To what extent does Greek Astrology represent a radical change from Babylonian

Astrology?

Introduction

Writers such as Otto Neugebauer (1899-1990) the leading authority on ancient

astronomy in his time, and Jim Tester have emphasised the differences between Greek and
Babylonian astrology, claiming that any astrological practice that occurred prior to the
Hellenistic period is a ‘kind of crude proto-astrology’.1 This has led to the dismissal of
Babylonian astrology as serving a simply mathematical function. There were indeed some
fundamental differences between astrology from these two eras, an example being Babylonian
celestial divination and Greek horoscopic astrology. However, more recent research from
Tamsyn Barton and Francesca Rochberg-Halton suggests that there is a strong case for a
smoother continuity between the two and not such as radical discontinuity as previously
suggested by Neugebauer and Tester. I will discuss three Babylonian elements which can be
pinpointed as direct contributions to Greek astrology and which are significant features of the
later system. These are: planetary exaltations, the dodekatemoria and the Trine aspect. I will
also discuss three elements that show a significant discontinuity between the two systems.
Firstly, Babylonian celestial omens and divination compared to Greek horoscopic astrology,
secondly, systematic differences and finally, Planetary ordering.

The theories, methods and philosophical rationale of Hellenistic astrology are very
different to Babylonian celestial omen divination and have previously been considered as
entirely separate. However, I will conclude by showing that whatever radical changes took
place in astrology, they took place first in Babylonian astrology, the knowledge of which was
then transmitted into Hellenistic Greece.

Astrology

Astrology is the study of celestial bodies, the position of planets and stars, the
perceived effect and relationship of these on terrestrial events, including people’s lives. This

1
Jim Tester, A History of Western Astrology (New York, NY: Ballantine books, 1987), p. 15
discipline was of great interest in the ancient world as the interpretation of these celestial
events was used as a form of divination as well as offering an explanation for this perceived
relationship. Astrology presupposes a macro-microcosm relationship between the heavens and
the earth. The view of the stars in the ancient world was that of living, divine beings, making
the practice of Astrology religious in nature. Astrological recordings were most often
captured in drawings, such as charts or tables, the evidence of which can be found in
archaeological records such as Cuneiform tablets. The recordings were taken either from
direct observation of the skies or through tabular calculation.

The elements of an astrological system were formed in Mesopotamia from about 2000
BCE. 2 We can look to written records from 500 BCE onwards as evidence of the emergence
of astrology as a means by which to maintain a harmonious relationship between the heavens
and the earth, to appease deities, observe seasonal changes and to influence political and
economic development. The issue of how to manage the cosmic relationship was of central
concern. To help address that, the development of a sacred calendar came about. This enabled
the observation of rituals and ceremonies to occur at important times, bringing about a more
ordered approach to understanding the relationships between the celestial and terrestrial
realms.

Astrology also provided a framework to decode and act upon instructions that were
considered to be divinely issued. The celestial patterns could then be determined and
interpreted, thereby allowing the deities to have a ‘voice’ and influence in the political arena.
The ability to read and interpret the heavens was initially the privilege of the priesthood but as
time progressed, becoming an astrologer was a professional choice. Astrology also became a
source of inspiration for poets and writers, such as Marcus Manilius (1 st century AD), who
writes of astrology in his Astronomica:

Now is heaven the readier to favour those who search out its secrets, eager to display through a poet’s song the
riches of the sky…It is my delight to traverse the very air and spend my life touring the boundless skies, learning
of the constellations and the contrary motions of the planets. But this knowledge alone is not enough. A more
fervent delight is it to know thoroughly the very heart of the mighty sky, to mark how it controls the birth of all
living beings through its signs, and to tell thereof in verse with Apollo tuning my song. 3

2
Joelle-Frédérique Bara, ‘Astrology II: Antiquity’ in Dictionary of Gnosis and Western Esotericism, ed. by
Wouter J. Hanegraaff and others (Leiden: Brill, 2006), pp. 110-119 (p. 111)
3
Marcus Manilius, Astronomica trans. by G. P. Goold (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1977), pp. 5-
7
Babylonians

The Babylonians measured the progress of the sun, moon and stars along the path of
the ecliptic, a band thirteen degrees wide. There were three bands running parallel to the
equator. Around the band of the ecliptic were major stars which were distinguishable points.
Seventeen were identified and named as constellations, according to the star map known as
Mul.Apin (the plough star). This text is believed to have been written down in 700 BCE and
contains the ancestral origins of the modern day zodiac such as the Bull of heaven, the Crab,
the Lion, the Balance, the scorpion, The Goat-fish and the tails (Pisces), the barley stalk
(Virgo) and the Great twins. 4

