence of these two signs may have constituted the fourth

triplicity with Pisces (here also the ascendant)57. If this conjecture is correct, the place ment of this information here and its significance would still be a mystery58.

Even if incompletely understood, O. Ashmolean yields remarkable evidence about

Egyptian astrological practice. The earliest cast horoscope in Demotic displays a fully developed method for recording preliminary information regarding the moment of the client's birth. Instead of writing out the names of the planets, zodiacal signs, and astro

logical terms, individual Demotic/hieratic signs - the predecessors of the sigla used up

to the present day - are already employed. Finally, common words such as ib "heart" and

tni.t (


There are 4 horoscopes on ostraca claimed to have been cast by the same individual

living in Medinet Habu, a fragmentary fifth no doubt belonging to the corpus60. Com

posed around AD 50, the ostraca share a common scheme of composition: date, position of sun, moon, and planets, ascendent and descendent, midheaven ("lake of the sky") and the nadir ("lake of Duat"), the swSp, and the twr61. The most complete ostracon, the com bined O. Collection Thompson I/O. Strassburg, "accounts for the influence of all twelve

zodiacal signs..., enumerating the 'Houses' in their relationship to the zodiac in its special

position at the given moment"62. As with O. Ashmolean no conclusions are drawn from

the tabulated data concerning the fortunes of the individual for whom the horoscope was

cast. (For the reasons why, see pBerlin 8345 below.) The nearly contemporary O. Berlin P. 6152 is dated explicitly to Year 3 of Nero (AD

57). A mysterious Demotic sign, perhaps a technical astrological term, may indicate "old" (iiw) and thus be a reference to the use of the traditional Egyptian as opposed to the Alexandrian calendar63. The positions of the luminaries and planets being duly noted, the last line specifies the ascendant. The words for all are written out instead of being indicated by the specialized signs.

The latest horoscopes written in Egyptian are on ostraca excavated in 1938 at Medinet

Madi in the Fayum. R.A. Parker published two of the lot, noting that the ostraca were

model texts written by novices in a temple school at which the shards became archives.

O. Medinet Madi 1154 records only the unspecified positions of the planets and

luminaries in the zodiac; the two texts on O. Medinet Madi 1060 were schoolboy copies of varying accuracy64. As Parker stated, "the chief interest and value of these small texts

lie in the paleographical variants they offer for the signs of the planets, sun and moon

and the zodiac65." Indeed, by this date, mid-December AD 171, the information recording

tni.t is "Lot". (See clarification in footnote 97 below.) The most important Lot is that of Fortune; others include Daimon, Eros, Necessity, Courage, and those specifying various family relations. As for Lots in the horoscope, "they are not segments which together make up a complete circle, but are rather specially endowed points in the chart of a nativity" (Manilius, Astronomica, trans. G. P.

Gould, 1977, lxiv). 60

Neugebauer, in: JAOS 63, 1943, 120. 61

Neugebauer, in: JAOS 63, 1943, 118. 62

Neugebauer, in: JAOS 63, 1943, 116, 118. For "Houses" the descriptor "Places" would be more accurate; see footnote 97 below. The top section of this ostracon was initially published by W.

Spiegelberg, in: OLZ 5, 1902, cols. 223-225. 63

Neugebauer/Parker, in: JEA 53, 1968, 234f., pi. XXXVI, 1. 64

Parker, in: Festschrift Luddeckens, 141-143, Taf. 23. The other ostraca are O. Medinet Madi 842, 1063, and 1066.

65 Parker, in: Festschrift Luddeckens, 142.


the planetary positions was done solely in signs, bolstering O. Neugebauer's assertion

that the later zodiacal symbols originated from Demotic66.

The coffin lid of the priest Heter, who died around AD 120 in Thebes, had originally been painted with "a large figure of Nut surrounded by pictures of the twelve zodiacal

signs" to which had been added in Demotic the positions of the planets in mid-October

AD 93 at the moment of birth of the purchaser67. The evidence from papyri is more extensive and diverse, encompassing distinct lines

of astronomical/astrological outlook, concern, knowledge, and origin. Papyrus Berlin

8279, written in the Fayum after AD 42, is a copy of a hieratic original tabulating the

positions of the known planets through the zodiac for the years 16 BC to AD 11. Com

pared to modern calculations, the positions display a consistent deviation in longitude

explainable by the use of a fixed point near the vernal equinox. Neugebauer republished and explained the text68, concluding that the planetary data correspond with the "eternal

tables" mentioned and condemned by Ptolemy. He adds that the data were obtained

through a combination of calculation and observation, and that the use of a longitude fixed on the ecliptic -4? from the vernal equinox at the time of Augustus "precludes the

possibility of deriving the longitudes of the planetary texts from Greek astronomy of the period between Hipparchus and Ptolemy"69.

66 O. Neugebauer, in: Transactions of the American Philosophical Society, n.s. 32, 1942, 245; Neugebauer, in: JAOS 63, 1943, 122f. carefully traced the sign for Libra back through Demotic, hieratic, and hieroglyphic to the sign for ih.t "horizon."

67 O. Neugebauer/R. A. Parker, Egyptian astronomical texts HI, Brown Egyptological Studies 6, 1969, 93-95, pi. 50; Neugebauer, in: JAOS 63, 1943, 115. Originally published by H.K. Brugsch, in: ZDMG 14, 1860, 15ff. and H.K. Brugsch, Recueil de monuments egyptiens dessines sur lieux et

publics sous les auspices de Son Altesse le vice-roi d'Egypte Mohammed-Said-Pacha, 1862-85, pi. 34 & 35. The painted ceiling of a tomb in Athribis depicts the planets and figures of the zodiac in human, animal, and composite form. Two labeled &a-birds near Orion are those of the two brothers originally buried in the tomb (Athribis, 12f., 23f., pi. xxxvi-xxxviii). From the arrangement of the luminaries and planets among the graphic depictions of the signs, Neugebauer and Parker (in: JEA 53, 1968, 231) have determined the dates of the horoscopes to be AD 141 and 148, the birth years of the brothers. All other inscriptions are in hieroglyphics (see Neugebauer/Parker, Egyptian astronomical texts III, 96-98, pi. 51).

