What Is Hellenistic Astrology?
Hellenistic astrology is a complex tradition of 'horoscopic' astrology that appeared in the Mediterranean region sometime around the 1st century BCE. It is the ancestor of many of the traditions of astrology that still flourish all over the world today. This tradition has its roots in ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia, and eventually it went on to influence many other traditions of astrology in Europe, Africa, the Middle East and India during the middle ages and through to modern times.
Despite its pivotal role in the history of astrology, Hellenistic astrology has only recently begun to be recovered and reconstructed by those in the academic and astrological communities. The astrological community itself is in the midst of a great translation movement, the likes of which has not been seen since the 12th century, with the goal being nothing short of the complete recovery of the ancient traditions of astrology.
The Purpose of This Website
The purpose of this website is to help spur the revival of Hellenistic astrology by providing resources for those who would like to take part in the recovery effort, or who would simply like to learn more about this ancient tradition of astrology. Here you will find articles not only on the history and philosophy of Hellenistic astrology, but also on the actual astrological techniques that were used by ancient astrologers to produce astrological delineations and predictions. One of our main goals is to host, sponsor and support various translation projects in order to help contribute to the recovery of the tradition.
The majority of our efforts are directed towards a collaborative translation project which is being organized through our Hellenistic astrology wiki. Visit the wiki, set up an account and contact us if you would like to get involved in the translation project.
Open Call to Translators
We are looking for people with language skills to join us in our efforts to recover Hellenistic astrology. In particular we are looking for people with a knowledge of ancient Greek and Latin, although we also have projects which require people who are knowledgeable in Italian, French, Spanish and a number of other modern languages. Contact Chris Brennan through his email address listed on the contributors page if you would like to become involved or if you would like some more information about the project.
The Origins of this Project
The history and development of western astrology is not a linear evolution of the subject, but instead it is filled with many starts and stops and breaks in the transmission. Only within the past century have the foundational texts of the western astrological tradition become available again through the efforts of groups of scholars working in the field of the history of science. Although many of the original astrological texts from the Hellenistic tradition have been available for over a century now, it was not until the mid-1990's that a group called Project Hindsight was formed in order to translate the foundational texts of the western astrological tradition for the benefit of the astrological community.
Project Hindsight has since played a pivotal role in initiating the revival of Hellenistic astrology, and every contributor to this site has been affected by their efforts in some way, either directly or indirectly. The astrological community owes a great deal of gratitude to the leaders of Project Hindsight for the seminal work that they have done, and continue to do. In carrying on the torch we feel that it is important to give reverence to those who started it all.
Study Hellenistic Astrology Online
A full online course on Hellenistic astrology is taught by Chris Brennan in the courses section. We are currently accepting new students for the course.
Additional courses on ancient Greek and Latin are currently indevelopment.
Help Us to Promote The Hellenistic Astrology Website
We are a relatively new project and we need your help in order to spread the word about our website and translation project. How? Through word of mouth, and links. Tell people about the site by writing a blog post about it, letting members of any forums that you might participate in know about it, and basically through any other means that you can think of. Most importantly, link back to our site at www.hellenisticastrology.com. We also have a banner if you would like to post it on your website:
Recent Updates
For recent news and updates related to the site please see our updates page.