With the introduction of the celestial zodiac came the ability to record the positions of
the sun, moon and planets in degrees. The Babylonians developed mathematical tables to
allow calculations of these relative positions. These relatively sophisticated developments
were thought to take place within two periods, namely the Hammurapi dynasty between 1800
BCE to 1600 BCE and the Selucid period, dateable to the last three Centuries BCE. 5 It was
the Babylonian development of mathematical measurements that allowed the precise
recordings of the celestial movements.

Greeks

In the Hellenistic period, Greek interest in the ancient Babylonian traditions

intensified. This was part of a rising current of fascination with ‘Eastern’ traditions, namely
Zoroaster, the Magi and later, the works of Hermes Trismegistus. ‘Oriental wisdom’ took on
an almost fashionable status. It is from this rising trend and the movement of the Greeks as
they began to colonise the East between the 8th and 6th centuries BCE, that the interest in
astrology began to grow more intensely. It is thought that the Babylonian writer Berosus (4th
century BCE), priest of Bel and astronomer, played a large part in the actual transmission of
Babylonian astrology to the Greeks, partly because his writings were in Greek. 6 He settled
and taught on the island of Cos, home to a school of medicine. At this time, there were

4
Tamsyn Barton, Ancient Astrology (London: Routledge, 1994), p. 13
5
O. Neugebauer, The Exact Sciences in Antiquity, 2nd ed (Mineola, NY: Dover Publications, 1969), p. 31
6
Jim Tester, A History of Western Astrology (New York, NY: Ballantine books, 1987), p. 13
connections between astrology and medicine, which would also have appealed to the Greek
rationalism.

There are a larger number of textual sources for Hellenistic astrology in the latter half
of the period and these emphasise a more ‘elaborate’ Greco-Roman form. According to
Rochberg-Halton, Hellenistic astrology took two major forms, firstly, horoscopy (known as
genethialogy) in which an individual obtains personal predications for their future based on
positions of the planets, sun and moon at the moment of birth or conception and secondly,
universal or ‘general’ astrology where predictions were for political or social purposes. 7

The intellectual climate was right for astrology at the time as the celestial spheres were
regarded as ‘superior’ to the mundane (this is a Platonist influence) and it was reflective of
divine reason being subject to mathematical laws. It also fitted well with Aristotelian views of
circular motion of planetary bodies, as Rochberg-Halton explains:

These ideas together with the analogy between the macrocosm and the microcosm, which implied that man’s
soul was a reflection of the cosmic soul, provided the rationale for direct stellar influence upon society (the
practice of general astrology) and the individual (the practice of genethlialogy). The microcosm-macrocosm
analogy is therefore embedded within the astrological interpretation of the cosmos and man’s relation to it. 8

An increase in popularity of Socratic, Platonic and Stoic philosophies paved the way
for a societal acceptance of astral determinism which, combined with the advances in Greek
science, allowed the development of astrological science in its more recognisable form, as
Joelle-Frédérique Bara explains: ‘From this period, we can date both a metamorphosis of
astrology and its consolidation in the minds of people. It gained the sanctity of faith in
addition to its foundations as a science’.9

An example of the Greek philosophical foundations of symbolic correspondences can

be found in Timaeus, the later work of the Greek Philosopher Plato (427-347 BCE). In
Timaeus 40b, he refers to ‘unwandering stars - divine living things which stay fixed’.10 He

7
F. Rochberg-Halton, ‘New Evidence for the History of Astrology’, in Journal of Near Eastern Studies, 43, 2
(1984), pp. 115-140 (p. 116)
8
F. Rochberg-Halton, ‘New Evidence for the History of Astrology’, in Journal of Near Eastern Studies, 43, 2
(1984), pp. 115-140 (p. 117)
9
Joelle-Frédérique Bara, ‘Astrology II: Antiquity’ in Dictionary of Gnosis and Western Esotericism, ed. by
Wouter J. Hanegraaff and others (Leiden: Brill, 2006), pp. 110-119 (p. 112)
10
Plato, ‘Timaeus’ trans by Donald. J. Zeyl, in Plato: Complete Works, ed. by John M. Cooper (Indianapolis,
IN: Hackett Publishing Company, 1997), pp. 1224-1291 (p. 1243)
also refers to the bonds of the soul, indicating the correspondence between the celestial and
terrestrial in connection with the creation of the planets, which he expresses as having been
created simultaneously with time itself:

Now when each of the bodies that were to cooperate in producing time had come into the movement prepared for
carrying it and when, bound by bonds of soul, these bodies had been begotten with life and learned their assigned
tasks, they began to revolve along the movement of the Different, which is oblique and which goes through the
11
movement of the Same, by which it is also dominated.

