#history-of-astrology
5 articles
BeginnerThe Astrolabe: Computing the Heavens by Hand
The astrolabe is an analog computer that flattens the sphere of the sky onto a disc. For more than a thousand years it told the time, located the stars, and found the rising degree to cast a horoscope, exactly what AstroAk now does by computer.
BeginnerPtolemy and the Tetrabiblos: The Book That Shaped Western Astrology
The Tetrabiblos, written by Claudius Ptolemy in Alexandria around the second century CE, is the foundational systematic treatise of Western astrology and the work that gave the tradition its natural-philosophy footing.
NatalKepler the Astrologer: The Astronomer Who Read the Sky
Johannes Kepler discovered the three laws of planetary motion and worked his whole life as a practicing astrologer, casting charts while trying to reform astrology around the aspects.
BeginnerMarcus Manilius and the Astronomica: Astrology's Oldest Surviving Poem
The Astronomica is a Latin poem on astrology by Marcus Manilius, written about 10 to 20 CE. It is the earliest substantially surviving comprehensive account of Western astrology, cast in five books of verse.
BeginnerAbu Ma'shar: The Astrologer Who Carried Astrology to Europe
Abu Ma'shar al-Balkhi (787 to 886 CE), Latinized as Albumasar, was the most influential astrologer of the medieval Islamic world. His Latin translations helped reintroduce both astrology and Aristotle to Europe in the 12th century.