Heliodora and the Early History of Women Astrologers

In episode 402 Demetra George joins the podcast to talk about the recent discovery of the earliest named astrologer from the Hellenistic tradition who was a woman, Heliodora, and the early history of women practitioners of astrology.

Heliodora was an astrologer who lived in the city of Terenuthis in Egypt around the 2nd or 3rd century CE.

Her tombstone was recently discovered by archeologists, who published a paper in 2021 which noted that she is the earliest known woman in the Greco-Roman tradition that is known by name to have been a practicing astrologer.

During the course of the episode we talk about what is known about Heliodora and the location and time period in which she lived, and we also discuss other historical women that may have had some connection with astrology and astronomy.

For more information about Demetra see her website:

DemetraGeorge.com

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

BibliographyRoger S. Bagnall, Cathy L. Callaway, and Alexander Jones,  “The Funerary Stele of Heliodora, Astrologer,” Muse: Annual of the Museum of Art and Archaeology, University of Missouri, 53/54, 2019-2020 (published 2021), pp. 28–45. [Link to PDF]

Nadia Anderson, Drawing Down the Moon & Aglaonice of Thessaly [Link to PDF]

Earlier Episodes

Previous episodes of The Astrology Podcast mentioned in this episode:

* Episode 86: Saturn as Feminine, and the Earliest Female Astrologer

* Episode 137: Elsbeth Ebertin and the Rise of Women in Astrology

* Episode 295: Queen Buran, Astrologer in 9th Century Baghdad

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Transcript

A full transcript of this episode is available: Episode 402 transcript

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