The transmission of Babylonian astrology to the Greeks occurred as the contact

between the Babylonians and the Greeks increased between the 8 th and 6th century BCE prior
to the fall of the Chaldean empire as the Greeks moved to colonise the East:

As early as that period, the Greeks began to draw from the oriental breeding ground all the astrological
techniques they were lacking. Moreover, an oriental understanding of the world began to permeate religious
practices and even philosophical thought. Thus, the school of Pythagoras, probably connected with Orphism,
drew inspiration form the sidereal cults of the east; it saw in numbers, which establish harmonious cosmic
relationships, the essence of all things.12

In what ways are they the same?

I have chosen three examples to discuss in more detail that show the continuity
between Babylonian and Hellenistic astrology. Written evidence for all three of these can be
found in Babylonian texts as well as in subsequent Hellenistic Greek literature.

1. Planetary exaltations or hypsomata

An example of Hypsoma can be explained in relation to Ea and his associated

constellation. Ea was a deity of crafts, intelligence, creation, sea and lake water. He was
associated with a band of constellations named ‘stars of Ea’. Hypsoma (nisirti ašar or bit
nisirti meaning “hidden place”) originated in Babylonian astrology (described in the
Mul.Apin). Each star of Ea’s path has its own hypsoma, for example. In Greek astrology,
exaltations are located in the zodiacal signs where the planets have their greatest influence.

11
Plato, ‘Timaeus’ trans by Donald. J. Zeyl, in Plato: Complete Works, ed. by John M. Cooper (Indianapolis,
IN: Hackett Publishing Company, 1997), pp. 1224-1291 (p. 1242)
12
Joelle-Frédérique Bara, ‘Astrology II: Antiquity’ in Dictionary of Gnosis and Western Esotericism, ed. by
Wouter J. Hanegraaff and others (Leiden: Brill, 2006), pp. 110-119 (p. 111)
The hypsoma is the point of greatest influence or its complete opposite point (180º from the
hypsoma known as the tapeinoma or “dejection”). 13 Evidence for this similarity between
Babylonian and Greek astrology can be found in Astronomica, the work of the 2 nd Century
author Claudius Ptolemy (90-168 AD), who offers the following rational for hypsomata and
tapeinoma:

Since the sun when he is in Aries, is making his transition to the northern and higher semicircle, and in Libra is
passing into the southern and lower one, they have fittingly assigned Aries to him as his exaltation, since there
the length of the day and the heating power of his nature begin to increase, and Libra as his depression for the
opposite reason.14

2. The micro zodiac or the dodekatemoria (the “twelfth parts”)

The dodekatemoria refers to one zodiacal sign being subdivided into 12 equal parts
beginning with the sign being divided and continuing through the other 11 sequentially. This
means that each zodiacal sign contains a micro zodiac within its 30º span. Micro zodiac texts
are all from the ‘Seleucid’ period (312-63 BCE). As mentioned above, the origins of the
zodiac was first noted down in the Mul.Apin so the micro zodiac must have come after this
time. Some of the micro elements are associated with terrestrial elements such as plants and
stones, a further similarity to Greek astrology:

Some of the same associations of celestial with terrestrial elements can be found in Hellenistic Greek astrology,
as well as in later celestial magic. 15

In Greek astrology, the influence of a planet was determined by its location within the
zodiac and also within the dodekatemoria. Further subdivisions can be found later in
Hellenistic astrology.