68 Neugebauer, in: Transactions of the American Philosophical Society, n.s. 32, 1942, 209-250; pi. 1 27. For the earlier partial publication without the astronomical explanation, see W. Spiegelberg, Demotische Papyrus aus den koniglichen Museen zu Berlin, 1902, Taf. 99.

69 Neugebauer, in: Transactions of the American Philosophical Society, n.s. 32, 1942, 243. For con clusions pertaining to the fixed point on the ecliptic and data on the tables being obtained through calculation and observation, see pages 240 and 242 respectively.


To Neugebauer, whether the astronomical tables of pBerlin 8279 would have been

employed for astrological purposes is without interest. Because the signs of the zodiac are used for positions of the planets does not indicate to the author that preoccupation

with astrology motivated the tabulation of the data. To back up his supposition, Neu

gebauer stated that if the tables were of "old-Egyptian origin then astrological purposes can certainly be excluded because no astrology existed in Egypt before the latest period of its history"70. The errors in the document

-

confusion between the numbers 10 and 20 -

would be explainable if the Berlin papyrus had been copied from an original in hieratic, in which script the signs for these numbers are very similar71. The implication is then

drawn that the hieratic original would have been a pharaonic ("old-Egyptian") compo sition free of astrological influence.

However, hieratic was used even when Demotic was the standard script, not only in

"sacred" texts such as the Book of the Dead and other funerary compositions, but also

in expository mathematical treatises. These would have been for the most part composed before Demotic was developed, but not necessarily (viz. O. Ashmolean, the horoscopic ostracon from the reign of Cleopatra VII) - and pBerlin 8279 itself turns out to be further proof-in-point. B.L. van der Waerden reexamined the methods by which this "eternal table" was calculated and tried to prove by looking at motions of each heavenly body that all planetary positions were calculated, not observed, and had been reckoned by

known "Babylonian" methods72. Further, the systematic 4?-5? difference between po

sitions recorded in the text and actual longitudes calculated by modern methods "means

that the texts use a fixed origin of the zodiac, connected with the fixed stars, just as Babylonian moon and planetary tables do. ...[H]ence the origin of the zodiac in our

Egyptian texts coincides with that of the Babylonian ephemerides and observation texts of the latest time"73. Thus contra Neugebauer, whose later rebuttal claims the question of computation must remain unanswered74, the text could not be old Egyptian, and its raison d'etre would be more astrological than not. Any hieratic original would have been

composed during the Ptolemaic, or even Roman period, by a scribe versed well enough in the old script to give his tables the aura of an antique pedigree75.

70 Neugebauer, in: Transactions of the American Philosophical Society, n.s. 32, 1942, 235.

71 Neugebauer, in: Transactions of the American Philosophical Society, n.s. 32, 1942, 247.

72 B.L. van der Waerden, in: Koninklijke Nederlandsche Akademie van Wetenschappen, Proceedings 50, 1947, 536-547; 782-788.

73 Van der Waerden, in: Koninklijke Nederlandsche Akademie van Wetenschappen, Proceedings 50, 1947, 537. This would be around the beginning of the Seleucid and Ptolemaic eras.

74 Neugebauer/Parker, Egyptian astronomical texts HI, 235-240, and earlier Neugebauer/Van Hoesen, Greek horoscopes, 173, note 82.

75 The astronomical texts which unequivocally refer to an original and pre-Hellenistic, pre-astrological Egyptian concept of the heavens are pCarlsberg 1 and la, written in hieratic with Demotic trans


The Stobart Tables, four wooden tablets of planetary tables covering the years AD 71

132 (with substantial gaps) were composed sometime after AD 134 in Thebes, providing similar information to that of pBerlin 8279. The tablets, an additional two of which have

not been preserved, were based on the Alexandrian calendar as opposed to the invariably

365-day Egyptian calendar used in the Berlin papyrus76. Whether the Stobart Tables had been calculated solely by "Babylonian" or presently

unknown methods, they were drawn up using the same formulas as pBerlin 827977.

The three columns of lunar tables found in pCarlsberg 9 are, however, the result of

native Egyptian mathematical calculations without Hellenistic influence. Copied after AD

144 in Tebtunis (Fayum), the layout of the papyrus follows the pattern "Year X of [emperor Tiberius through Antoninus Pius], l.p.h. (equals) Year 1 of the moon". These

years correspond to the beginning of a 25-year lunar cycle, at the end of which the new

moon again falls on the same day of the Egyptian 365-day year. Following this is a list

of the zodiac, commencing with Leo, the sign in which the sun resided at the beginning of the Egyptian year at the time pCarlsberg 9 was copied. Thirdly, five lines of five

sequential numbers provide the twenty-five dates used in the next section to calculate on

which day of the second month of each year in the cycle the new moon will occur. The

fifth and last part specifies the nine "small" years (those with 12 lunar months) and the

remaining "great" years (those with the added intercalary lunar month), a scheme known

already from the 12th dynasty78. No doubt originally used to calculate festival dates from the 4th century BC onward79,

the cycle 25 years=309 lunations=9125 days had its purpose augmented, and updated,

lation and commentary. They contain the cosmological texts describing the depictions of Nut and the decans found in the cenotaph of Seti I and the tomb ceiling of Ramses IV but date to the first

century AD and come from Tebtunis in the Fayum (O.H. Lange/O. Neugebauer, Papyrus Carlsberg No. 1, ein hieratisch-demotischer kosmologischer Text, Det Kongelige Danske Videnskabernes Selskab, historisk-filologiske Skrifter, Bind 1, Nr. 2, 1940; Neugebauer, in: Transactions of the American Philosophical Society, n.s. 32, 1942, 238f.; Neugebauer, in: JAOS 63, 1943, 124; Neugebauer/Parker, Egyptian astronomical texts I, 33-94; pi. 36-43). 76 Stobart Tables: Neugebauer, in: Transactions of the American Philosophical Society, n.s. 32, 1942, 209-263; Neugebauer/Parker, Egyptian astronomical texts III, 225-228, 232-240. Originally published by H.K. Brugsch, Nouvelles recherches sur la division de 1'anee des anciens Egyptiens, suivies d'un m6moire sur des observations plan?taires consignees dans quatre tablettes 6gyptiennes en 6criture demotique, 1856.

