Dorotheus of Sidon

From HellenisticWiki

Dorotheus of Sidon (Δωρόθεος Σιδώνιος) was an influential author of the late 1st century CE who wrote an instructional poem on Hellenistic astrology in Greek that was divided into 5 books. He had an enormous impact on the later Hellenistic and Medieval tradition. His original work no longer survives, but we have an English translation of an Arabic translation of a Persian translation of the original Greek poem, as well as scattered fragments from his work that were recorded by later astrologers who wrote in Greek and Latin.

Dorotheus’ work was apparently translated into Pahlavī either under the Sassanian king Adashīr I or his son Shāpūr I, who reigned in succession between 222–267 CE. Later the text was revised or expanded during the reign of the Persian king Khusro Anūshirwān sometimes between 531–578 CE.(1) The English translation of the Arabic text that we have today comes from this Persian transmission, with the text apparently being translated from the Persian into Arabic sometime around the year 800 by the astrologer ‘Umar ibn al-Farrukhān al-Tabarī.(2) Dorotheus was known to the Arabs simply as Duruthīyūs (درثيوس).

Footnotes

• 1. David Pingree, Classical and Byzantine Astrology in Sassanian Persia, pg. 229.

• 2. David Pingree, Classical and Byzantine Astrology in Sassanian Persia, pg. 229.