Post by Allan on Aug 8, 2007 21:56:17 GMT -5
Introductory Notes
At first mention, the subject of Astrology often causes the mind to boggle. The enormity of
material available and the vastness of the study are the root causes of this intimidation.
And there is no getting around it, the subject is indeed vast, as vast as the cosmos itself.
In some ways, however, Astrology in its broadest sense offers us the keys to unlocking the
mysteries of that cosmos. It does so by showing us who we are, how we perceive the world,
and how we tend to react to it. Astrology, in this way, reveals to us all that is without by
showing us all that is within.
The History of Astrology
Instructor's Note:
The following article was written by noted astrologer Robert Hand. It is an indepth account
of his research on the history of modern Astrology from Project Hindsight. It may seem a bit
'advanced' in its terminology and presentation. I am asking you to bear with the subject and
wade through this. The lessons will indeed "lighten up" from here on out, but a good
understanding of the origins of Astrology will help you see just how ancient an art it is.
This topic is often ignored by other teachers, which is a shame since there is much to be
learned by knowing where this science originated. I have made up a set of assignment
questions from this material and the rest of the lesson resources to help you know what I
feel is truly important. Please do your best with these. As you read the assignment
questions, you may begin to see the deeper relevance of this article and the reason why we
are beginning here. Like you, I really want to "get on with it" and get to the birth chart,
but the preliminaries are not just busy work. They do have relevance to understanding the
birth chart also, as you will hopefully come to see.
The History of Astrology by Rob Hand
The account which we present here is mostly derived from mainstream academic sources,
although we will also present some of our own speculations in areas where there is no clear
evidence. We do not present such speculations whimsically but only where internal evidence
seems to justify them, and always they will be presented with clear indications that they
are speculations.
On the other hand, because we have drawn from Western academic sources, one could object
that this account does not take into consideration possible alternate views that might be
derived, for example, from the study of the astrologies of India. This might be a valid
objection, but we would like to assure the reader that we do not accept academic positions
on the history of astrology uncritically. We try to accept only what is consistent with the
internal evidence of the texts themselves. We also recognize that what we say here is not to
be taken as definitive. There is much to be learned about the history of astrology,
especially now that it is being carefully studied by those who are not hostile to the
subject.
Based on the above considerations, it is the thesis of this author that astrology as we know
it came into being only once in time and in one place; the place is Mesopotamia (roughly
modern Iraq) and the time is to be discussed below. Having said this, another point needs to
be made; what we mean by "astrology as we know it" is horoscopic astrology, i.e., astrology
the intention of which is the picking of favorable times for doing things, the answering of
questions, the forecasting of mundane events, and the analysis of individual destiny, all
based on a peculiar instrument, the theme, genesis, or birth chart.
And that chart has a particular degree or sign which is marked as the beginning point of
analysis. It is usually the degree or sign ascending, although for particular purposes the
Sun, Moon, or Lot of Fortune may be used as well.
The reason for making this very specific definition of "astrology as we know it" is that in
a broader sense some kind of astrology is nearly universal among ancient peoples and is not
limited to either one time or place as its point of origin. Almost every ancient people had
some system of examining the heavens for divinatory purposes. Native Americans, Greeks (long
before they encountered Mespotamian astrology), the peoples of India, whoever it was that
built Stonehenge and New Grange in the British Isles, and the ancient Nordic peoples, to
give a partial list. Much of the controversy concerning the antiquity of various peoples'
astrologies stems from confusion over this very point. The study of celestial omens without
a chart does not constitute astrology as we know it.
Mesopotamian Origins
Mesopotamia, the "Land between the Two Rivers," is one of the so-called "cradles" of
civilization, along with Egypt, China, the Indus Valley and Meso-America. It also appears to
be the oldest of these. The evidence indicates an urban civilization as early as 4000 B.C.E.