77 Van der Waerden, in: Koninklijke Nederlandsche Akademie van Wetenschappen, Proceedings 50, 1947. For Neugebauer's rebuttal, see both citations in footnote 74 above.

78 Beni Hasan I, pi. xxiv-xxv and pages 54, 61. 79

Parker, Calendars, ?? 49-140, pages 13-29.


by the addition of the zodiac80. Not only could its original value be maintained for distri

bution of grain to the temples at the appropriate times81, it could also be employed to

determine lunar locations for casting horoscopes (such as O. Ashmolean) and as a tool for converting the Babylonian lunar calendar into the Egyptian or Alexandrian year82.

Lunar conjunctions are also the topic of pVienna D4876, which exists in sixteen

fragments, the versos of three of which contain the astronomical information. Due to

Neugebauer's and Parker's main interest in astronomical evidence, the remaining frag

ments, labeled as "astrological" were not published with their companions83. Because the

papyrus dates to the Roman period, it would be illuminating to see how the astrological elements related to the lunar phenomena, and how this might elucidate the relationship of the zodiac to the 25-year lunar cycle in pCarlsberg 984.

From 73 BC comes the oldest direct evidence on eclipses in Egypt. Retrieved from

cartonnage found in Abusir-el-Melek, pBerlin 13146/13147 recto contains the cal

culations of lunar eclipses for Years 18 to 28 which correspond to 84-73 BC. Given is

the zodiacal sign in which the moon resides at the moment of eclipse and sometimes the

sign in which certain planets were predicted to be simultaneously. The astronomical

calculations were apparently done in a manner similar to those used in contemporary

Babylonian texts85; the papyrus does not include any omina or other astrological interpre tations or conclusions.

80 For pCarlsberg 9, see O. Neugebauer/A. Volten, in: Quellen und Studien zur Geschichte der Mathematik Astronomie und Physik, Abteilung B: Studien. Band 4, 1938, 383-406; Neugebauer, in Transactions of the American Philosophical Society, n.s. 32, 1942, 240, 242f.; Neugebauer/Parker, Egyptian astronomical texts HI, 220-225; K.-T. Zauzich, in: Enchoria 4, 1974, 157f., Taf. 12.

81 Parker, Calendars, ?? 90-104, pages 19-22.

82 Van der Waerden, in: Koninklijke Nederlandsche Akadademie van Wetenschappen, Proceedings, 50, 1947, 785-788. The author concedes that much work remains to be pursued in this area. The

type of conversion is spelled out in col. A, lines 24-27 of a Vienna eclipse papyrus (R.A. Parker, A Vienna Demotic papyrus on eclipse- and lunar-omina, Brown Egyptological Studies 2, 1959, 5,

10f.). 83

Neugebauer/Parker, Egyptian astronomical texts III, 243-250. 84 Whereas contemporary scholarship has sometimes tiptoed around pseudo-science latching onto texts

which can be studied in a modern scientific context, I doubt very much that the Greek Imperial world, especially in the first two centuries AD, would have undertaken astronomical pursuits without

exploiting the opportunity to seek out astrological meaning. Even Ptolemy, whose Almagest des cribes a cinematic "astronomical" model of the cosmos composed the substantial Tetrabiblos as a

counterpart. 85 O. Neugebauer/R.A. Parker/K.-T. Zauzich, in: Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society,

125, 1981, 312-327. The verso of the papyrus computes the dates of the solstices and equinoxes; see Ibid., 323 and R.A. Parker/K.-T. Zauzich, in: Studies presented to Hans Jakob Polotsky, 1981,

472-479.


The Vienna eclipse- and lunar-omina papyrus (pVienna D6278-D6289, D6698 and D10111) from the Fayum dates to the late 2nd century AD86. It represents a copy of two

separate books, the first a treatise on eclipses of the sun and moon and their omina for

five countries, the (mis)fortunes of the five depending upon the month of the year, hour of the day or night, and section of the sky in which the omina occur. The effects could

be concentrated on one country or spread over two or more. The second book treats lunar

omina other than eclipses and their influence over Egypt and "foreigners"87. Nowhere in

86 Parker, Vienna Demotic papyrus.

87 Parker, Vienna Demotic papyrus, could not distinguish any difference between the terms pi itm ("the disk") in the upper half of each column and ic\\ ("moon") in the lower half when they are considered in relation to the vignettes, which are all colored full disks. He concludes that both terms refer to the full moon, not the sun and moon respectively. The vignette in col. VIII (Ibid., 38) is black below and dark yellow above while in col. IX, line 5 (page 42) the text states "if you see the moon at a time when its northern part is black and it southern illuminated ...". These conditions, both associated with the jch, not pi itm, best describe the first or last quarter moon when the darkened other half can be discerned against the celestial background. Parker claims that it does not seem

"possible to consider pi itm as referring to the sundisk" (page 35) because the sun's brilliance would preclude situations in which (black) disks or stars are adjacent to or in (hry-ib) it. The moon, he writes, could occult stars and planets (page 36); this is true, as Ptolemy noted (R.R. Newton, Ancient astronomical observations and the accelerations of the earth and moon, 1970, 156-164), though these objects would then be behind the lunar disk and not apparent on its face. To occult three stars at once as pi itm does (col. XII, line 2, page 43) would be a phenomenally rare event. (The ancients were well aware of the dark basaltic lunar mares and crater basins, so these should not be considered for explaining black disks and stars.)

