Unknown information may surprise readers in this article. Sense it does not contain to much astronomy facts and mathmatical calculations you do not have to be an Astrologist or a Historian to understand it. I personally think that I am completely different.

The foundations of western astrology started long before the ancient Greeks. In 4000 BC Mesopotamia settlers thought of the Sun, Moon and Venus as homes of the Gods or Gods themselves. Amoung them were these people who were thought to be able to speak with the gods. They were able to tell of future events such as eclipses through keeping an eye on the planets and stars. Classical Greek and Hellenistic Astronomy were included in traditions built by astrological theories that were slowly developed in ancient Mesopotamia. Hellenistic astrology would in turn influence Islamic astrology and, finally, Western astrology.

What is Ptolrmaic Alexandria anyways? Alexander the Great founded the Egyptian city of Alexandria in 331 BC, and the city later became the Ptolemaic Kingdom’s capital (named after its first ruler, Ptolemy) from 332 BC (when Alexander died) up until the Roman conquest of Egypt in 30 BC. Alexandria continued to be the capital of Egypt for nearly a thousand years until the Muslim conquest of the country in the middle of the 7th century AD and Hellenism (the Greek way of life spread by Alexander) continued to prosper there throughout that time.

The distinguishing feature of Hellenism was the blend of Classical Greek culture and the cultures of the peoples to the east and south conquered by Alexander the Great. In Alexandria, this translated into a mixture of Egyptian, Greek, Roman, Macedonian, Persian, Syrian, Jewish, and Babylonian (Mesopotamian) cultures. One aspect of the rich cultural activity underway in Ptolemaic Alexandria is the development of astrology.

(usually the conception or the birth of a person); in most cases they do not have any predictions. Regardless, the roots of horoscopic astrology can be found in Babylonian astrology.

Babylonian astrology was introduced in Greece by using there God’s names from Greek Mythology in the 4th century, blending them together is why we recognize the names of the Gods used today.

The development of Horoscopic Astrology in Ptolemaic Alexandria, Egypt was the single most important contribution the ancient Greeks made to modern astrology.

Babylonian astrology and pharaonic Egyptian had came together thanks to Ptolemaic Alexandria which the center of Greek culture. Greek had become the language of communication from Greece to India to Egypt, allowing for unprecedented amalgamation of knowledge. Western Astrology was form by the Hellenistic astrology which was built by Egyptian and Babylonian traditions.

Claudius Ptolemy is the astronomer/astrologer who created the development of the horoscope astrology from Alexandria at this great time. Even though Ptolemy was born in the Southern half of Egypt, he is still considered a Hellenistic scholar (85 BC?) then later passed away in Alexandria (165 BC?),no one was ever able to establish if he was Egyptian or Greek. It wouldn’t even matter if he was a Roman citizen and a Greek born in Egypt.

Ptolemy, a writer, is famous for his works the Tetrabiblios (where he compiled all known astrological theories of the time), and the Almagest (a thirteen volume discussion of how the solar system functions). Ptolemy not only believed that the earth was round, he also thinks that the sun and the planets revolved around the earth. For 1400 years, astronomy students used the Ptolemaic theory, as set down in the Almagest, as a reference, until it was discovered that the earth revolves around the sun. In spite of his contribution to the theory of Horoscopic Astrology, no horoscopes actually made by Ptolemy have ever been discovered.

There are many zodiacs from the Ptolemaic era which give proof of Egypt’s contributions to Horoscopic Astrology. The most widely known of these is the Dendera zodiac found on the ceiling of a chapel dedicated to the Egyptian goddess Osiris. Visit Paris to see the Louvre Museum.

In the early 19th century, the renowned French linguist Jean-Francois Champollion (who, just a few years earlier, had managed to decipher hieroglyphics) correctly dated the Dendera zodiac to the Ptolemaic era. Its accepted date today is 50 BC because it shows the stars and planets in the positions they would have been seen at that date. The Dendera zodiac shows the twelve constellations and this is the map of the starts in plane projection (the band of the zodiac) making the 36 ten-day Decans, as more proof of how the Babylonian astrology combined with the traditional Egyptian Decan astrology.

A result of the fusion of Mesopotamian, Egyptian and Greek Astrology, Hellenistic Scholars from Ptolemaic Alexandria developed Horoscopic Astrology. Hellenistic astrology was used up until sometime in the 600s AD. This practice was revived by Muslim scholars in the eighth century. Modern western Horscopic Astrology is based on it.
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