The first people in the area were a people known as the Ubaidians. We know virtually nothing
about these people except that at a fairly early period another people began moving into the
area and intermarrying with them. These were the Sumerians who became dominant and whose
language replaced whatever was the language of the Ubaidians. Also the Sumerians invented
the oldest known form of writing, cuneiform, which is done by impressing wedge-shapes into
soft clay.
After a period of time Semitic peoples began moving into the area as well. The first of
these were the Akkadians centered around their city of Akkad. In about 2330 B.C.E. Sargon of
Akkad conquered the Sumerians and created the first of several Semitic empires that would
dominate not only Mesopotamia but also the Mediterranean coast and eventually even Egypt.
The language of the Akkadians was the direct ancestor of the Assyrian and Babylonian
languages, these being in fact dialects of Akkadian.
The Akkadian Empire fell in about 2218 B.C.E. After this various Semitic and other peoples
struggled for control of the area. This constant struggle among various peoples in fact
marks the major difference between the Mespotamian civilization and that of Egypt. Egypt had
many centuries of relative peace with occasional periods of disturbance, but nothing like
the chaos of Mesopotamia.
After a period of time in the second millennium B.C.E. two peoples began to assume
dominance, the Babylonians who had been culturally dominant for many centuries in the south,
and the Assyrians in the north. As it turned out, while both groups were politically
dominant at times, in general it can be said that the Assyrians were more often politically
dominant while the Babylonians were culturally dominant. In fact the Assyrians even used the
Babylonian dialect of Akkadian for their own official records.
Here are some dates in Mesopotamian history from this point on. All dates assume that
something like the modern system of chronology. Even in modern sources these dates vary. The
ones here are from the 1994 version of Microsoft's Encarta.
1792-1750 B.C.E. Hammurabi unifies the area around Babylon.
1350 B.C.E. The rise of the Assyrian Empire.
730-650 B.C.E. Assyrian Empire controls all of Mesopotamia, parts of Persia, Syria,
Palestine, and Egypt. This is also notable as the first time that Egypt and Babylon were
under the same regime.
612 B.C.E. The fall of Assyria and the rise of the Second Babylonian Empire. The Babylonian
people that brought this about were also known as Chaldeans, hence the term Chaldean Empire.
539 B.C.E. The conquest of Babylonia by Persia. For a second time Egypt and Babylon were
under one regime.
331 B.C.E. The conquest of Mesopotamia by Alexander the Great. The entire area becomes
dominated by Greek language and culture. The Seleucid dynasty descended from Alexander's
general Seleukos ruled the area including Mesopotamia.
126 B.C.E. The Parthians, a Persian tribe, conquered Mesopotamia.
227 C.E. The Sassanids, a people from the central area of Persia, overthrow the Parthians
and establish the Second Persian Empire, or Sassanid Empire.
635 C.E. The Moslem Arabs overthrow the Sassanid Empire and Mesopotamia comes under the rule
of various Caliphates.
Before moving on to a discussion of how and where astrology evolved, let us give a similar
chronology for Egypt.
3200 B.C.E. First evidence of strong political forces in the Nile basin. Also the earliest
hieroglyphic writings. Evidence of a fairly high culture in the area precedes this by
several centuries.
c.2755-2255 B.C.E. The Old Kingdom. The pyramids date from this time. The first solar
calendar was developed.
c.2255-2134 B.C.E. Interregnum.
c.2134-1668 B.C.E. The Middle Kingdom.
c.1668-1570 B.C.E. The second interregnum, the period of the Hyksos, a race of probable
Semites dominated Egypt during this period.
1570-1070 B.C.E. The New Kingdom. This is the period of the Kings Amenhotep, Akhnaten,
Tutankhamem, and the various Kings Rameses. The exodus of the Israelites is widely believed
to have occurred in this period.
1070 - 671 B.C.E. The third interregnum. Various regional dynasties ruled. In 671 B.C.E. the
Assyrians conquered Egypt for a time.
525 B.C.E. The Persians overthrew the last native ruler of Egypt.
332 B.C.E. Alexander the Great conquered Egypt. It then came under the rule of the Ptolemies
descended from Ptolemy I, another of Alexander's generals.
30 B.C.E. Cleopatra, the last of the Ptolemies, dies and the Romans take over.
Subsequently Egypt fell under Arabic rule at about the same time as the Sassanid Empire was
overthrown.
Part II:
Mesopotamian Astrology First Stages
In the beginning Mesopotamian astrology was much like that of other cultures, a simple
examination of the heavens for omens that might affect the kingdom. Often these observations
of omens would include weather phenomena intermixed with true astronomical ones. What made
the Mesopotamians different is that they began at an early time to make systematic
observations of phenomena with an eye to finding regular patterns in the heavens that might
correlate with patterns in human events.
According to Van der Waerden (Science Awakening, Vol. II, Oxford Univ. Press) the earliest
astronomical writings known in Mesopotamia are from the old Babylonian period, roughly the
time of Hammurabi. It is not known whether the Sumerians were involved in astronomical
studies or not, but it would seem plausible that they were. There are also some writings
which refer to the Akkadian period and which may date from about 2300 B.C.E. Here is an
example of one of these early writings.
If Venus appears in the East in the month Airu and the Great and Small Twins surround her,
all four of them, and she is dark, then will the King of Elam fall sick and not remain
alive.
The most extensive omen lore was contained in a compilation referred to as Enuma Anu Enlil.
These were assembled somewhere in the second millennium B.C.E. Another collection of omens
is an important work, the dating of which is extremely controversial, the Venus Tables of
Ammizaduga. This consists of systematic observations of the phases of Venus combined with
their omen significations, the significations being clearly based on past observations. The
general belief is that these tables date from the reign of Ammizaduga about 146 years after
Hammurabi. Based on the astronomy, van der Waerden assigns the following years as possible
dates for the observations, 1702, 1646, 1638, and 1582 B.C.E. One of the reasons that these
dates have become controversial in certain circles is that if these dates are correct, then
Velikovsky is seriously in error. That controversy is outside of this scope of this
introduction however, and we will continue on the assumption that orthodox scholarship is at
least reasonably correct. Still I urge readers to take the dates with extreme caution. The
Babylonians themselves, much like modern Hindus, attributed an antiquity to themselves and
their observations that seems fantastic by modern Western standards, hundreds of thousands,
even millions of years. Such antiquity is not consistent with the evidence of scholarship,
but we have to keep something of an open mind. Scholars are often limited by their very
specialization with the result that one discipline, such as modern astronomy for example,
may often have powerful consequences for another such as archeology. The work of Gerald
Hawkins on Stonehenge comes to mind. But first someone has to bring the two disciplines
together. This may yet happen in Mesopotamian studies in such a way as to radically alter
our historical understanding.
Van der Waerden concludes that the Venus tables were compiled and preserved out of motives
of astral religion, i.e., the Mesopotamians believed that the stars and planets were
associated with, or were in fact themselves the gods. Ishtar-Venus was one of the major
divinities of the Mesopotamian peoples. Many other ancient peoples had similar notions. The
Egyptians identified the constellation of Orion with Osiris. But Osiris was a dead god who
ruled the underworld. His transportation to the heavens was very similar to other
transportations made in classical mythology. The Mesopotamians seem to have been unique in
their emphasis on the stars and planets as being the primary indicators of divine will in
the Here and Now. This is the probable motive of the studies that led to astrology.
Over the next centuries the Mesopotamians, especially the Babylonians, continued observing
and compiling lists of phenomena eventually getting to the point where, based on observed
recurrence cycles of the planets, they could reasonably accurately estimate the positions of
the planets at any time in the future. Ptolemy records, and modern scholarship does not
dispute this, that accurate and systematic eclipse records were kept from 747 B.C.E. onward
into the Hellenistic period after the conquests of Alexander the Great.
An interesting question about which there is much controversy is what kind of zodiac were
the Mesopotamians using? In the earlier material they simply recorded planets as being so
many degrees from a star.
