Chorography

Definition

Chorography is the technical name for astrological geography — the doctrine that assigns rulership of countries, peoples, and regions to the twelve zodiacal signs (and, in some schemes, to the planets). A chorographic table pairs each sign with the lands considered to fall under its lordship, allowing the astrologer to read events at any geographical scale (city, kingdom, continent) through the condition of the relevant sign and its ruler.

In Tradition

Across Hellenistic and Arabic-Persian tradition chorography is treated as one of the standard subjects of general (mundane) astrology, sitting beside the doctrines of climes, eclipses, and conjunctions of the superior planets. The chorographic assignment is presupposed in any mundane judgment: to read a war, famine, or accession by the celestial configuration over a given land, the astrologer first identifies which sign governs that land.

In Practice

Astrologers consult the chorographic table to locate the relevant ruling sign for any place under consideration. Abu Ma'shar gives the canonical Arabic-tradition chorography in his *Great Introduction* Part VI Chapter 9 (countries per sign), positioned within a larger Part VI structure that also treats decanal figures, sign-rising times, sign-relations, and the twelve-place house framework. In mundane practice the astrologer reads an eclipse or great conjunction by which sign it falls in and which lands that sign rules, projecting the indications onto the corresponding regions. Modern astrologers consult chorographic tables drawn from Ptolemy's *Tetrabiblos* II, Abu Ma'shar, and later medieval compilations; assignments differ between the Ptolemaic-Hellenistic and Arabic-Persian schemes, so the source of the chorography is usually named when delineating.

Historical Origin

Chorography as a chapter-subject of general astrology is documented in Ptolemy's *Tetrabiblos* II and developed at length in Abu Ma'shar's *Great Introduction* Part VI Chapter 9 (9th c.), where the editors' summary records the chapter title as 'chorography (countries per sign).' The doctrine passes through the Arabic-Latin transmission into the medieval Western tradition and is preserved in later compilations of mundane astrology.

Etymology

Origin: Greek. Meaning: From χωρογραφία (chōrographia), 'description of a place' or 'regional geography' — built on χώρα (chōra, 'land, region') + γράφω (graphō, 'to write, describe')..

Further Reading

• Claudius Ptolemy, Tetrabiblos
• Abu Ma'shar, Great Introduction to Astrology
• Al-Biruni, Kitāb al-Tafhīm