November 22, 2021

Zodiac – Ancient Astral Science in Transformation

A reasearch-project at the Freie, Berlin, led by Mathieu Ossendrijver, this large-scale investigation into the development of ancient astrology/astronomy describes itself thusly:

Astrology, Astronomy, Mathematics, Religion and Philosophy – all these different aspects and their theories and practices, texts and images, meet in the concept of the zodiac. 2500 years ago, in the 5th century BCE, the introduction of the zodiac in Babylonia marked a turning point in human culture and science. The zodiacal turn was accompanied by a mathematical turn in the astral sciences and a personal turn in astrology. From Babylonia, zodiacal astral science spread to Egypt, the Greco-Roman world, and beyond.

Features a blog with regular postings on interesting topics, a news and events section, and all manner of goodies. If you are really interested in the knowledge-transfer which we know must have occurred between the Mesopotamian diary-texts and Hermes, Nechepso, and Petosiris and beyond, this is the project for you.