Ancient Astronomy
Transcribed on March 27, 2025 at 8:50 AM by Minutes AI
Speaker 1 (00 00)
the new star was faint at first little
more than a glimmer in the summer dusk
but as the Romans gathered to celebrate
Caesar's funeral games it blazed
brilliantly a sign it was said that the
great man's Soul had joined the Gods
for seven days it was visible over the
tile roofs and umbrella Pines arrival to
the Setting Sun
then it faded with the Majesty befitting
a God in two the shimmering calendar of
the heavens
although a few Scholars flirted with
heliocentrism virtually all Greeks and
Romans accepted that the Earth occupied
the center of the universe
around the Earth revolved the seven
planets named for the Gods
first came the moon near enough for its
distance to be estimated by a parallax
during eclipses
Beyond were Mercury Venus and the sun
which Aristotle described as a globe of
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:
luminous ether
than Mars Jupiter and Saturn all
embedded like the other planets in
spheres that carry them around the Earth
in a geometric dance of orbits and
epicycles
the outermost sphere of the universe
carried the Stars which the definitive
ancient catalog grouped into 48
constellations
the Greeks had identified some stars
with figures from myth from a very early
period Homer for example mentions the
Pleiades
but the division of the entire night sky
into constellations seems to have taken
place only in the 4th Century BC
of special significance with the 12
constellations of the zodiac aligned
with the tracks of the planets along the
ecliptic
the Zodiac had first been defined in
Mesopotamia where Scholars observed the
heavens for Millennia keeping careful
records of eclipses planetary motions
and other phenomena
in the wake of Alexander's conquests
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these records became accessible to Greek
astronomers along with the Babylonian
tradition of using the Motions of the
planets to foretell the future
before we discuss how this brought about
the birth of astrology a brief word
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back to the Stars
astrology was born from the fusion of
Babylonian astronomy with the methods of
Greek science
it seems to have originated in
Hellenistic Alexandria probably around
the end of the 2nd Century BC when new
developments in the Greek scientific
astronomy were being fueled by the
translation of Mesopotamian records
like its modern descendants ancient
astrology attempted to determine
outcomes from the positions and
interrelations of the planets and the
signs of the zodiac
with knowledge of an individual's birth
date astrologers claimed that they could
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chart the whole future course of a life
and pick the most propitious time for
undertaking anything from a voyage to a
bath
although some doubted that the Stars
influenced human Affairs pointing for
example to the fact that twins born in
the same place and under the same Stars
often LED very different lives most
Greeks and Romans regarded astrology as
a natural and legitimate extension of
astronomy
astrologers were especially popular in
early Imperial Rome where they became
confidants of the emperors
Augustus put Capricorn his zodiac sign
on his coins
Scorpio tiberius's birth sign became the
emblem of the praetorian Guard
Ian considered himself a master of
astrology and foretold the hour and day
of his death
another Emperor married a lady who was
horoscope predicted she would become a
queen
the astrological Manual of maternus who
wrote during the 4th Century illuminates
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the degree to which the stars were
thought to govern mortal lives
according to maternus for example any
man born in the first degree of Libra
will be handsome and lovable
if the ascendant is in the feminine
Stars unfortunately he is destined to be
a male prostitute but one loved by all
for his charm and sophistication
those born in the seventh degree of
Libra maternus continues will be
captured by Pirates at some point or
possibly devoured by wild beasts
those born in the 20th degree will be
great doctors unless Mars is in that
degree in which case they are doomed to
fall from a great height
to move to a different sign though was
born in the first degree of Sagittarius
will be Pious and just but those born in
the second degree are sure to be
ill-tempered sacrilegious Liars
occasionally maternus is quite specific
those born in the 10th degree of
Capricorn for example will be Charming
adulterers who will seduce all their
friends wives but never be caught
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their own wives however will be equally
adulterous
they will become rich and die abruptly
understandably in the view of such dire
predictions Roman parents took care to
note when their children were born
sometimes stationing a man with a gong
to inform a wedding astrologer of the
exact moment
doctors studied astrological manuals to
determine the moon's effects on the
human body
philosophers hailed astrological
predictions Earth manifestations of
omnipotent fate
the seven laps in a standard Chariot
race and the seven degrees of mithraism
were patterned on the seven planets as
was the seven day week we still use each
of its days named for the planet that
governed its first hour
during the early Imperial era
astrologers were repeatedly expelled
from Rome largely from fears that their
predictions would encourage plots
against the emperors
later when the Roman world became
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Christian they fell under suspicion
again since the idea that the Stars
influenced human Affairs seemed to
contravene Divine omnipotence
astrology however outlasted the Emperors
and their anxieties and enjoyed
unprecedented Prestige during the
Renaissance when astrologers were
employed by popes and kings
despite comprehensive debunking of its
principles and practices astrology is
with us still an uncanny offspring of
Greek science
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