In episode 398 professor Ian Moyer joins the show to talk about the history and practice of astrology in ancient Egypt, and discuss some of the notable Egyptian contributions to the astrological tradition.

Ian is the author of the book Egypt and the Limits of Hellenism, which explores the ancient history and modern historiography of cultural and intellectual encounters between ancient Greeks and Egyptians.

At the beginning of the episode we talk about the early Egyptian use of the 36 fixed star decans for calendrical and timekeeping purposes, and how these eventually came to be used for the purposes of astrology.

Other topics covered in this episode include:

The Naos of the Decades

The rising decan as a precursor to the Ascendant

Zodiacs in the temples of Dendera and Esna

The use of astrology by Egyptian priests

Demotic horoscopes

Astrological glyphs derived from Egyptian

Coffin lids with zodiacs

This episode is available in both audio and video versions below.

Timestamps

00:00:00 Introduction

00:09:42 The Egyptian language

00:18:42 The decans

00:35:10 The Naos of the Decades

01:06:25 Decans as precursor for the Ascendant

01:15:10 Egyptian hour priests

01:40:27 Academic sources for Egyptian astrology

01:45:27 What constitutes astrology in Egypt?

01:58:35 Cosmic harmony

02:03:25 Shai, Egyptian God of Fate

02:11:45 Mesopotamian astrology transmitted to Egypt

02:23:25 Hellenistic period and Ptolemaic Egypt

02:32:25 Zodiac of Dendera and Esna

02:56:20 The Thema Mundi

03:14:33 Coffin lids with zodiacs

03:29:05 Heliodora: Earliest known woman astrologer

03:33:24 Demotic horoscopes

04:00:55 Astrological glyphs derived from Egyptian

04:09:15 Reassessing the Egyptian contribution

04:23:50 The Hermetic tradition and origins of Hellenistic astrology

04:55:45 Determinism and magic

05:02:05 The lasting influence of Egypt on the astrological tradition

05:18:58 Credits and sponsors

Partial Bibliography

Anne-Sophie von Bomhard. The Naos of the Decades: From the Observation of the Sky to Mythology and Astrology. Oxford Centre for Maritime Archaeology, UK, 2008.

Andreas Winkler. "Stellar Scientists: The Egyptian Temple Astrologers". Journal of Ancient Near Eastern History; 8 (1–2), 2021: pp. 91–145.

Andreas Winkler. “The First Zodiac Sign and the Daimon: The Advent of an Astrological Tradition and Seven Elaborate Horoscopes.” Studien Zur Altägyptischen Kultur, 51, 2022, pp. 267–323.

Andreas Winkler. “On the Demotic-Hieratic Horoscopes from Athribis.” Journal for the History of Astronomy, Vol. 53 (3), 2022, pp. 328 –337.

Marina Escolano-Poveda. “Astrologica Athribitana: Four Demotic-Hieratic Horoscopes from Athribis (O. Athribis 17-36-5/1741 and ANAsh.Mus.D.O.633 Reedited).” Journal for the History of Astronomy 53, no. 1 (2022): 49–87.

Joachim Quack, "Egypt as an astronomical-astrological centre between Mesopotamia, Greece, and India," in The Interactions of Ancient Astral Science, ed. David Brown, Bremen, 2018, pp. 69-123.

Dorian Gieseler Greenbaum. The Daimon in Hellenistic Astrology: Origins and Influence. Brill, Netherlands, 2015.

Otto Neugebauer and Richard Anthony Parker. Egyptian Astronomical Texts. 4 vols., Brown University Press, 1960.

Kim Ryholt, "New Light on the Legendary King Nechepsos of Egypt," The Journal of Egyptian Archaeology 97(1), 2011, pp.61-72.

Stephan Heilen, “Some metrical fragments from Nechepsos and Petosiris,” in La poésie astrologique dans l’Antiquité, Paris, 2011, pp. 23-93.

Watch the Video Version of This Episode

Watch the video version of this episode on Egyptian astrology on YouTube:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xuwb94Hh8xk

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Transcript

A full transcript of this episode is available: Episode 398 transcript

Listen to the Audio Version of This Episode

Listen to the audio version of this episode or download it as an MP3: