Editing Astrology (section)

=== Ancient world ===

==== Ancient applications ====

{{further|Babylonian astrology|Worship of heavenly bodies}}

Astrology, in its broadest sense, is the search for meaning in the sky.{{sfn|Campion|2009|pp=2, 3}} Early evidence for humans making conscious attempts to measure, record, and predict seasonal changes by reference to astronomical cycles, appears as markings on bones and cave walls, which show that [[lunar cycle]]s were being noted as early as 25,000 years ago.<ref name="Marshack-1991">{{cite book|last=Marshack |first=Alexander |title=The roots of civilization: the cognitive beginnings of man's first art, symbol and notation|year=1991 |publisher=Moyer Bell |isbn=978-1-55921-041-6 |edition=Rev. and expanded |pages=81ff}}</ref> This was a first step towards recording the Moon's influence upon tides and rivers, and towards organising a communal calendar.<ref name="Marshack-1991"/> Farmers addressed agricultural needs with increasing knowledge of the [[constellations]] that appear in the different seasons—and used the rising of particular star-groups to herald annual floods or seasonal activities.<ref>{{Cite book |title=Works and Days |author=Homer |date=2017-03-23 |publisher=[[Heinemann (publisher)|Heinemann]] |isbn=978-0-674-99063-0 |edition=1st |location=[[London]], [[England]] |publication-date=1914-09-09 |pages=51–53 |language=en-uk |author2=Hesiod |others=Additional Research from [[:de:Alois Rzach|Prof. Alois Rzach]] |editor-last1=Page |editor-first1=T.E. (Litt.D.) |editor-link1=Thomas Ethelbert Page |series=[[Homeric Hymns]] |chapter=#1 — Hesiod's ''Works and Days''  |type=Collection (Didactic Poetry; Hymns; Epigrams) |lccn=16000741 |oclc=3125044 |ol=23303325M |author-link1=Homer |author-link2=Hesiod |access-date=2024-08-26 |editor-last2=Rouse |editor-first2=W.H.D. (Litt.D.) |editor-link2=W. H. D. Rouse |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/hesiodhomerichym00hesi_0/page/50/mode/2up?q=poseidon |via=[[s:Hesiod, the Homeric Hymns and Homerica|Wikisource — ''The Homeric Hymns and Homerica'']] |ol-access=free |translator-last=Evelyn-White |translator-first=Hugh Gerard |translator-link=Hugh Evelyn-White |title-link=Works and Days |df=dmy |quote=Fifty days after the solstice, when the season of wearisome heat is come to an end, is the right time for men to go sailing. Then you will not wreck your ship, nor will the sea destroy the sailors, unless Poseidon the Earth-Shaker be set upon it, or Zeus, the king of the deathless gods, wish to slay them; for the issues of good and evil alike are with them.}}</ref> By the 3rd millennium BCE, civilisations had sophisticated awareness of celestial cycles, and may have oriented temples in alignment with [[heliacal rising]]s of the stars.<ref>{{Cite book |title=Exploring Ancient Skies: An Encyclopedic Survey of Archæoastronomy |last1=Kelley |first1=David H. |publisher=[[Springer Publishing]] |location=[[NYC]] |isbn=978-0-387-26356-4 |format=eBook |publication-date=2005-12-06 |page=268 |language=en-us |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cgEJu3iUwM0C |last2=Milone |first2=Eugene F. |others=Foreword by [[Anthony Aveni|Anthony F. Aveni]] |doi=10.1007/b137471 |lccn=2001032842 |oclc=62767201 |ol=7448852M |quote=…that the [[Dendera Temple complex|temple]] was aligned on the [[heliacal rising]] of [[Sirius]] ([[Sopdet]]) at the [[New Year]], as [[Norman Lockyer|Lockyer]] pointed out. |date=2022-03-19 |author-link1=David H. Kelley |author-link2=Eugene Milone |access-date=2024-08-26 |url-access=limited |doi-access=free |ol-access=free |chapter=Chapter 8.1.5: African Cultures — Egypt and Nubia – Alignments |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/exploringancient0000kell/page/268/mode/2up |df=dmy}}</ref>

Scattered evidence suggests that the oldest known astrological references are copies of texts made in the ancient world. The [[Venus tablet of Ammisaduqa]] is thought to have been compiled in [[Babylon]] around 1700 BCE.<ref>Russell Hobson, ''The Exact Transmission of Texts in the First Millennium B.C.E.'', Published PhD Thesis. Department of Hebrew, Biblical and Jewish Studies. University of Sydney. 2009 [http://ses.library.usyd.edu.au/bitstream/2123/5404/1/r-hobson-2009-thesis.pdf PDF File] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190502104018/https://ses.library.usyd.edu.au/bitstream/2123/5404/1/r-hobson-2009-thesis.pdf |date=2 May 2019 }}</ref> A scroll documenting an early use of [[electional astrology]] is doubtfully ascribed to the reign of the [[Sumer]]ian ruler [[Gudea of Lagash]] ({{Circa|2144}} – 2124 BCE). This describes how the gods revealed to him in a dream the constellations that would be most favourable for the planned construction of a temple.<ref>From scroll A of the ruler Gudea of Lagash, I 17 – VI 13. O. Kaiser, ''Texte aus der Umwelt des Alten Testaments'', Bd. 2, 1–3. Gütersloh, 1986–1991. Also quoted in A. Falkenstein, 'Wahrsagung in der sumerischen Überlieferung', ''La divination en Mésopotamie ancienne et dans les régions voisines''. Paris, 1966.</ref> However, there is controversy about whether these were genuinely recorded at the time or merely ascribed to ancient rulers by posterity. The oldest undisputed evidence of the use of astrology as an integrated system of knowledge is therefore attributed to the records of the first dynasty of [[Babylon]] (1950–1651 BCE). This astrology had some parallels with [[Hellenistic]] Greek (western) astrology, including the [[zodiac]], a norming point near 9 degrees in Aries, the trine aspect, planetary exaltations, and the dodekatemoria (the twelve divisions of 30 degrees each).<ref name="Rochberg-Halton-1988">{{cite journal | title=Elements of the Babylonian Contribution to Hellenistic Astrology | last=Rochberg-Halton |first=F. | s2cid=163678063 | journal=Journal of the American Oriental Society | year=1988 | volume=108 | issue=1 | pages=51–62 | jstor=603245 | doi=10.2307/603245}}</ref> The Babylonians viewed celestial events as possible signs rather than as causes of physical events.<ref name="Rochberg-Halton-1988"/>

The system of [[Chinese astrology]] was elaborated during the [[Zhou dynasty]] (1046–256 BCE) and flourished during the [[Han dynasty]] (2nd century BCE to 2nd century CE), during which all the familiar elements of traditional Chinese culture – the Yin-Yang philosophy, theory of the five elements, Heaven and Earth, Confucian morality – were brought together to formalise the philosophical principles of Chinese medicine and divination, astrology, and [[Chinese alchemy|alchemy]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Sun |first1=Xiaochun | last2=Kistemaker |first2=Jacob | title=The Chinese Sky During the Han: Constellating Stars and Society | year=1997 | publisher=Brill | location=Leiden | isbn=978-90-04-10737-3 |doi=10.1163/9789004488755 | bibcode=1997csdh.book.....S |pages=3, 4}}</ref>

The ancient Arabs that inhabited the [[Arabian Peninsula]] [[Pre-Islamic Arabia|before the advent of Islam]] used to profess a widespread belief in [[fatalism]] (''ḳadar'') alongside a fearful consideration for the sky and the stars, which they held to be ultimately responsible for every phenomena that occurs on Earth and for the destiny of humankind.<ref name="al-Abbasi-2020">{{cite journal |last=al-Abbasi |first=Abeer Abdullah |date=August 2020 |title=The Arabsʾ Visions of the Upper Realm |url=https://archiv.ub.uni-marburg.de/ep/0004/article/view/8301/8105 |journal=[[Marburg Journal of Religion]] |publisher=[[University of Marburg]] |volume=22 |issue=2 |pages=1–28 |doi=10.17192/mjr.2020.22.8301 |issn=1612-2941 |access-date=23 May 2022 |archive-date=23 May 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220523183640/https://archiv.ub.uni-marburg.de/ep/0004/article/view/8301/8105 |url-status=live }}</ref> Accordingly, they shaped their entire lives in accordance with their interpretations of astral configurations and phenomena.<ref name="al-Abbasi-2020"/>

==== Ancient objections ====

[[File:M. Tullius Cicero, Capitoline Museum, Rome.jpg|thumb|upright|The Roman orator [[Cicero]] objected to astrology.]]