Without disagreeing with Parker on this particular text, it must be noted that observations of

sunspots (black stars?) were observed perhaps as early as 1200 BC in the Far East. Around 350 BC, Theophrastus of Athens, a pupil of Aristotle, made the earliest recorded observation of sunspots in the West. From 28 BC to AD 1638 the systematically kept annals of China, Japan, and Korea record no less than 112 observations of sunspots, describing them as black emanations, or shaped like a hen's egg, date, plum, eyes with brows, or a three-legged crow. These observations were made in

the majority of cases at sunrise/sunset, but other atmospheric conditions such as dust storms, smoke from fires, volcanic activity, and partially cloudy skies obscured the brilliance of the sun enough for the solar disk to be inspected. In the West only rare and fragmentary attestations of sunspots exist due to the misguided respect paid to the teachings of Aristotle, whose philosophy maintained that the sun was a perfect body without blemish. So prevalent and pervasive was this claim that in Einhard's Life of Charlemagne a sunspot seen around AD 807 had to be reinterpreted as a transit of Mercury. Even the Arabs, excellent astronomical observers and chroniclers but also the heirs to Aristotle's works, forsook their well-earned knowledge of the skies for that scholar's pontification. Abu-1-Fadl Ja'far ibn al-Muktaft (AD 907-977) recorded that the philosopher al-Kindf observed a spot on the sun in May AD 840,


either text does the zodiac appear. Instead, there is a concordance between months of the

Babylonian year (transcribed into Demotic) and the months of the Egyptian calendar. Because the month of Choiak (IV Akhet) is equated with Nisan, the first Babylonian month, the fourth month of the roving Egyptian calendar would have coincided with the

beginning of the fixed lunar calendar from around 625 to 482 BC. What might be

fragments of the name of Darius I in the first book (Text A) tilts the date toward the lower limit. Thus, the introduction of "judicial astrology" (otherwise called mundane

astrology), derived from Babylonian omen literature, took place during the 27th dynasty, and the Vienna papyrus, a late copy, retained its original form without the influence of

Hellenistic astrology88. Matched in character with the Vienna papyrus but distinct in its employment of the

zodiac is pCairo 31222 originally published by W. Spiegelberg89 and later republished and explained by G.R. Hughes90. Dated to the Roman period and perhaps from the

Fayum, pCairo's purpose is to predict the political, economic, and military events of

Egypt, Syria, and Crete (not Parthia)91 from the positions of the planets in zodiacal signs at the time Sirius rises, whether in conjunction with (heliacal rising) or in opposition to the sun. Hughes pointed out that such judicial astrology has the same tenor as that found in Book I of Hephaestion of Thebes (fl. AD 415), whose work relies heavily on the

Nechepso-Petosiris tradition and sources92. Most interestingly, Hughes viewed pCairo

which he (erroneously) attributed to a transit of Venus. As much as Ptolemy had tried, he could not observe actual transits of Mercury and Venus (black disk?) and actual ancient sightings of these phenomena are unknown.

For a summary of pre-telescopic observations of solar phenomena, see R.J. Bray/R.E. Loughhead,

Sunspots, 1965, 1, and D. Justin Schove, ed., Sunspot cycles, 1983. Might the Vienna text have been a copy of an original treatise describing both lunar and solar omina but altered to describe only the moon out of deference to the prevailing Aristotelian philosophy? If some of the black stars or disks seen on pi itm do refer to sunspots or transits of the inferior planets, the observations in the Vienna papyrus would constitute the sole examples of these phenomena from

Egyptian or Babylonian sources. 88

Parker, Vienna Demotic papyrus, 28-30. Papyrus Florence 8, of unknown provenance and Roman

date, provides a concordance between the zodiac and the Tanis list of decans beginning with knm{t) as the first decan of Cancer (Neugebauer/Parker, Egyptian astronomical texts III, 252-254, pi. 80C).

With this easy transition from the traditional Egyptian division of the heavens into the zodiac, the

stage was set for astrology to grow rapidly. 89 W. Spiegelberg, Die demotischen Denkmaler II. Die demotischen Papyrus, CG 40, 1906-1908, 309

and pi. CXXIX. 90 G.R. Hughes, in: JNES 10, 1951, 256-264, pi. X. 91

Parker, Vienna Demotic papyrus, 11, note to line 26. To be read nl Grty "Crete". 92 Hughes, in: JNES 10, 1951, 257.


31222 as part of an astrologer's handbook, assigning the same role to pBerlin 8345 (dis cussed below) which, however, would have been used for casting personal horoscopes93.

Whereas there are preserved in Greek lengthy works which would assist an astrologer in casting a natal horoscope for an individual, only a few scraps of papyri in Demotic

have been interpreted as having come from the Egyptian equivalent. In addition to pCairo 31222 and pBerlin 8345, yet another fragment may fall into this category. From the Roman period, pCairo 50143 preserves 2 lines of text reading, "The 6th god is Mercury. [Gemini], Libra, Aquarius". Of the seven planets (including the sun and moon), Mercury is the sixth planet counting from the furthest to the closest to the sun. The three signs of the zodiac represent the triplicity of Mercury94.

Papyrus Carlsberg 32, dated to the 2nd century AD and from Tebtunis in the Fayum, consists presently of two partial columns and computes by procedures similar to

Babylonian methods the pattern for describing the day-to-day motion of Mercury as a

morning star95. Because of the swift and complex movements of the innermost planet, such precise calculations are critical for natal horoscopy in which the positions of planets at the hour of the patron's birth must be plotted96. For casting an accurate horoscope, the

astrologer first required personal data such as the day, hour, and location of the client's birth. Secondly, the tables of the planetary positions would provide the locations of the celestial portenders at the moment of birth. Before the astrologer could fine-tune his pre dictions concerning future prospects for the person under study, he would once more

refer to his handbook, which would furnish interpretations of single and combined plane tary positions in terms of health, wealth, fame, career, travel, family, marriage, pro creation, proclivities, and most other aspects of the human experience. Papyrus Berlin

93 Hughes, in: JNES 10, 1951, 257 and more recently Hughes, Egy. Studies Parker, 53-69. 94 Spiegelberg, Die demotischen Denkmaler III, 1932, Taf. LIX. Neugebauer, in: JAOS 63, 1943, 124, note 53. For date, see Neugebauer/Parker, Egyptian astronomical texts III, 218. 95 R.A. Parker, in: AcOr 26,1962, 143-147; Neugebauer/Parker, Egyptian astronomical texts III, 240f., pi. 79B.

96 Three other texts of tabulations have defied interpretation, thus they may or may not be astrological: pFlorence 44, Roman period, unknown provenance, preserves various large periods of days, one of which might signify the sidereal period of Jupiter (Neugebauer/Parker, Egyptian astronomical texts III, 250-252, pi. 80B); pOslo Inv. 1336, Roman period, Fayum, is a small fragment of two columns, the first of which lists day numbers of mean difference 27;36 days. The sequence of number de crease in column II is similar to that of pCarlsberg 31 (following) (Ibid., 254f., pi. 79C); pCarlsberg 31, 2nd century AD, Tebtunis in the Fayum, consists of four fragments of papyri tabulating numbers associated with years in a linear function, decreasing with a constant difference. The parameters and the value of an individual period are unknown from other contexts (Ibid., 241-243, pi. 79A; Parker, in: AcOr 26, 1962, 143-147).


