Seeking Recommendation Hellenic Astrology

[PelagicMind]

I’m looking for some pretty bare bones stuff to establish a basic knowledge of Astrology as it was understood in the Hellenic period. Preferably something that ties in Greek myth, theology, and philosophy to their specific interpretations of astrology and how they understood the stars at that time. I just want to avoid any material that either consciously or unintentionally takes out modern assumptions about some of these subjects and applies them retroactively to a past that was unaware and incapable of the kind of thought we today find common place. How would an actual Greek astrologer in 400bc Athens conceive of the cosmos.

 

[Atra]

I assume you are aware of Chris Brennan's book?

 

[PelagicMind]

I actually hadn’t, but it’s exactly the type of thing I’m looking for, thanks. Definitely going on my reading list.

 

[artemisarcane]

If you want to get as close as possible to how astrology was actually understood in the Hellenistic world, recommend into Robert Schmidt. He was one of the main people involved in translating ancient Greek astrological texts into English, and he put a lot of effort into understanding the material from the perspective of the ancients rather than through modern psychological or New Age lenses.

His work roughly falls into three phases:

• Early period (1990s–early 2000s): mostly translations of the original Greek texts through Project Hindsight.
• Middle period (early 2000s–around 2010): focused more on reconstructing the underlying concepts and worldview behind Hellenistic astrology.
• Late period (2010–2018): got deeper into the philosophical and cosmological side of things, exploring how astrology fit into ancient ideas about fate, causation, and the structure of reality.