At first mention, the subject of Astrology often causes the mind to boggle. The enormity of
material available and the vastness of the study are the root causes of this intimidation.
And there is no getting around it, the subject is indeed vast, as vast as the cosmos itself.
In some ways, however, Astrology in its broadest sense offers us the keys to unlocking the
mysteries of that cosmos. It does so by showing us who we are, how we perceive the world,
and how we tend to react to it. Astrology, in this way, reveals to us all that is without by
showing us all that is within.
The History of Astrology
Instructor's Note:
The following article was written by noted astrologer Robert Hand. It is an indepth account
of his research on the history of modern Astrology from Project Hindsight. It may seem a bit
'advanced' in its terminology and presentation. I am asking you to bear with the subject and
wade through this. The lessons will indeed "lighten up" from here on out, but a good
understanding of the origins of Astrology will help you see just how ancient an art it is.
This topic is often ignored by other teachers, which is a shame since there is much to be
learned by knowing where this science originated. I have made up a set of assignment
questions from this material and the rest of the lesson resources to help you know what I
feel is truly important. Please do your best with these. As you read the assignment
questions, you may begin to see the deeper relevance of this article and the reason why we
are beginning here. Like you, I really want to "get on with it" and get to the birth chart,
but the preliminaries are not just busy work. They do have relevance to understanding the
birth chart also, as you will hopefully come to see.
The History of Astrology by Rob Hand
The account which we present here is mostly derived from mainstream academic sources,
although we will also present some of our own speculations in areas where there is no clear
evidence. We do not present such speculations whimsically but only where internal evidence
seems to justify them, and always they will be presented with clear indications that they
are speculations.
On the other hand, because we have drawn from Western academic sources, one could object
that this account does not take into consideration possible alternate views that might be
derived, for example, from the study of the astrologies of India. This might be a valid
objection, but we would like to assure the reader that we do not accept academic positions
on the history of astrology uncritically. We try to accept only what is consistent with the
internal evidence of the texts themselves. We also recognize that what we say here is not to
be taken as definitive. There is much to be learned about the history of astrology,
especially now that it is being carefully studied by those who are not hostile to the
subject.
Based on the above considerations, it is the thesis of this author that astrology as we know
it came into being only once in time and in one place; the place is Mesopotamia (roughly
modern Iraq) and the time is to be discussed below. Having said this, another point needs to
be made; what we mean by "astrology as we know it" is horoscopic astrology, i.e., astrology
the intention of which is the picking of favorable times for doing things, the answering of
questions, the forecasting of mundane events, and the analysis of individual destiny, all
based on a peculiar instrument, the theme, genesis, or birth chart.
And that chart has a particular degree or sign which is marked as the beginning point of
analysis. It is usually the degree or sign ascending, although for particular purposes the
Sun, Moon, or Lot of Fortune may be used as well.
The reason for making this very specific definition of "astrology as we know it" is that in
a broader sense some kind of astrology is nearly universal among ancient peoples and is not
limited to either one time or place as its point of origin. Almost every ancient people had
some system of examining the heavens for divinatory purposes. Native Americans, Greeks (long
before they encountered Mespotamian astrology), the peoples of India, whoever it was that
built Stonehenge and New Grange in the British Isles, and the ancient Nordic peoples, to
give a partial list. Much of the controversy concerning the antiquity of various peoples'
astrologies stems from confusion over this very point. The study of celestial omens without
a chart does not constitute astrology as we know it.
Mesopotamian Origins
Mesopotamia, the "Land between the Two Rivers," is one of the so-called "cradles" of
civilization, along with Egypt, China, the Indus Valley and Meso-America. It also appears to
be the oldest of these. The evidence indicates an urban civilization as early as 4000 B.C.E.
