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Untranslated Greek and Latin Texts

This page contains a collection of Hellenistic astrological texts in their original languages. Most of these are 'critical editions' that have been edited and amended considerably. They provide the basis for virtually all translations of the texts.

In order to view most of these PDF files you will need Adobe Reader:

The CCAG

In the late 19th century a group of scholars in Europe got together and decided to catalog all of the existing Greek astrological manuscripts that lay rotting in various libraries around the world. Over the course of the next 50 years they indexed all of the Greek manuscripts that they could find, and then they published their catalog with a number of long excerpts from the texts in a 12 volume collection known as the Catalogus codicum astrologorum graecorum (Catalogue of the Codices of the Greek Astrologers), or CCAG for short. This project was finished in the early 1950’s, and although other scholars have continued to edit and print additional ’critical editions’ of the texts in their original languages, the CCAG remains an important source for many Hellenistic astrological texts.

Since most of the CCAG was printed in the early part of the 20th century much of it is in the public domain at this point. These volumes are available below as PDF files:

Vettius Valens

The first critical edition of the 2nd century astrologer Vettius Valens' work known as the Anthology was published by Kroll in 1907. David Pingree re-edited the text and published his edition in the 1980's, thus superceeding Kroll's edition. Nonetheless, Google Books recently scanned Kroll's edition, and since it is in the public domain we are able to provide it here:

Maximus, Ammon & Manetho

In the 4th or 5th century a Roman astrologer named Maximus wrote a treatise on katarchich astrology titled On Inceptions (περὶ καταρχῶν). A critical edition of Maximus' text was published by Arthur Ludwich in 1877. Google Books scanned the text, and we provide it below as PDF since it is now in the public domain. This PDF file also contains a critical edition of a similar work by an astrologer known as Ammon, as well as Koechly's critical edition of the didactic astrological poem of Manetho. Note that a more recent critical edition of Manetho was carried out by Robert Lopilato in 1998, although it has not been published and is circulated privately.

Hephaistio of Thebes

A critical edition of the early 4th century astrologer Hephaistio of Thebes' Apotelesmatics (Ἀποτελεσματικά) was published by Engelbrecht in 1887. This edition was superceeded by David Pingree's critical edition of the same text in the mid-1970's, although since Engelbrecht's edition is in the public domain we provide it below courtesy of Google Books:

Manilius

An edition of the Latin of Manilus' 1st century poem known as the Astronomica is available via the Latin Library:

Firmicus Maternus

The primary critical edition of the astrological work of the 4th century astrologer Firmicus Maternus known as the Mathesis was published in two volumes by Kroll and Skutsch starting in 1897. Google Books has scanned volume 1 of the critical edition, which contains books 1 through 4 of the Mathesis in the original Latin:

Volume 2 of the critical edition is currently unavailable through Google Books, although the Internet Archive has it in several formats.

Dorotheus of Sidon

Fragments from Pingree's critical edition available here:

Sextus Empiricus

A critical edition of the skeptic Sextus Empiricus' works was published by Immanuel Bekker in 1842. In book 5 of his work known as Against the Professors Sextus Empiricus penned a disputation of astrology, and the first half of his disputation provides a rather decent overview of some of the basic terms and technical concepts employed by Hellenistic astrologers. The critical edition of the Greek was scanned by Google Books. Pages 728-748 contain his disputation of astrology titled Against the Astrologers.

August Bouché-Leclercq - L'astrologie grecque

In 1899 the noted historian of ancient magic and astrology, Auguste Bouché-Leclercq, published a massive 600+ page survey of Hellenistic astrology titled L'astrologue grecque. This work is still seen by many in the academic community as being the standard scholarly reference work on Hellenistic astrology, although it is somewhat out of date given the amount of work that has been done in the field over the course of the past century. Bouché-Leclercq was a Belgian scholar, so the work is written in French, although Lester Ness is currently preparing a full translation of the text into English.

Since the book was published in 1899, it is now in the public domain. A scan of the original French version of the text was recently made available on the Internet Archive, and this can be downloaded as a PDF (41 MB) using the link below:

Franz Boll - Sphaera

Franz Boll was an important philologist in the early 20th century who devoted much of his work to studying Ptolemy. One of his most notable works was his 1903 book Sphaera, in which he published and discussed some of the recently discovered works of Teucer of Babylon, Vettius Valens, and Antiochus of Athens. The book is written in German, and it was recently scanned by Google Books. It can be downloaded as a PDF (19 MB) by using the link below: