Horoscopic Astrology Symbols Development and Ptolemaic Alexandria
Filed under: A Glimpse Of The Future
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28 Jan |
Readers looking for new things will be pleasantly surprised with this article. There are books and articles out there on the that pertain to to the heavens you can really enjoy and you don’t have to be a genius to understand them. You can just sit back and spend time relaxing while you enjoy basking in their knowledge. Personally, I am completely different.
The foundations of western astrology started long before the ancient Greeks. The people who settled in Mesopotamia (It is in the general vicinity of what is now called southern Iraq) around 4000 BC considered the sun, the moon and Venus to be gods, or the homes of gods. Mixed with the other people were those who were believed to have the ability to contact Gods. They understood the basic cycles of the planets and stars and could predict major natural events such as eclipses. Later held beliefs and astrological traditions, including the practices of classical Greek and Hellenistic astronomies, were based on the astrological theories initially developed in ancient Mesopotamia.
Both Hellenistic and Western Astrology and Horoscope were influenced by Islamic astrology.
How is Ptolemaic Alexandria defined? Alexandria, Egypt was founded by Alexander the Great in 331 BC and became the capital of the Ptolemaic Kingdom (named after its first ruler, Ptolemy) from 332 BC (when the 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.
Hellenism is unique with distinct features that blend Classical Greek culture with the cultures of people, conquered by Alexander the Great, who were living east and south of them.
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 Readings.
Babylonian astrologists first invented signs of the zodiac around 600 BC, but the earliest Babylonian horoscopes that were developed are only rudimentary charts that show the positions of celestial bodies at the exact times of particular occurrences (usually the conception or the birth of a person); most contain no predictions. Nevertheless, horoscopic astrology had its beginnings in Babylonian astrology.
Around 350 BC, Babylonian astrology entered into Greece. At this time, Greek Myths became entwined with astrology, creating the names that we know now. However, the most significant contribution of the Greeks to Western Astrology was the development of Horoscopic Astrology under Hellenistic rule – in Ptolemaic Alexandria.
The nucleus of Greek society, Ptolemaic Alexandria, melded the traditions of Babylonian astrology and Pharaonic Egyptian astronomy together. Greek had become the language of communication from Greece to India to Egypt, allowing for unprecedented amalgamation of knowledge. Hellenistic astrology was built on Egyptian and Babylonian traditions and produced a system of Horoscopic Astrology that is the origin of the modern day western Horoscopic Astrology.
The work of an astronomer / astrologer by the name of Claudius Ptolemy was particularly important to the development of horoscopic astrology in Alexandria at the time.
Ptolemy was a Hellenistic scholar and although he was born in the south of Egypt (85 BC?) also perished within Alexandria (165 BC?), it was unknown if he was an Egyptian or a Greek. He was a Greek man who had been born in Egypt yet resided in Rome, but it did not make the difference that it does now.
Ptolemy, a writer, is famous for his works the Tetrabiblios (where he compiled all known astrological theories of the time), and the Almagest (an examination of the workings of the solar system contained in thirteen volumes). Ptolemy not only believed that the earth was round, he also thinks that the sun and the planets revolved around the earth. The Ptolemaic theory, as set down in the Almagest was a work of reference for astronomy students for almost 1400 years, until it was established 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.
However, several zodiac wheels found in Egypt are dated from the Ptolemaic era and provide evidence of that eras contribution 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.
It can be viewed at Paris’ famous Louvre Museum.
In the early 19th century, the renowned French linguist Jean-Francois Champollion (they were the ones who had figured out what the hieroglyphics had stood for a number of years earlier.) correctly dated the Dendera zodiac to the Ptolemaic era. Currently the date that is agreed upon is 50 BC since it demonstrates the situation of the stars and planets as they would have been observed then. The Dendera zodiac is a map of the stars on a plane projection and shows the twelve constellations (zodiacal band) forming 36 ten-day Decans, and is further evidence of how Babylonian astrology merged with traditional Egyptian Decanic astrology.
The Horoscopic History of Astrology developed by Hellenistic scholars in Ptolemaic Alexandria was the result of the fusion of Mesopotamian, Egyptian and Greek astrology. Hellenistic astrology lasted until about the seventh century AD. In the eighth century, Muslim scholars revitalized interest in the basic elements of ancient astronomy to provide the original source for Western Horoscopic Astrology as we know it today.
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How To Learn About Horoscopes - Free Course From Audio Astrology Readings
Filed under: Knowledge is Power
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24 Jan |
Personal astrology with the advent of the Internet is a fast growing service now being used by more and more people across the world.
Real astrology is no longer an obscure science to be understood by the select few or being used only as an entertainment medium. There are according to some, ‘real’ benefits to ‘real’ astrology. So what exactly is it that personalised astrology has to offer the individual?
Primarily personal astrology it is said is all about you and your potential in this lifetime. Astrology is according to advocates a tool to greater self understanding and to greater self-awareness that allows you to move through life with more clarity and a clearer idea of who you are.
Astrology is said to give a clearer perspective of your experiences and of all those around you, plus in the case of ‘relationship astrology’ it is claimed to give us a greater understanding of our interactions with other individuals too.
Understanding the energies and the elements working with-in astrology will, if we are prepared to ‘buy into’ the concepts give us a deeper and more fulfilling understanding of our life and of the world around us.
My advice, before beginning to learn astrology , it’s best to have a clear understanding of the Solar System. This understanding can be obtained without going into all the elaborate details that Astronomy is concerned with. An Astrologer, require only a general understanding of Astronomy’s broad outlines are therefore all that is required, and without being proficient in mathematics, anyone with an menial level of education may learn quite simply all that I have to say on this subject.
The Art has an unlimited amount of these solar systems, of varying sizes - some larger and some smaller than our own. When we realise this, our minds expand, our vision becomes clearer and our hearts can fill with wonder and reverence for that unknowable and great supreme power that is the primary cause of all glory that fills the all of space. However, no amount of guesswork concerning other solar systems can reveal the true state of affairs in the broad expanse of the heavens. Therefore, it becomes more profitable to confine our attention, for the time being, to the solar system of which we form a part, leaving the study of fixed stars with their immense magnitudes and distances out of our present considerations.
Example:
If we were to draw a circle, and in it’s centre place a single point, we would have a representation of ourselves in relation to space. Using our imagination to further explore this idea to think of the Sun as being in the centre of and enormous circle, extending many millions of kilometres into space, then we may comprehend and understand what the circumference of the solar system means. It will do you well to ponder over this amazing and wonderful system. In the past, the Sun was recognised as the home and source of the primal energy from which all light and life comes. It being in fact the centre or, as we would term it for practical purposes, the body of the Logos of the solar system. From this glorious body, radiates the light which illuminates the whole, and there can be no grander concept of God than this idea of One who sustains the whole of His universe by His manifestation, the Sun: “In him we live, move, and have our being”.
All bigoted conceptions of religion must fade into insignificance as we realise that the Sun is the life and light of ourselves, and of the entire system.
This information was brought to you Astrology.
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