Platikos and moirikos: Ancient Horoscopic Practice in the Light of Vettius Valens’ Anthologies

From the ancient practice, implied by many textual sources although never formally prescribed, of identifying the twelve horoscopic places (the δωδεκάτροπος dōdekatropos) with the zodiacal signs, recent scholarship has often concluded that such identification constituted a tenet of ancient astrology...

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Bibliographische Detailangaben
1. VerfasserIn: Gansten, Martin 1969- (VerfasserIn)
Medienart: Elektronisch Aufsatz
Sprache:Englisch
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Veröffentlicht: Brill 2023
In: International journal of divination and prognostication
Jahr: 2023, Band: 4, Heft: 1, Seiten: 1-43
weitere Schlagwörter:B Vettius Valens
B Hellenistic astrology
B house systems
B dōdekatropos
B domification
B horoscopic places
B ancient astrology
B classical astrology
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Zusammenfassung:From the ancient practice, implied by many textual sources although never formally prescribed, of identifying the twelve horoscopic places (the δωδεκάτροπος dōdekatropos) with the zodiacal signs, recent scholarship has often concluded that such identification constituted a tenet of ancient astrology even at a conceptual level. On the basis of a close reading of Vettius Valens’ Anthologies, supported by other ancient sources, this paper argues that while the places, like other elements of horoscopic practice, were often provisionally approximated by sign position alone, calculation of places by degree, with boundaries differing from those of the zodiacal signs, was consistently upheld in principle as more accurate and useful. Specifically, Valens’ preference appears to have been for places calculated from the quadrants formed by the intersections of horizon and meridian, a method also occasionally used in the Anthologies for defining planetary configurations and for annual transmission (παράδοσις paradosis). In several cases, such methods are explicitly employed even for horoscopes presented in a simple, signs-only format.
ISSN:2589-9201
Enthält:Enthalten in: International journal of divination and prognostication
Persistent identifiers:DOI: 10.1163/25899201-12340029