The first people in the area were a people known as the Ubaidians. We know virtually nothing
about these people except that at a fairly early period another people began moving into the
area and intermarrying with them. These were the Sumerians who became dominant and whose
language replaced whatever was the language of the Ubaidians. Also the Sumerians invented
the oldest known form of writing, cuneiform, which is done by impressing wedge-shapes into
soft clay.
After a period of time Semitic peoples began moving into the area as well. The first of
these were the Akkadians centered around their city of Akkad. In about 2330 B.C.E. Sargon of
Akkad conquered the Sumerians and created the first of several Semitic empires that would
dominate not only Mesopotamia but also the Mediterranean coast and eventually even Egypt.
The language of the Akkadians was the direct ancestor of the Assyrian and Babylonian
languages, these being in fact dialects of Akkadian.
The Akkadian Empire fell in about 2218 B.C.E. After this various Semitic and other peoples
struggled for control of the area. This constant struggle among various peoples in fact
marks the major difference between the Mespotamian civilization and that of Egypt. Egypt had
many centuries of relative peace with occasional periods of disturbance, but nothing like
the chaos of Mesopotamia.
After a period of time in the second millennium B.C.E. two peoples began to assume
dominance, the Babylonians who had been culturally dominant for many centuries in the south,
and the Assyrians in the north. As it turned out, while both groups were politically
dominant at times, in general it can be said that the Assyrians were more often politically
dominant while the Babylonians were culturally dominant. In fact the Assyrians even used the
Babylonian dialect of Akkadian for their own official records.
Here are some dates in Mesopotamian history from this point on. All dates assume that
something like the modern system of chronology. Even in modern sources these dates vary. The
ones here are from the 1994 version of Microsoft's Encarta.
1792-1750 B.C.E. Hammurabi unifies the area around Babylon.
1350 B.C.E. The rise of the Assyrian Empire.
730-650 B.C.E. Assyrian Empire controls all of Mesopotamia, parts of Persia, Syria,
Palestine, and Egypt. This is also notable as the first time that Egypt and Babylon were
under the same regime.
612 B.C.E. The fall of Assyria and the rise of the Second Babylonian Empire. The Babylonian
people that brought this about were also known as Chaldeans, hence the term Chaldean Empire.
539 B.C.E. The conquest of Babylonia by Persia. For a second time Egypt and Babylon were
under one regime.
331 B.C.E. The conquest of Mesopotamia by Alexander the Great. The entire area becomes
dominated by Greek language and culture. The Seleucid dynasty descended from Alexander's
general Seleukos ruled the area including Mesopotamia.
126 B.C.E. The Parthians, a Persian tribe, conquered Mesopotamia.
227 C.E. The Sassanids, a people from the central area of Persia, overthrow the Parthians
and establish the Second Persian Empire, or Sassanid Empire.
635 C.E. The Moslem Arabs overthrow the Sassanid Empire and Mesopotamia comes under the rule
of various Caliphates.
Before moving on to a discussion of how and where astrology evolved, let us give a similar
chronology for Egypt.
3200 B.C.E. First evidence of strong political forces in the Nile basin. Also the earliest
hieroglyphic writings. Evidence of a fairly high culture in the area precedes this by
several centuries.
c.2755-2255 B.C.E. The Old Kingdom. The pyramids date from this time. The first solar
calendar was developed.
c.2255-2134 B.C.E. Interregnum.
c.2134-1668 B.C.E. The Middle Kingdom.
c.1668-1570 B.C.E. The second interregnum, the period of the Hyksos, a race of probable
Semites dominated Egypt during this period.
1570-1070 B.C.E. The New Kingdom. This is the period of the Kings Amenhotep, Akhnaten,
Tutankhamem, and the various Kings Rameses. The exodus of the Israelites is widely believed
to have occurred in this period.
1070 - 671 B.C.E. The third interregnum. Various regional dynasties ruled. In 671 B.C.E. the
Assyrians conquered Egypt for a time.
525 B.C.E. The Persians overthrew the last native ruler of Egypt.
332 B.C.E. Alexander the Great conquered Egypt. It then came under the rule of the Ptolemies
descended from Ptolemy I, another of Alexander's generals.
