Astrology in Hellenistic Egypt

<p>In 525 BCE Egypt was conquered by the Persians so there is likely to have been some Mesopotamian influence on Egyptian astrology. Arguing in favour of this, Barton gives an example of what appears to be Mesopotamian influence on the zodiac, which included two signs – the Balance and the Scorpion, as evidenced in the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dendera_Zodiac" class="mw-redirect" title="Dendera Zodiac">Dendera Zodiac</a> (in the Greek version the Balance was known as the Scorpion’s Claws).<sup id="cite_ref-5" class="reference"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hellenistic_astrology#cite_note-5">[5]</a></sup>

After the occupation by <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_the_Great" title="Alexander the Great">Alexander the Great</a> in 332 BCE, Egypt came under <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greeks" title="Greeks">Greek</a> rule and influence. The city of Alexandria was founded by Alexander after the conquest and during the 3rd and 2nd centuries BCE, the scholars of Alexandria were prolific writers. It was in 'Alexandrian Egypt' that <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Babylonian_astrology" title="Babylonian astrology">Babylonian astrology</a> was mixed with the Egyptian tradition of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Decans" title="Decans">Decanic astrology</a> to create <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horoscopic_astrology" title="Horoscopic astrology">Horoscopic astrology</a>. This contained the Babylonian zodiac with its system of planetary exaltations, the triplicities of the signs and the importance of eclipses. Along with this it incorporated the Egyptian concept of dividing the zodiac into thirty-six decans of ten degrees each, with an emphasis on the rising decan, the Greek system of planetary Gods, sign rulership and four elements.<sup id="cite_ref-6" class="reference"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hellenistic_astrology#cite_note-6">[6]</a></sup></p>

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<div class="thumbcaption">Dendera zodiac with original colors (reconstructed)</div>

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<p>The decans were a system of time measurement according to the constellations. They were led by the constellation Sothis or Sirius. The risings of the decans in the night were used to divide the night into ‘hours’. The rising of a constellation just before sunrise (its heliacal rising) was considered the last hour of the night. Over the course of the year, each constellation rose just before sunrise for ten days. When they became part of the astrology of the Hellenistic Age, each decan was associated with ten degrees of the zodiac. Texts from the 2nd century BCE list predictions relating to the positions of planets in zodiac signs at the time of the rising of certain decans, particularly Sothis.<sup id="cite_ref-7" class="reference"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hellenistic_astrology#cite_note-7">[7]</a></sup>

Particularly important in the development of horoscopic astrology was the astrologer and astronomer <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ptolemy#Astrology" title="Ptolemy">Ptolemy</a>, who lived in Alexandria in Egypt. Ptolemy's work the <i><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tetrabiblos" title="Tetrabiblos">Tetrabiblos</a></i> laid the basis of the Western astrological tradition. The earliest Zodiac found in Egypt dates to the 1st century BCE, the Dendera Zodiac.

According to <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Firmicus_Maternus" class="mw-redirect" title="Firmicus Maternus">Firmicus Maternus</a> (4th century), the system of horoscopic astrology was given early on to an Egyptian pharaoh named <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nekauba" title="Nekauba">Nechepso</a> and his priest Petosiris.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hellenistic_astrology#cite_note-8"><sup id="cite_ref-8" class="reference">[8]</sup></a> The <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hermetism" class="mw-redirect" title="Hermetism">Hermetic</a> texts were also put together during this period and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clement_of_Alexandria" title="Clement of Alexandria">Clement of Alexandria</a>, writing in the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_era" class="mw-redirect" title="Roman era">Roman era</a>, demonstrates the degree to which astrologers were expected to have knowledge of the texts in his description of Egyptian sacred rites:</p>

<p>This is principally shown by their sacred ceremonial. For first advances the Singer, bearing some one of the symbols of music. For they say that he must learn two of the books of Hermes, the one of which contains the hymns of the gods, the second the regulations for the king's life. And after the Singer advances the Astrologer, with a horologe in his hand, and a palm, the symbols of astrology. He must have the astrological books of Hermes, which are four in number, always in his mouth.<sup id="cite_ref-9" class="reference"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hellenistic_astrology#cite_note-9">[9]</a></sup></p>

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