A History of Western Astrology

Bol

It would be difficult to write a dull book about the history of astrology: history is crammed with fascinating and amusing incidents, bizarre, stimulating, crazy, brilliant characters - from the astrologer who practically ruled the Roman Empire to the one who hid behind a curtain to spy on the birth of a Dauphin and the modern astrologer who successfully predicted the assassination attempt on Hitler, and died on his way to a death camp. Yet these are only the lighter incidents in the history of a fascinating subject which has preoccupied mankind for at least 5000 years: it is the oldest of the sciences; but for astrology, there would be no astronomy. It has had an incalculable effect on history. This book does not attempt to prove or disprove anything: it simply gives a vivid, accurate account of the fascinating history of astrology.

Bol Partner

Superb general account.' Times Literary SupplementThe story of the history of Western astrology begins with the philosophers of Greece in the 5th century BC. To the magic and stargazing of Egypt the Greeks added numerology, geometryand rational thought. The philosophy of Plato and later of the Stoics made astrology respectable, and by the time Ptolemy wrote his textbook the Tetrabiblos, in the second century AD, the main lines of astrological practice as it is known today had already been laid down. In future centuries astrology shifted to Islam only to return to the West in medieval times where it flourished until the shift of ideas during the Renaissance.