Dorothean Triplicity

Definition

The Dorothean triplicity is a system of triplicity rulers credited to Dorotheus of Sidon (1st century CE). A triplicity is one of the four groups of three same-element signs — fire, earth, air, and water. Dorotheus gives each group three rulers: a day-lord, used when the birth was by day; a night-lord, used when it was by night; and a participating (or "common") lord, active in both. It differs from Ptolemy's simpler two-lord scheme (Tetrabiblos I.18) and from the Chaldean variants, and it is the form Hellenistic and Arabic-Persian astrologers use for triplicity-based timing and meaning.

In Tradition

In Hellenistic and Arabic-Persian astrology the Dorothean three-lord triplicity is the dominant form. It is set down in the Carmen Astrologicum and carried through the Pahlavi-Arabic transmission by Masha'allah, 'Umar al-Tabari, Sahl, and Abu Ma'shar. Bonatti's Liber Astronomiae and Persian Nativities Vol II both keep it as the standard scheme. Crane and Brennan note how it differs from Ptolemy's simpler two-lord system, and on this point the Hellenistic-revival consensus follows Dorotheus rather than Ptolemy.

In Practice

You take any point of the chart — the Ascendant, Sun, Moon, Lot of Fortune, or any topical sign — note its element, and look up its three Dorothean lords in the standard table. For fire (Aries, Leo, Sagittarius): Sun as day-lord, Jupiter as night-lord, Saturn participating. For earth (Taurus, Virgo, Capricorn): Venus day, Moon night, Mars participating. For air (Gemini, Libra, Aquarius): Saturn day, Mercury night, Jupiter participating. For water (Cancer, Scorpio, Pisces): Venus day, Mars night, Moon participating. The day or night lord that matches the chart's sect is the main signifier, and the participating lord is secondary. Dorotheus and Valens both put the three lords to work on the phases of a life — the in-sect lord governs the first part, the out-of-sect lord the second, and the participating lord the third (on Crane's reading). The lords also feed into mubtazz/almuten calculations and into readings of life-direction.

Historical Origin

The Dorothean three-lord system is preserved in the Carmen Astrologicum (1st-century-CE Greek, surviving in 8th-century Pahlavi via 9th-century Arabic, public domain) and transmitted through Masha'allah, 'Umar al-Tabari, Sahl, and Abu Ma'shar (9th-century Arabic-Persian sources, public domain). Bonatti's Liber Astronomiae Vol III-V (13th-century medieval Latin, public domain) gives the standard medieval Latin table. Benjamin Dykes's modern English editions (Carmen Astrologicum, Persian Nativities) and Joseph Crane's Astrological Roots have made the doctrine accessible.

Definition

In Tradition

In Practice

Historical Origin

Further Reading