8345 is the remains of the interpretive section of an Egyptian astrologer's handbook, which provides varied predictions for the fates of individuals (as opposed to rulers or

nations) based on the presence of Venus and Mercury in their respective horoscopic Places (X67COI, loci) at the time of birth97.

Papyrus Berlin is of undetermined Roman date within the floruit of Egyptian astrology and comes from the Fayum. Currently four partial columns are preserved98. One scholar,

noting that each of the five planets in the dozen Places would have yielded 60 positions and predictions, postulated that this section of the handbook would have covered 12

columns when complete99. Some Greek and Latin astrological treatises dedicate sub

stantial sections to defining the Places and explaining the significance of the presence of

planets or their various aspects (i.e., the geometric relations among planets with respect to the signs)100. Whether the sun and moon were treated in pBerlin is unknown; the extant text represents the final columns of the original, which would have begun with

Saturn and moved to the faster-moving inner planets, ending with Venus and Mercury (as is the case with the Stobart Tables, pBerlin 8279, and pLondiniensis 98 [below]).

The papyrus under study adhered to the twelve Place theory as opposed to that

sectioning the cosmos into eight Places. Each of the two remaining expositions is entitled

97 Hughes, in: Egy. Studies Parker, 53 and Hughes, in: JNES 10, 1951, 257. Note that in both pub lications Hughes uses the word "Houses" instead of Places for the translation of Demotic c.wy.

Further, he equates the Houses with the Lots (Kkf\poi), which is not correct. Thus the technical astrological translation of c.wy is rightly "Places". In ancient astrology, the House (oIkoc;, domus, domicilium) was the zodiacal sign in which the planet was thought to rule. The Place was one of usually twelve stationary divisions of the sky through which the signs rotated diurnally, each Place

representing a distinct aspect of life. The Place is equivalent to what is known in modern astrology as the "mundane house". (Cf. Tester, History, 25, 29; for definitions, see Barton, Anc. astrol., 98f., 212-214 and Neugebauer/Van Hoesen, Greek horoscopes, 7-9.) The source for the interpretations is no doubt the work of Nechepso and Petosiris. The origin of the Places has been attributed to Babylonia (F. v. Oefele, in: ZAS 41, 1904, 123), Egypt (Tester, History, 25), and specifically Hermetic literature (Gundel/Gundel, Astrologumena, 21, 34, 64 note 7, and 110).

98 Spiegelberg, Dem. Pap. Berlin, 28, pi. 97.

99 Oefele, in: ZAS 41, 1904, 125. Hughes, in: Egy. Studies Parker, 53 postulates 18 to 19 columns. 100 Ptolemy, Tetrabiblos EI. 10,128, trans. Robbins, 272-275 and 272f., note 2. Vettius Valens, Antholo

giae IV, 12; IX, 3, ed. Pingree, 170-172, 320-323 respectively; see also Vettius Valens, Anthologies, Livre I, I, 21, ed., trans., comm. J.-F. Bara, 1989, 180-191. Firmicus Maternus, Mathesis II.XV-XXI, trans. P. Monat, 1992-1994, 110-122. Manilius, Astronomica 2.856-970, trans. Gould, lvi-lxi, 150 159.


ni shny.w n pi ntr twi/swg "the influences of Venus/Mercury"101. There follow in

standard order each Place and commentary whether the influence of the planet will en

hance or penalize the prospects of health, wealth, reputation, and luck. Beginning with

the ascendant (rc-hc.w) the name of each, where preserved, is given in Egyptian. These

correspond in meaning to the more common Greek and Latin designations of the

Places102. The most significant Places are the cardines, followed by the swSp (&7CO KA,{|iaTa; loci 6, 9, and 12) that precede the three upper cardines, and finally the twr (no Greek analogue; loci 7 and ll)103.

The Demotic ostraca, in conjunction with pBerlin 8345 show the Places to be of key importance in casting a nativity. When the client's hour of birth was known, a template could be filled in. These are the Demotic horoscopic ostraca, which Thompson quite per

ceptively would prefer labeling "elements for casting a nativity"104. Indeed, the ostraca were the scrap paper upon which the locations of the sun and moon were recorded (along with any planet near them), followed by the location of the signs of the zodiac and the other planets within each of the Places, which are grouped by cardines, swSp, twr, and

finally the remaining three Places. It would be from this "chart" that the Egyptian

astrologer could refer back to his section of handbook listing interpretations of prospects for the future by the presence of specific planets (viz. pBerlin 8345) or zodiacal signs

within the Places105.

Results indicating such labor actually occurred are found in pLondiniensis 98, which was most likely discovered with the Stobart Tables in Thebes106, perhaps constituting part

101 Venus: col. I, line 1; Mercury: col. HI, line 10. As Hughes, in: JNES 10, 1951, 259, note 1 points out, ni shny.w has the specialized meaning of xd drcoTeXteuaxa, "the influences or results of positions of the stars on human destiny". Hughes' article translated and interpreted pCairo 31222, an astral omen text entitled ni shny.w Spd.t "the influences of Sothis", a fixed star.

102 H. Thompson, in: PSBA 34, 1912, 228-231. For the Greek and Latin designations, see Neugebauer/Van Hoesen, Greek horoscopes, 7f.; Bouche-Leclercq, L'astrologie grecque, 276-288, 415-419; Boll, Sternglaube, 62f.

103 Neugebauer, in: JAOS 63, 1943, 118f.

104 Thompson, in: PSBA 34, 1912, 227.

105 The scraps of papyri constituting P. Vindob. D. 6614 (ed. E.A.E. Reymond, From the contents of the libraries of the Suchos temples in the Fayyum, Part 2. From ancient Egyptian hermetic writings, 1977, 143-157), whose precise meaning understandably escaped Reymond, preserve predictions for

one who is born in the Place (not House!) of the "goddess" when one of the two luminaries is in it. The sections containing predictions when the other five planets are respectively present have been lost (Hughes, in: Egy. Studies Parker, 69).

106 F.L1. Griffith, in: ZAS 38, 1900, 71f., note 2.


of an astrologer's kit107. Divided into six columns, the first and last of which are nearly

totally destroyed, the papyrus commences in Greek with a highly detailed horoscope recording the positions and astrological characterization of the sun, moon, and the five

known planets from outermost to innermost (columns I-II). Column III fixes the ascendant, MC, IMC, and descendant in that order, then four Lots. The last four lines of

column III and first 15 lines of column IV have been erased108. When the text resumes

there is detailed discussion of the Periods of life and predictions regarding the fortunes of the client during these periods of his life109.

Following the Greek portion of the horoscope, whose astronomical data permit a date

of AD 95 to be assigned110, a different hand takes up the discussion of the Periods of life in Old Coptic111. This very difficult section of text (col. IV[end]-col. VI) was noted by

Neugebauer and H.B. Van Hoesen to constitute a long excursus on astrological doctrine,

resembling "much more the treatises of the fifth century than the simple factual state

ments in the bulk of horoscopes on papyrus" because of the use of the Coptic condi

tional, "which would fit much better a general astrological treatise than an individual

horoscope"112.

In a recent reanalysis of the conclusion above, T. Barton questions why certain verb

forms (the Coptic past) had been reinterpreted from F.LI. Griffith's translation to be conditionals, for Neugebauer and Van Hoesen's understanding of the Old Coptic horos


108 Neugebauer/Van Hoesen, Greek horoscopes, 28-32.

109 Ibid., 32, 37f.; T. Barton, Power and knowledge: astrology, physiognomies, and medicine under the

Roman Empire, 1994, 87; Barton, Anc. astrol., 132. For the definition of the Periods of life, see

Neugebauer/Van Hoesen, Greek horoscopes, lOf. 110

Neugebauer/Van Hoesen, Greek horoscopes, 34f. Thus, the date of its composition was sometime in the early second century, contemporary with the Stobart Tables.

111 The Old Coptic section was originally published by C.W. Goodwin, in: ZAS 6, 1868, 18-24. Griffith's (in: ZAS 38, 1900, 71-93) work was the basis for an update by J. Cerny/P.E. Kahle/R. A. Parker, in: JEA 43, 1957, 86-100, pi. XI-XII. Griffith (page 76) noted that the bad writing and spelling made him suspect that the author was not Egyptian, and that his knowledge "was of the

language insufficient to enable him to write it phonetically with correctness, or even so as to be

properly intelligible". The author of the Greek text sometimes used demotic signs in the horoscopic "chart" to spell the names of the decans (Neugebauer/Van Hoesen, Greek horoscopes, 29). We might have a case in which an Egyptian astrologer is better acquainted with the Greek language and script than the other astrologer. At this early stage of experimentation, there would be no standardized

method of transcribing Egyptian into such an alien system as Greek, trial and error and idiosyncratic method being the only path. There remain several ways today of transcribing languages, e.g. Arabic and Chinese, into Latin characters.

112 Neugebauer/Van Hoesen, Greek horoscopes, 35, 37.


cope as a treatise had hinged on J. Cerny's view of the evolution of the Coptic condi

tional113 - an opinion which might have been preceded by an unstated assumption re

garding the nature of the horoscope itself. Barton makes the case for pLondiniensis 98

being the only original (not retrospective) horoscope in the Neugebauer and Van Hoesen

opus to provide more than one prediction, and that it is in fact not a treatise but a

compilation of predictions extracted from a treatise, an actual rough draft horoscopic

analysis with contradictory and vague pronouncements which had yet to undergo refine

ment to fit the client's own circumstances114.

First published by Spiegelberg115, who dated it to the 1st century AD, O StraBburg D521 has most likely been explained by W.M. Muller as a document for teaching pur

poses116. Within this text of only 15 lines are enumerated unique and critical Egyptian

astrological terms and associations. The first line is labeled pi wn pi 5 siw cnh "the list

of the 5 living stars" followed by the Egyptian names of the planets and, for the first

time, the planet gods with which they are associated117. Lines 5f. conclude this section

with the statement pi rn n pi 5 siw cnh irm ntr.w nb r-ir rn.w dr.w "(these are) the

name(s) of the 5 living stars and all the gods which constitute their names"118. The order in which the planets are mentioned diverges from that of pBerlin 8279, the

Stobart Tables, and pBerlin 8345. In this ostracon, the planets whose influences are con

sidered maleficent (Saturn and Mars) are separated by the ambivalent one (Mercury) from the beneficent planets (Venus and Jupiter), "an idea also expressed in the younger Babylonian order"119.

The second half of the ostracon is titled: pi wn ni si.w nty sr pi ibd 12 "the list of the stars which are spread (among) the 12 months"120. There is apparently no collective technical name for the zodiac in Egyptian, each sign being a si.w "(group of) stars" as the conclusion states: dmd si.w 12 pi ibd 1[2 wc? siw] r pi ibd "Total 12 stars, 1[2]

months, [one star] to the month". Contained in the list are the months of the Egyptian year designated by the old system of ordinal month plus season, beginning with III Peret,

113 Cerny/Kahle/Parker, in: JEA 43, 1957, 90 note 118, followed by Neugebauer/Van Hoesen, Greek horoscopes, 33, 37, 162.

114 Barton, Power and knowledge, 86f., 92; Barton, Anc. astrol., 131, 133.

115 W. Spiegelberg, in: OLZ 5, 1902, cols. 6-9. 116 W.M. Muller, in: OLZ 5, 1902, cols. 135f. Further corrections and comments on O D521 were pub

lished by Muller in: OLZ 6, 1903, cols. 8f. 117 Note that the anonymous astrologer authors of the Greek pLondiniensis 130 and pOxyrhynchus 307

employ the Greek equivalents (Neugebauer/Van Hoesen, Greek horoscopes, 19-24). 118 Neugebauer, in: JAOS 63, 1943, 121.

119 Ibid., 122; Neugebauer/Parker, Egyptian astronomical texts III, 236.

120 Neugebauer, in: JAOS 63, 1943, 121.


which is coupled to Aries, the sign in which the sun resided at the vernal equinox121. All

of the 12 signs of the zodiac are written out in Egyptian in the same text, as Spiegelberg

noted, for the first time122.

