Was “astrology” invented by the Greeks?

 

by Janice Barsky (written August 8, 2000)

 

                Whether the Greeks can be given credit for inventing astrology depends on:  (1) your definition of the word “astrology”; and (2) whether prior civilizations engaged in activities which seem to fit that definition.  It appears that modern astrology resulted from the blend­ing of the religious, scientific and philosophical beliefs of many cultures over many centuries.

Definition of “Astrology”

                Of the many definitions I’ve found, following are only a few:

The supposed science which determines the influence of the stars, especially of the five older planets, on the fate of man … or on the changes of the weather … according to certain fixed rules dependent upon the controlling position of stars … at the time under consideration.[1]

 

… [T]he study of the impact of the celestial bodies … upon the sublunar world.[2]

 

(1) Originally, the practical application of astronomy to human uses. (2) The study professing to foretell the future and interpret the influence of the heavenly bodies upon the destinies of men.[3]

 

[T]he art or science of the relations between astronomical phenomena and terrestrial life, especially human life.[4]

 

[W]hat 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 particular instrument, the theme, genesis, or birthchart. … The study of celestial omens does not constitute astrology as we know it.[5]

 

Contributions of Various Cultures to Astrology

Babylonians/Mesopotamians

                The priests of ancient Babylon observed the skies and recorded the movements of the heavenly bodies.  These “consistent astronomical observations were being made for the express purpose of producing astrological omens, anticipating divine intentions, predicting the weather (and hence agricultural productivity) and preparing for possible political crises.”[6]  The priests advised the king on social, political and economic matters according to the omens they observed.  They also learned to predict eclipses and to calculate the planetary positions.[7]  In this way Babylon was undoubtedly the “mother of astronomy.”[8] 

                Holden suggests, “The Babylonians invented astrology.”[9]  It seems certain that they invented the 360-degree circle and the 12 signs of the zodiac, recognized most of the planets, and it is believed by some that they invented the concept of the birthchart.[10]  The earliest known astrological texts were written in Babylon before 1600 B.C.E.[11]  It is clear that Babylonian advances in astrology and astronomy predated Greek accomplishments in those areas.  As Campion relates:

By the time that the Greek astronomers first began to speculate on the nature of the heavens, the Mesopotamian astrologers had made the crucial transition from a purely observational astronomy, to one which was both mathematical and predictive.[12]

 

Greeks

                Between 640 B.C.E. and 560 B.C.E. “traveling Chaldean astrologers descended on Greece in considerable numbers, bringing with them the apparently age-old wisdom they had hoarded, which was received warmly by Greeks already better practiced in mathematics and astronomy than they.”[13]  The Greek approach to astrology was more scientific and philosophical, and astrology became “inseparably combined with Greek philosophy.”[14] 

Concepts essential to scientific thought thus emerged in embryonic form with the early Greek philosophers: natural explanations for physical occurrences (Ionians), the mathematical order of nature (Pythagoras), logical proof (Parmenides), and the mechanical structure of the universe (Democritus). … Their achievement made possible theoretical thought and the systemization of knowledge—as distinct from the mere observation and collection of data.[15]

 

That the “Greeks borrowed the idea of astrology from the Babylonians is not disputed.”[16]  Greek astrologers are credited with adding to what is now modern astrology:  the four elements, male and female planets and signs, planetary rulership,[17] the precession of the equinoxes (and longitude and latitude),[18] medical astrology,[19] and the concept of a solar return.[20]  The first known Greek horoscope is dated 61 B.C.E.[21]

Egyptians

                According to Holden, “The early Egyptians had no astrology of their own and little astronomy,” but they had “mapped the sky into constellations, most notable of which were the 36 decans that were originally used to tell time at night.” This discovery apparently led to the concept of a rising sign during the Ptolemaic Age,[22] when the Egyptian culture accepted astrology.[23]  The astronomy and mathematics of Egypt were “relatively simple compared to Mesopotamian, and this is one reason why the Egyptians never developed their own astrology.”  It appears that horoscopes were first introduced to Egypt in the century before Christ.[24]  It is believed,  however, that geometry originated in Egypt.[25]

                No early Egyptian zodiacs or horoscopes have been found, yet some researchers believe there is circumstantial evidence which points to an earlier use of astrology in Egypt:

[T]he application of earth and fire imagery to art and architecture in their respectively appropriate ages, and the utilization of astrological symbolism in works such as the Sphinx, strongly suggest that the Egyptians had not only named the constellations, but had attributed to them the symbolic significance we know today.[26]

 

