History of Astrology
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Astrology
How it all began
02 aug 2009 - History of Astrology
ASTROLOGY
How it all began
The origins of astrology are commonly believed to be from Greece. A deeper study in the history of astrology tells us differently and shows how the Egyptians were very much involved in laying the foundations of astrology, as we know it.
Studies show that as early as around 4000 BC in a place called Mesopotamia lived the Sumerians. These people worshipped the moon, the sun and the planet Venus. They were looked upon as gods and given names. The moon was Nanna, the sun was Utu and Venus was Inanna.
The first rulers at the time were priests who communicated with the gods. Later some of these priests became military leaders and then went on to become kings. The kings would employ a seer or ‘baru-pries’. This seer would read the sky and interpret it. He would watch for eclipses of the moon, which was usually meant as a warning. To help communicate with the gods, shrines were built which later became larger structures called ‘ziggurats’. These structures were used to map star formations and to watch the skies.
The Sumerian baru-priests predicted eclipses using mathematics, this contributed towards developing the laws of astronomy. At this point its probably worth mentioning the difference between astrology and astronomy.
Astronomy is the scientific study of the stars and planets. Astrology is the study of the influence the stars and the movement of heavenly bodies have on humans.
At this time, astrology was not in existence as such, the priests were more concerned about predicting natural events such as the weather and eclipses. However their efforts actually contributed to the development of astrology. They were responsible in the creation of a calender, identifying the basic cycles of the sun, moon, planets and stars. The year was divided into twelve months based on the moon's yearly cycles.
Astrology begun around the Old Babylonian period. The Babylonians focused on the predictions that would affect the well being of the king and the land. The Babylonians associated Venus with love and war because of the planets constant appearance and disappearance. Individual birth horoscopes were formed around 1300 BC.
The Assyrians later conquered Babylon and created a consistent and accurate calender. Stars were listed down and constellations formed. Omens became very important.
The Greeks influence in astology came about between the 4th and 5th century BC. The Greeks were responsible for incorporating mythology into astrology. Thus naming of the stars of which we are familiar with to this day.
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