Because I Akhet corresponds to Scorpio, and the sun never stands in this sign during the first month of the Alexandrian calendar in the Roman period, the Egyptian calendar

must be the one used in the ostracon. The sun was located in Scorpio on the Egyptian New Year's Day from about 370 to 250 BC, and in Scorpio on any day in I Akhet from 370 to 130 BC123. These early dates designate the time of original composition, which

must have attained an air of authority for the copiest of O D521 not to have updated to

conform to the calendrical realities of the 1st century AD. Perhaps the source of the

information for O D521 was an Egyptian parallel or precedent to the Nechepso-Petosiris treatise or similar compendium circulating contemporaneously.

P. CtYBR inv. 1132(B)124 The corpus of demotic horoscopic documentation described at some length above pro vides the lexical and conceptual foundation for understanding P. CtYBR inv. 1132(B), a new addition to the sparce astrological literature written in Egyptian. Measuring 19cm

x 17cm, the fragment retains a title running horizontally along the top above three

columns, the first of which is nearly completely extant, the second (written on a rough surface of the papyrus) fragmentary but reconstructable, and the third nearly totally destroyed. The papyrus may have come from Tebtunis, and the few discernable Greek

letters on the verso are Greek names dating palaeographically to the 2nd or 3rd cen

turies125.

121 Neugebauer, in: JAOS 63, 1943, 121.

122 Spiegelberg, in: OLZ 5, 1902, col. 8. The Stobart Tables and pBerlin 8279 designate all the signs by their demotic sigla. The three StraBburg ostraca write out the names instead, all 12 signs being represented among these Medinet Habu horoscopes; see W. Spiegelberg, in: ZAS 48,1910,146-150.

123 Neugebauer, in: Transactions of the American Philosophical Society, n.s. 32, 1942, 246f.; Neugebauer, in: JAOS 63, 1943, 122.

124 I would like to extend my thanks to Dr. Robert G. Babcock, Edwin J. Beinecke Curator, Early Books and Manuscripts, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University, for his kind

permission to publish this text. Dr. Ruth A. Duttenhoefer, Papyrologist, Beinecke Library, lent her

expertise to determine that the Greek name list is most likely on the recto. She has also informed me that the Demotic is clearly written against the fibers.

125 S. Emmel, The Yale papyrus collection, 1993, no pagination; entry under P. CtYBR inv. 1132. The

papyrus is one of a substantial number purchased in Cairo in early April 1931. According to the dealer, the papyri are from Abutig (ancient Apotheke) and Tebtunis. (See now Depuydt, in: Enchoria 21, 1994, 1, note 1.) It was also in 1931 that important papyri, which formed the nucleus of the


Each column contains four headers, every one of these in turn centered above a five

line entry of number ranges introducing a name of a non-luminary planet. The headers are the Egyptian names of the signs of the zodiac, commencing with Aries (the vernal

equinox), and thus permitting the last four in the destroyed column to be easily restored. This papyrus fragment must represent a section of an astrologer's handbook

elucidating the Terms (6pioc, fines, termini), defined as unequal pentamerous divisions of the 30? arc of each sign, in which the five planets are slotted in varying sequence.

When the position of a planet at the moment of birth is present within the degree range

assigned to a planet, it is said to be "in the Terms of X". The Terms thereby act as "fine

tuning" influences; they lend their own beneficial/maleficent nature to the horoscopic ramifications of a specific planet's presence within a sign and its aspects with other

planets in the nativity126.

collections in Florence and Copenhagen, were obtained from Tebtunis (S. Donadoni, in: Acme 8, 1955, 74f.). Among them were pCarlsberg 1 (cosmological text), a papyrus for interpreting dreams (A. Volten, Demotische Traumdeutung (Pap. Carlsberg XIII und XIV verso), AnAe 3, 1942), pCarlsberg 9 (lunar tables), pCarlsberg 31 (number tabulation associated with years), and Carlsberg 32 (motions of Mercury). P. CtYBR inv. 1088(B) and 1168(B), both currently unpublished, may concern astrological matters. Clearly further research is warranted to identify where centers for

astrological pursuits existed here. The most obvious answer to this is that in the cosmopolitan, ethnically diverse Fayum the temple libraries, which conserved and generated many genres of

literary and scientific writings, counted astrology among the spheres of knowledge taught to young scribes. The temple being the traditional Egyptian center for learning and literacy, the priests must have considered astrology a native subject whether it had been borrowed from their Greek overlords or concocted in Egypt by Egyptians writing in Greek (Nechepso and Petosiris). I agree with Depuydt that P. CtYBR inv. 1132(B) is significant partly because "it shows that native Egyptians used terms as an astrological medium in their mother tongue" (in: Enchoria 21, 1994, 6). However, this should not be surprising since other standard horoscopic tools such as the cardines, planets, zodiacal signs,

Places, Lots, triplicities, etc. are also attested in Demotic. I disagree strongly with Depuydt (Ibid., 7f.) that political motives need to be pondered "for the Sitz-im-Leben of the Demotic specimen" and that it was merely a "show-and-tell" piece for which "elucidation was the unique privilege of the

ruling Greek-speaking class". If elucidation was the unique privilege of the Greek ruling class, why were the equally potent Lots, Places, etc. "allowed" to be used in Demotic horoscopes? And why are there interpretive treatises (pBerlin 8345, P. Vindob. D. 6614, and pLondiniensis 98) in Demotic and Old Coptic? Obviously, the natives had positions, power, influence, and money enough to seek knowledge of their fortunes and fate. Astrology was not the sole prerogative of Roman or Greek. That Terms have yet to appear in the few published Demotic horoscopes is probably owed to the statistics of preservation. They often do not appear in Greek horoscopes, either. For the contents of the libraries of the temples of Sobek, which included P. Vindob. D. 6614, see ed. Reymond, Suchos temples.

126 For a definition of Terms, see Bouche-Leclercq, L'astrologie grecque, 206, and Neugebauer/Van Hoesen, Greek horoscopes, 12. This handbook might have been kept in the temple archives.