There is also other evidence of early use of astrology.  A diagram was found that could have been an Egyptian horoscope cast in 2767 B.C.E.  Although the diagram indicates the positions of the planets in “a particular moment in time,” it is not known whether it describes the birth of an individual.  There is evidence too that astrologers in the Egypt of 1300 years before Christ knew about the four fixed signs of the zodiac.”[27]

Jews

                Cumont says “it is indisputable that before the Exile (597 B.C.E.) Israel received from Babylon … certain beliefs connected with star-worship and astrology.”[28]  Some Hebrew astrologers believe that Jewish knowledge of astrology began much earlier and that evidence of this is found in ancient Hebrew texts:  “King Solomon’s astrological knowledge was greater than that of both the men of the East and Egypt (see Eccles. Rab. 7:23).”[29]  King Solomon reportedly lived from 961-922 B.C.E.  There is also evidence that astrology was used during the time of Moses[30] (around 1250 B.C.E.).  The name of the birthplace of Abraham (born “Abram” around 2000 B.C.E.) in Hebrew can be interpreted to mean “light of the astrologers,” and the Midrash “states that Abram’s father Terach was an astrologer.”[31]

                Hebrew astrologers believe that the descriptions of the 12 astrological signs were based on the personalities of Abraham’s 12 sons, starting with the first-born, Reuben, through the youngest, Benjamin.[32]  They also point out that “the Ascendant and the hourly ruler were most important in Talmudic astrology,”[33] and that the ancient Jewish festivals and holidays are scheduled according to the sign and phase of the Moon.[34]

Fusion of Astrology in Alexandria

                After Alexander the Great invaded Egypt, a school of astrology was established at Alexandria.  During this time, the Hellenistic Period (331 B.C.E.-27 B.C.E.), “the distinction between Greek and Mesopotamian culture becomes blurred.”[35]  The Babylonian, Greek and Egyptian contributions were combined with new developments, such as: the rising sign as beginning of the houses, planetary aspects, the lots and “the other familiar features of horoscopic astrology.”[36]

During this period, … astrology in something like the form we know it developed very rapidly.  While most of the writing was in Greek, most of the authors were not Greeks but Egyptians and Semites.  It was during this period that we know for certain that astrology came into Egypt and developed in a manner characteristic of the Egyptians.  It is this astrology which forms the basis of the Greek language astrological writings that came in later centuries.[37]

 

Summary

                From the evidence available to us at this time, it appears that, under most definitions of the word “astrology” listed above, the Babylonians invented the earliest forms of astrology.  In addition to the cultures mentioned in detail here, other countries were also known to recognize some form of astrology, including India, China and the Islamic countries.[38]  Each has contributed some new discovery (or further refinement), eventually bringing us today’s astrology.  And as we watch, the science of astrology continues to evolve as the knowledge of numerous cultures continues to blend.

 

Selected Bibliography

Britannica World Language Edition of Funk & Wagnalls Standard Dictionary, 1960 ed. S.v. “Astrology.”

 

Campion, Nicholas.  “Babylonian Astrology: Its Origin and Legacy in Europe.” Extracted from Astronomies Across Cultures, ed. Helaine Selin.  Kluwer Academic Press, 2000.

 

Campion, Nick.  Introduction to the History of Astrology (www.NickCampion.com/History/history.htm).

 

Catholic Encyclopedia, 1913 ed. S.v. “Astrology.”

 

Cumont, Franz. Astrology and Religion Among the Greeks and Romans.  Kessinger Publishing Company, 1912.

 

Dictionary of the History of Ideas, 1969 ed. S.v. “Astrology,” by David Pingree.

 

Dobin, Rabbi Joel C.  The Astrological Secrets of the Hebrew Sages.  Inner Traditions International Ltd.  Rochester, VT: 1977.

 

Encyclopedia of Religion.  Ed. M. Eliade. S.v. “Astrology,” by Ioan Petru Culianu.

 

Hand, Robert.  “Chronology of the Astrology of the Middle East and the West by Period.” Archive for the Retrieval of Historical Astrological Texts.

 

Hand, Robert.  “The History of Astrology—Another View.”  Archive for the Retrieval of Historical Astrological Texts.

 

Holden, James Herschel.  A History of Horoscopic Astrology. American Federation of Astrologers, Inc., 1996.

 

Parker, Julia and Derek.  History of Astrology, 1983.

 

Perry, Marvin.  Western Civilization: A Brief History. Houghton Mifflin Company, 1997.

 

Van der Waerden, Bartel L.  Science Awakening II, The Birth of Astrology.  Oxford University Press.

 

West, John Anthony and Toonder, Jan Gerhard.  The Case for Astrology.  Baltimore: Penguin Books, 1973.