30 B.C.E. Cleopatra, the last of the Ptolemies, dies and the Romans take over.
Subsequently Egypt fell under Arabic rule at about the same time as the Sassanid Empire was
overthrown.
Part II:
Mesopotamian Astrology First Stages
In the beginning Mesopotamian astrology was much like that of other cultures, a simple
examination of the heavens for omens that might affect the kingdom. Often these observations
of omens would include weather phenomena intermixed with true astronomical ones. What made
the Mesopotamians different is that they began at an early time to make systematic
observations of phenomena with an eye to finding regular patterns in the heavens that might
correlate with patterns in human events.
According to Van der Waerden (Science Awakening, Vol. II, Oxford Univ. Press) the earliest
astronomical writings known in Mesopotamia are from the old Babylonian period, roughly the
time of Hammurabi. It is not known whether the Sumerians were involved in astronomical
studies or not, but it would seem plausible that they were. There are also some writings
which refer to the Akkadian period and which may date from about 2300 B.C.E. Here is an
example of one of these early writings.
If Venus appears in the East in the month Airu and the Great and Small Twins surround her,
all four of them, and she is dark, then will the King of Elam fall sick and not remain
alive.
The most extensive omen lore was contained in a compilation referred to as Enuma Anu Enlil.
These were assembled somewhere in the second millennium B.C.E. Another collection of omens
is an important work, the dating of which is extremely controversial, the Venus Tables of
Ammizaduga. This consists of systematic observations of the phases of Venus combined with
their omen significations, the significations being clearly based on past observations. The
general belief is that these tables date from the reign of Ammizaduga about 146 years after
Hammurabi. Based on the astronomy, van der Waerden assigns the following years as possible
dates for the observations, 1702, 1646, 1638, and 1582 B.C.E. One of the reasons that these
dates have become controversial in certain circles is that if these dates are correct, then
Velikovsky is seriously in error. That controversy is outside of this scope of this
introduction however, and we will continue on the assumption that orthodox scholarship is at
least reasonably correct. Still I urge readers to take the dates with extreme caution. The
Babylonians themselves, much like modern Hindus, attributed an antiquity to themselves and
their observations that seems fantastic by modern Western standards, hundreds of thousands,
even millions of years. Such antiquity is not consistent with the evidence of scholarship,
but we have to keep something of an open mind. Scholars are often limited by their very
specialization with the result that one discipline, such as modern astronomy for example,
may often have powerful consequences for another such as archeology. The work of Gerald
Hawkins on Stonehenge comes to mind. But first someone has to bring the two disciplines
together. This may yet happen in Mesopotamian studies in such a way as to radically alter
our historical understanding.
Van der Waerden concludes that the Venus tables were compiled and preserved out of motives
of astral religion, i.e., the Mesopotamians believed that the stars and planets were
associated with, or were in fact themselves the gods. Ishtar-Venus was one of the major
divinities of the Mesopotamian peoples. Many other ancient peoples had similar notions. The
Egyptians identified the constellation of Orion with Osiris. But Osiris was a dead god who
ruled the underworld. His transportation to the heavens was very similar to other
transportations made in classical mythology. The Mesopotamians seem to have been unique in
their emphasis on the stars and planets as being the primary indicators of divine will in
the Here and Now. This is the probable motive of the studies that led to astrology.
Over the next centuries the Mesopotamians, especially the Babylonians, continued observing
and compiling lists of phenomena eventually getting to the point where, based on observed
recurrence cycles of the planets, they could reasonably accurately estimate the positions of
the planets at any time in the future. Ptolemy records, and modern scholarship does not
dispute this, that accurate and systematic eclipse records were kept from 747 B.C.E. onward
into the Hellenistic period after the conquests of Alexander the Great.
An interesting question about which there is much controversy is what kind of zodiac were
the Mesopotamians using? In the earlier material they simply recorded planets as being so
many degrees from a star.