Whereas no other Demotic or original ancient text list the Terms, the Greek authors

have elucidated the systems most commonly employed by their contemporary astrologers. In his Tetrabiblos Ptolemy notes the "Egyptian" system, no doubt derived from the

Nechepso-Petosiris opus, which he states is based on the government of the (zodiacal) houses (i.e., the sign in which a certain planet is said to rule)127. The Egyptian system of Terms being favored by the majority of astrologers compels Ptolemy to criticize its

inconsistency and the logic of the ordering of planets and the quantity of degrees

assigned to them within each sign. He notes that the first Term within a given sign might be occupied by the ruler of a house, the planet exalted within the sign, the ruler of a

triplicity, or one which has no special "influence" at all within a zodiacal sign. Ptolemy further questions the sense of the sum derived from the addition of degrees each planet holds among the twelve signs for determining a human lifespan. As the consummate

astronomer Ptolemy dismantles the assertion that the determination of the order and

degrees of the Terms are linked with the sum of all the rising times of the planets (i.e., for the two signs each planet rules). Almost two thousand years later S.J. Tester showed that even the genius of Ptolemy could not unravel the complexities of the Terms, and

that when several factors are employed to decode how the totals are reckoned, it becomes

apparent that the Terms were indeed originally based on rising times128.

Ptolemy never defines the Terms, assuming the reader knows them and their usage. He does provide a table of the Egyptian sequence of planets and the number of degrees

occupied by them within each sign before moving on to the "Chaldean" system, which

assigns priority of position to the planet ruling the triplicity129. This system produces a

regular, repetitive sequence of planets and assignment of the number of degrees, from

8 in the first term to 4 for the last130. The mechanical Caldean system, though logical, found less credence in the eyes of practicing astrologers, and its assignment of more

degrees and first places to maleficent planets could not have helped cast an optimistic

horoscope for an aspiring client131.

In his attempt to formulate a viable system from what seems a chaotic, irrational one

(the "Egyptian"), and another which is suspected of being too regular, Ptolemy claims to have come upon a damaged manuscript which yielded a consistent yet believable

127 Tetrabiblos 1.20, trans. Robbins, 90-97. 128 For the details of the complicated argument, see Tester, History, 74-76 and his use of the clima and

rising times in Neugebauer/Van Hoesen, Greek horoscopes, 3-5, 11. 129 Tetrabiblos 1.21, trans. Robbins, 98-101. 130 For clarification, see the table in BouchS-Leclercq, L'astrologie grecque, 210. 131 Comment by trans. F.E. Robbins, 98, note 1, citing Bouche-Leclercq, L'astrologie grecque, 210.


rational pattern taking into consideration the exaltations, triplicities, and houses132.

Despite his noble attempt, Ptolemy's labors never saw practice, and the mention of an

"ancient manuscript" sounds suspiciously like the astronomer's method of veiling a

system of his own manufacture in historical guise. Unlike Ptolemy's work, which "gives a brief theoretical background for astrology but

does not offer guidance for practice"133, that of Vettius Valens provided more of a prac tical handbook from which nativities could be cast and interpreted. Valens' method is the

Egyptian in sequence and attribution of degrees, deviating from that given in Tetrabiblos

only in the number of degrees assigned to three planets in Libra134. Each Term is imbued

with "influences" such as beauty, happy union, instability, and so on, which would be

characteristics the client born under such conditions might expect to experience in the

course of his/her lifetime135. Beside the archaic system of Critodemus136, Valens

132 Tetrabiblos 1.21, trans. Robbins, 102-107. 133 Firmicus Maternus, Ancient astrology: theory and practice. Matheseos Libri VIII, trans. J.R. Bram,

1975, 4; Barton, Anc. astrol., 138f.; Tester, History, 70; Cramer, ARLP, 190. On the usefulness of a handbook without accompanying mathematical tables, see Barton, Power and knowledge, 201f., note 225 and note 230. For manuscripts attributed to Valens, see Yavanajataka, ed. Pingree, 444f.

134 Anthologies, Livre I 1,3, trans. Bara, 78-90. Mercury: 5? (Vettius Valens) versus 8? (Ptolemy); Jupiter: 8? versus 7?; and Mars: 4? versus 2?. See also Anthologiae Additamenta 5, ed. Pingree, 358. Ptolemy follows Dorotheus of Sidon as found in Hephaestion of Thebes, cf. Dorothei Sidonii Carmen Astrologicum, ed. D. Pingree, 1976, 429-431.

135 Barton, Anc. astrol., 114-131 casts an amusing, yet highly instructive natal horoscope for Prince Charles, employing the influences of the Terms as stated in Vettius Valens' handbook to foresee the prince's future. Concerning ourselves only with the influences of the Terms, the positions of five

anciently-known planets at the time of Charles' birth (leaving aside the more complex issue of the Terms of the aspects, i.e., geometrical planetary relations such as triplicities), we may cite the following, using Dorotheus as our authority, to indicate some experiences to which Charles might look forward or has already experienced:

The moon is in the Terms and House of Venus (in Taurus) - Charles will have a handsome face and eyes, and he is agreeable to all (page 127; Astrologicum II 33.11, ed. Pingree, 235). Venus is in the Terms of Jupiter (in Libra) - Charles "should work as a steward for women and amass some wealth thereby" (page 128; Astrologicum II 31.2, ed. Pingree, 233).

Mercury is in the Terms and House of Mars (in Scorpio) - Charles "will be an insignificant fool, a shameless liar, neither believing in religion nor good works, and fond of adultery. He may act

treacherously and consort with magicians. He will receive hostility from the people on the grounds that he is an untrustworthy reprobate" (page 127; Astrologicum II 32.3, ed. Pingree, 233).

Mars is in the Terms of Mercury (in Sagittarius) - Charles "will be reasonable, keen to marry, clear thinking and intelligent" (page 127; Astrologicum II 30.4, ed. Pingree, 232).

Obviously the astrologer is dealing with a disparate series of contradictory variables even with only


conserves another system of Terms of unknown authorship, this one including the two

luminaries among the five planets. Known as the system of the heptazone, it assigns a

fixed number of degrees to each of the seven signs and consists of two charts, one

diurnal, the other nocturnal137.

The fourth century AD senator from Syracuse, Firmicus Maternus - the only writer

to have composed a major astrological treatise in Latin - dedicates a chapter of his work to the Terms, commencing by defining them and stating tha

in terms of fate: a survey of the indigenous egyptian contribution to ancient astrology in light of...

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