The [[Hellenistic philosophy|Hellenistic]] schools of [[philosophical skepticism]] criticized astrology, alongside all other beliefs.<ref>Diogenes Laërtius 9:80–88</ref> Criticism of astrology by [[Academic skepticism|academic skeptics]] such as [[Carneades]],{{sfn|Hughes|2004|p=87}} [[Cicero]],{{sfn|Fernandez-Beanato|2020}} and [[Favorinus]];{{sfn|Long|2005|page=184}} [[Pyrrhonism|Pyrrhonists]] such as [[Sextus Empiricus]];{{sfn|Long|2005|page=186}} and [[neoplatonist]]s such as [[Plotinus]],<ref>{{cite book | last=Long | first=A. A. | title=Science and Speculation. Studies in Hellenistic Theory and Practice | publisher=Cambridge University Press | year=2005 |<!--165–191-->page=174 |editor1=Barnes, Jonathan |editor2=Brunschwig, J. | chapter=6: Astrology: arguments pro and contra |isbn=978-0-521-02218-7}}</ref>{{sfn|Long|2005|page=174}} has been preserved.

[[Carneades]] argued that belief in fate denies [[free will]] and [[morality]]; that people born at different times can all die in the same accident or battle; and that contrary to uniform influences from the stars, tribes and cultures are all different.<ref>{{cite book |last=Hughes |first=Richard |title=Lament, Death, and Destiny |publisher=[[Peter Lang (publisher)|Peter Lang]] |year=2004 |page=87}}</ref>

[[Cicero]], in ''[[De Divinatione]]'', leveled a critique of astrology that some modern philosophers consider to be the first working definition of [[pseudoscience]] and the answer to the [[demarcation problem]].{{sfn|Fernandez-Beanato|2020}} The philosopher of science [[Massimo Pigliucci]], building on the work of the historian of science, Damien Fernandez-Beanato, argues that Cicero outlined a "convincing distinction between astrology and astronomy that remains valid in the twenty-first century."<ref>{{cite journal |last=Pigliucci |first=Massimo |author-link=Massimo Pigliucci |date=January–February 2024 |title=Pseudoscience:An Ancient Problem |journal=Skeptical Inquirer |volume=48 |issue=1 |pages=18, 19}}</ref> [[Cicero]] stated the twins objection (that with close birth times, personal outcomes can be very different), later developed by [[Augustine of Hippo|Augustine]].{{sfn|Long|2005|page=173}} He argued that since the other planets are much more distant from the Earth than the Moon, they could have only very tiny influence compared to the Moon's.{{sfn|Long|2005|pages=173–174}} He also argued that if astrology explains everything about a person's fate, then it wrongly ignores the visible effect of inherited ability and parenting, changes in health worked by medicine, or the effects of the weather on people.{{sfn|Long|2005|page=177}} The historian Stefano Rapisarda notes that the text is formally "equally balanced between ''pro'' and ''contra'', and no final or definite answer is given."<ref>{{cite book |last=Rapisarda |first=Stefano |title=Prognostication in the Medieval World |chapter=Traditions and Practices in the Medieval Western Christian World |publisher=De Gruyter |date=2020-11-09 |isbn=978-3-11-049977-3 |doi=10.1515/9783110499773-021 |pages=429–445}}</ref>

[[Favorinus]] argued that it was absurd to imagine that stars and planets would affect human bodies in the same way as they affect the tides, and equally absurd that small motions in the heavens cause large changes in people's fates.{{sfn|Long|2005|page=184}}

[[Sextus Empiricus]] argued that it was absurd to link human attributes with myths about the signs of the zodiac, and wrote an entire book, ''[[Against the Astrologers]]'' (Πρὸς ἀστρολόγους, ''Pros astrologous''), compiling arguments against astrology. ''Against the Astrologers'' was the fifth section of a larger work arguing against philosophical and scientific inquiry in general, ''Against the Professors'' (Πρὸς μαθηματικούς, ''Pros mathematikous'').{{sfn|Long|2005|page=186}}

[[Plotinus]], a [[neoplatonist]], had a lasting interest in astrology, including the question of how the world of humans could be affected by the stars, and (if so) whether astrology could predict events on Earth.<ref>{{cite book |last=Adamson |first=Peter |title=Oxford Studies In Ancient Philosophy |chapter=Plotinus On Astrology |publisher=Oxford University PressOxford |date=6 November 2008 |isbn=978-0-19-955779-0 |doi=10.1093/oso/9780199557790.003.0009 |pages=265–292}}</ref> He argued that since the fixed stars are much more distant than the planets, it is laughable to imagine the planets' effect on human affairs should depend on their position with respect to the zodiac. He also argues that the interpretation of the Moon's [[conjunction (astronomy)|conjunction]] with a planet as good when the moon is full, but bad when the moon is waning, is clearly wrong, as from the Moon's point of view, half of its surface is always in sunlight; and from the planet's point of view, waning should be better, as then the planet sees some light from the Moon, but when the Moon is full to us, it is dark, and therefore bad, on the side facing the planet in question.{{sfn|Long|2005|page=174}}