Hellenistic Tradition

Definition

The Hellenistic tradition is the form of birth-chart astrology that grew up in Greco-Roman Egypt and the wider Hellenistic Mediterranean, from roughly the 1st century BCE through the 7th century CE. It pulls together three earlier streams into one chart-based system: Babylonian celestial-omen and ecliptic-coordinate technique, Egyptian decan and Hermetic material, and the Greek habit of philosophical and geometric framing.

In Tradition

Modern scholars, and the late-twentieth-century traditional revival, treat the Hellenistic period as the true source of Western birth-chart astrology. It is the tradition that first set out the twelve-house system, the seven major aspects (with orbs in degrees), the doctrine of essential and accidental dignity, the lots (Greek *klēroi*, Latin *partes*), judgment by sect — day or night birth — the time-lord procedures (zodiacal releasing, profections, primary directions), and the case for the tropical zodiac.

In Practice

If you work in the Hellenistic idiom, your primary sources are Ptolemy's *Tetrabiblos*, Valens' *Anthologiae*, Dorotheus' *Carmen Astrologicum*, Firmicus Maternus' *Mathesis*, Paulus Alexandrinus, Hephaestio of Thebes, and Porphyry. Standard practice brings together whole-sign houses, triplicity rulership sorted by sect, the lots of Fortune and Spirit, and one or more time-lord systems. The modern entry-points are Brennan, George, Hand, Holden, Crane, and Houlding.

Historical Origin

The earliest surviving Greek horoscopes date to the late first century BCE. The core doctrinal writers are Dorotheus of Sidon (1st c. CE), Manilius (1st c. CE), Vettius Valens (c. 145–175 CE), Ptolemy (c. 150 CE), Porphyry, Paulus Alexandrinus (4th c.), Firmicus Maternus (c. 334 CE), and Hephaestio of Thebes (5th c.). The tradition passed into Middle Persian and Arabic between the 3rd and 9th centuries, and then through Arabic-mediated Latin translation into medieval Europe (Holden).

Definition

In Tradition

In Practice

Historical Origin

Further Reading