13
For a greater in-depth analysis of Hypsomata, see F. Rochberg-Halton, ‘Elements of the Babylonian
Contribution to Hellenistic Astrology’, in Journal of the American Oriental Society, 108, 1, (1988), pp. 53-57
where full transliterations, translations and commentary are given in detail.
14
Ptolemy, Tetrabiblos ed. and trans. by F.E. Robbins (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1940), I. 19
pp. 89-91 (p. 89)
15
F. Rochberg-Halton, ‘Elements of the Babylonian Contribution to Hellenistic Astrology’, in Journal of the
American Oriental Society, 108, 1, (1988), pp. 51-62 (p. 58)
3. Trine aspect

A trine is an angle of 120º (one third of the ecliptic); geometrical shapes are used to
indicate relationships between signs of the zodiac. Only the trine aspect has appeared in
Cuneiform sources, specifically within omen protases (which are discussed in greater detail
below).

It is of great interest that evidence of triplicities can be found as early as in the Enūma
Anu Enlil (probably compiled during the Kassite period 1651-1157 BCE, if not older).
Zodiacal triplicities are the grouping of signs into the four elements of: fire (Aries, Leo and
Sagittarius), earth (Taurus, Virgo and Capricorn), air (Gemini, Libra and Aquarius), and water
(Cancer, Scorpio and Pisces). Each elemental group consists of three signs and this was
originally thought to be a product of Hellenistic astrology. Rochberg-Halton’s study has
suggested that this was indeed modelled upon the Babylonian grouping of the twelve months
into triplicities:

An excerpt tablet from EAE…attests to a system whereby not only winds and directions but also months, are
assigned to a country. This system organises the twelve months into four groups of three months each…in short,
the months have been arranged into “triplicities”…an old system of “triplicities” of twelve months has simply
been applied to the twelve zodiacal signs. 16

An example of the use of triplicities can be found in Ptolemy’s Tetrabiblos:

The Chaldean method involves a sequence, simple, to be sure, and more plausible, though not so self sufficient
with respect to the government of the triangles and the disposition of quantity, so that, nevertheless, one could
easily understand them even without diagrams. For in the first triplicity, Aries, Leo, and Sagittarius…in the
second triplicity, Taurus, Virgo, and Capricorn. 17

In what ways are they different?

Although the three examples given above demonstrate similarities between Greek and
Babylonian astrology, Rochberg-Halton argues that they are only a small part:

16
F. Rochberg-Halton, ‘New Evidence for the History of Astrology’, in Journal of Near Eastern Studies, 43, 2
(1984), pp. 115-140 (p. 129)
17
Ptolemy, Tetrabiblos ed. and trans. by F.E. Robbins (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1940), I. 21
pp. 99-107 (p. 99)
An important point of qualification however, must be noted, that within the total frame of Greek astrology, these
elements of demonstrable Babylonian origin constitute only a relatively small part. The elaborate theoretical
structure of Greek astrology as a whole, whose complete outlines are known to us primarily through late treatises
(2nd century AD onward), remains a Hellenistic Greek product. 18

I have chosen three examples of radically different approaches in astrology between

the two systems to discuss.

1. Babylonian celestial omens and divination vs Greek horoscopic astrology

Babylonian celestial divination dates from around the 7 th century BCE, with the
majority of evidence being found in the omen corpus Enūma Anu Enlil. This work mainly
gives details of ominous events either celestial or weather related, such as lightning,
earthquakes, specific lunar/solar/stellar phenomenon. It contains approx 70 tablets with an
estimated collection of 7,000 omens designed to cover every eventuality. The omens have the
characteristic of applying to society or the country as a whole, or groups of peoples (this is
referred to as judicial astrology). They never refer to specific individuals (in the form of
horoscopy, as mentioned previously). The omens were generally written in two sections: an
‘if’ clause (protasis) followed by a ‘then’ (apodosis) clause. Or as Nicholas Campion
describes it: ‘the examination followed by the diagnosis.’ 19 Writing on ‘Babylonian
Horoscopes’, A. Sachs comments thus:

Judicial predications are associated with ominous events which themselves are not related to a particular,
ordinary human being. Thus no heavenly phenomenon (in Enūma Anu Enlil) is in any way connected with a
specific person, and hence judicial predictions are recorded for eclipses, lightning etc. 20

Babylonian omens are signs given in the heavens which can be read and interpreted,
the outcome then applied to a particular judicial situation. This does lead us onto the question
of continuity between Babylonian and Greek views of fate and indeed to what extent the
Greeks would have understood the celestial divination of the Babylonians. Namburbi is the
term given to the prophylactic rituals designed to change or alter the divine intention, and
worked by manipulating the cosmos as well as appealing to the gods. 21 If this is the case then

