Imagery and Narrative in an Ancient Horoscope: P.Lond. 130 (Greek Horoscopes No. 81)
Issue: Vol 7 No. 4 (2013) The Imagined Sky
Journal: Journal for the Study of Religion, Nature and Culture
Subject Areas: Religious Studies
Abstract:
In a Greek papyrus horoscope from the first century CE, highly elaborate descriptions of planetary journeyings have replaced the usual matter-of-fact listing of celestial longitudes. An analysis of the horoscope’s language and narrative form demonstrates how ancient astrologers understood the stars and planets as agents that communicate by their appearances, configurations, and motions.
Author: Roger Beck
References :
Bouché-Leclercq, A. 1963 [1899]. L’astrologie grecque, (Paris; repr. Brussels: Culture et Civilisation, 1963).
Jones, Alexander, ed. 1999. Astronomical Papyri from Oxyrhynchus (P. Oxy. 4133 - 4300a). Vol. 1 and 2. (Philadelphia: American Philosophical Society).
Neugebauer, O., and H.B. van Hoesen. 1987. Greek Horoscopes. Vol. 48, Memoirs of the American Philosophical Society. (Philadelphia: American Philosophical Society).