18
F. Rochberg-Halton, ‘Elements of the Babylonian Contribution to Hellenistic Astrology’, in Journal of the
American Oriental Society, 108, 1, (1988), pp. 51-62 (p. 53)
19
Nicholas Campion, The Dawn of Astrology: A Cultural History of Western Astrology Volume 1: The Ancient
and Classical Worlds (London: Continuum Books, 2008), p. 61
20
A. Sachs, ‘Babylonian Horoscopes’, in Journal of Cuneiform Studies, 6, 2 (1952), pp. 49-75 (p. 51)
21
Nicholas Campion, The Dawn of Astrology: A Cultural History of Western Astrology Volume 1: The Ancient
and Classical Worlds (London: Continuum Books, 2008), p. 62
it could be argued that the Babylonians did not have a concept of fate as a deterministic and
non-negotiable future outcome of events as they felt empowered to take action and change the
outcome of the omens cast.

However, Greek astrology is one of physical causality where planets and stars exert a
direct influence and effect upon the earth as suggested by Rochberg-Halton:

The direct and absolutely determinative influence of the motions of the celestial bodies upon the earth is
therefore understandably a Greek, or Hellenistic, concept, one which has no parallel in Babylonian omen texts. 22

A feature of horoscopic astrology is the significance assigned to the relationship

between the moon and the planetary positions and their movements with respect to each other.
This is quite different to the Babylonian celestial divination described in the Enūma Anu Enlil
where celestial movements are kept separate and not combined with other planetary, solar or
stellar movements.23

2. Systematic differences

There do remain other fundamental differences between Babylonian and Greek

astrology. The Babylonian system was certainly more mathematical in approach, looking to
explain sidereal movements in terms of periodic relationships and in relation to developing
mathematical theory. According to Barton, the Babylonians:

…built on numerical relationships rather than on a geometrical, kinematic model of the relationships between
Earth and the stars…the Babylonians were interested in constructing periodic relationships, to establish the first
and last visibility of planets in analogy to those of the fixed stars, and it was thus that they applied systematic
mathematical theory to astronomical data, probably from about 500 BCE. 24

22
F. Rochberg-Halton, ‘New Evidence for the History of Astrology’, in Journal of Near Eastern Studies, 43, 2
(1984), pp. 115-140 (p. 117)
23
F. Rochberg-Halton, ‘New Evidence for the History of Astrology’, in Journal of Near Eastern Studies, 43, 2
(1984), pp. 115-140 (p. 118)
24
Tamsyn Barton, Ancient Astrology (London: Routledge, 1994), p.18
3. Planetary ordering

According to Barton, a further difference between the two systems can be evidenced
in the way in which the Babylonians and Greeks chose to order the planets:

The Greeks ordered them according to their relative distance from the Earth, while the Babylonians seem to have
ordered them in accordance with ideas of their beneficent or maleficent effects.25

Tester supports this view of the way in which the Greeks ordered their planets as
being ‘derived from the planets’ periods of rotation around the ecliptic, and hence assumed
distances from the earth’ 26 and this becomes the standard planetary ordering used from the
second century onwards.

There are other differences, such as the use of the Ascendant (the rising sign on the
eastern horizon at the specific time and location of an event), which feature significantly in
Greek astrology but not at all in Babylonian astrology.

Neugebauer argued that the zodiac was a product of the Babylonian use of
mathematics and astronomy and that it was the Greeks who used it for astrological purposes:

…it very soon became evident that mathematical theory played the major role in Babylonian astronomy as
compared with the very modest role of observations, whose legendary accuracy also appeared more and more to
be only a myth. 27

Neugebauer refers here to the modest role of observations; it is not unusual for
astrological calculations to be made without direct observation. Indeed, Robert Hand suggests
that although modern methods and tables were cruder than those in use at the present, they
were not anymore oriented towards observational astronomy that their modern day
counterpart.28 Vettius Valens (120 - 175 AD), a second century Hellenistic astrologer, also
used various methods for computing approximate positions of planets without observation as
recorded in his Anthology.

25
Tamsyn Barton, Ancient Astrology (London: Routledge, 1994), pp. 18-19
26
Jim Tester, A History of Western Astrology (New York, NY: Ballantine books, 1987), pp. 18-19
27
O. Neugebauer, The Exact Sciences in Antiquity, 2nd ed (Mineola, NY: Dover Publications, 1969), p. 97
28
Robert Hand, ‘Signs as Houses (Places) in Ancient Astrology’, in The Winding Courses of the Stars: Essays in
Ancient Astrology ed. by Charles Burnett and Dorian Gieseler Greenbaum (Bristol: Culture and Cosmos, 2008),
pp. 135-162 (p. 140)
 Neugebauer also suggested that little more than a few concepts, procedures and
numerical parameters passed from Babylon to Greece, meaning that there was no basis for the
zodiac in remote antiquity. This prevailing view subsequently influenced many of authors on
ancient astrology that were to follow, such as Tester:

So the claims made by many astrologers for the great antiquity of their art must be taken with considerable
scepticism. Astrology as defined here is a fairly recent and largely Greek creation. 29

However, Barton notes that more recent work has revealed the use of Babylonian
methods, such as the rules for the rising and setting of the moon, as far as into the second
century AD.30 It has now become more apparent in recent years that Babylonian data was
very important in the Greek models of the universe.

When and where did the radical changes in astrology take place?

Sachs explains that the period of greatest interest for the study of the Babylonian
contribution to Hellenistic astrology is between 600 - 300 BCE. It was during this time that
unsophisticated, omen based celestial divination underwent significant changes, whereby the
zodiac was developed and introduced. This made horoscopy possible.31 The Mul.Apin, as
explained earlier, shows the first signs of the development of the solar zodiac but with the
triplicity grouping of months being evident much earlier in the Enūma Anu Enlil.

These radical changes in astrology took place before the Greek Hellenistic period,
thereby showing that Hellenistic astrology was not entirely a discontinuity, but neither was it
a totally smooth continuum of belief and practice.

Conclusion

The past 50 years has witnessed a gradual uncovering of evidence for the historical
roots of astrology in antiquity and with it, a change in our understanding of exactly how old
astrology is, where it came from and what elements of it remain from ancient times. Our
29
Jim Tester, A History of Western Astrology (New York, NY: Ballantine books, 1987), p. 12
30
Tamsyn Barton, Ancient Astrology (London: Routledge, 1994), p.19
31
A. Sachs, ‘Babylonian Horoscopes’, in Journal of Cuneiform Studies, 6, 2 (1952), pp. 49-75 (p. 53)
understanding of the roots of astrology has moved on from research conducted by A. Sachs in
1952 where he stated that:

…contemporaneous evidence for the content of Greek astrology in the early Hellenistic period is virtually non-
existent; almost everything that is known must be deduced from astrological compilations which do not antedate
the Roman period.32

This view was superseded by Neugebauer who presented more evidence for
Hellenistic astrology and the influence of Babylonian mathematics on the development of
Hellenistic sciences. The dating of the origins of astrology was then pushed even further back
by recent research by Rochberg-Halton and Barton. This work has helped to elucidate where
and importantly, when, radical changes happened in astrology, thereby allowing us to the
trace the transmission of astrological science from antiquity into Hellenistic Greece. Barton
comments on this development in research:

Whereas Otto Neugebauer…tended to argue that little more than a few concepts, numerical parameters and
simple procedures passed from Babylon to Greece, recent work has revealed the use of Babylonian methods and
data well into the Common Era…Babylonian rules for the rising and setting of the moon reappear almost
unchanged in Pliny’s encyclopaedia and in the second century astrologer Vettius Valens.33

In conclusion, radical changes in astrology, such as the development of the zodiac,

took place first in Babylonian astrology but that does not deny the significant number of
differences between the two systems. Greek astrology took on its own characteristics and
rationale but with some ancient Babylonian components, as Rochberg-Halton concludes:

We may conclude that the claim often made since the Hellenistic period for the Babylonian origin of astrology is
admissible, but with important qualifications…cuneiform evidence confirms the transmission of only a very few
“doctrines” of Babylonian celestial omen astrology to the Greeks…elements common to both systems took on
radically different character and function. Despite the presence of “Babylonian” elements, the philosophical
rationale of Greek astrology and its doctrine of interpretation are all Hellenistic Greek in origin and explainable
only in terms of Greek tradition itself. 34

32
A. Sachs, ‘Babylonian Horoscopes’, in Journal of Cuneiform Studies, 6, 2 (1952), pp. 49-75 (p. 50)
33
Tamsyn Barton, Ancient Astrology (London: Routledge, 1994), p.19
34
F. Rochberg-Halton, ‘Elements of the Babylonian Contribution to Hellenistic Astrology’, in Journal of the
American Oriental Society, 108, 1, (1988), pp. 51-62 (p. 62)
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