technologia: Astrology

Evidence: 100 • authority: 72

Astrology is a range of divinatory practices, recognized as pseudoscientific since the 18th century, that propose that information about human affairs and terrestrial events may be discerned by studying the apparent positions of celestial objects. Different cultures have employed forms of astrology since at least the 2nd millennium BCE, these practices having originated in calendrical systems used to predict seasonal shifts and to interpret celestial cycles as signs of divine communications. Most, if not all, cultures have attached importance to what they observed in the sky, and some—such as the Hindus, Chinese, and the Maya—developed elaborate systems for predicting terrestrial events fro…

Evidence: 43 • authority: 88

Astrology through History. Alphabetically arranged entries cover the history of astrology from ancient Mesopotamia to the 21st century. In addition to surveying the Western tradition, the book explores Islamic, Indian, East Asian, and Mesoamerican astrology. The field of astrology is growing rapidly, as historians recognize its centrality to the intellectual life of the past and sociologists and anthropologists treat its importance in a number of modern cultures. Despite the historical and cultural significance of the subject, most reference works on astrology focus on instructional techniques and are written by astrologers with little or no interest in the history of the topic. This book i…

Evidence: 31 • authority: 72

Astrology is a belief in a relation between celestial observations and terrestrial events. People made conscious attempts to measure, record, and predict seasonal changes by reference to astronomical cycles. Early evidence of such practices appears as markings on bones and cave walls, which show that the lunar cycle was being noted as early as 25,000 years ago; the first step towards recording the Moon's influence upon tides and rivers, and towards organizing a communal calendar. With the Neolithic Revolution new needs were also being met by the increasing knowledge of constellations, whose appearances in the night-time sky change with the seasons, thus allowing the rising of particular sta…

Evidence: 24 • authority: 72

Mesopotamia is a historical region of West Asia situated within the Tigris–Euphrates river system, in the northern part of the Fertile Crescent. It corresponds roughly to the territory of modern Iraq. Just beyond it lies southwestern Iran, where the region transitions into the Iranian plateau, marking the shift from the Arab world to Iran. Mesopotamia is the site of the earliest developments of the Neolithic Revolution from around 10,000 BC. It has been identified as having "inspired some of the most important developments in human history, including the invention of the wheel, the planting of the first cereal crops, the development of cursive script, mathematics, astronomy, and agriculture…

Evidence: — • authority: 72

Western culture, also known as Western civilization, European civilization, Occidental culture, Western society or simply the West, is the externally cohesive yet internally diverse culture and cultural heritage of the Western world. The term "Western" encompasses the social norms, ethical values, traditional customs, belief systems, political systems, artifacts and technologies primarily rooted in European and Mediterranean histories. A broad concept, "Western culture" does not relate to a region with fixed members or geographical confines. It generally refers to the classical era cultures of ancient Greece, ancient Rome, and their Christian successors that expanded across the Mediterranea…

Evidence: — • authority: 72

Eastern esotericism is a term used by some scholars that loosely encompasses religious beliefs and practices of the Eastern world said to be "esoteric", secret, or occult. Its demarcation as a field, however, is difficult, as it varies depending on the boundaries of geographical and cultural notions of Western and Eastern (such as concerning Islamic nations) and the definition of esotericism, with some scholars arguing it cannot be a concept beyond Western esotericism (which may raise questions about an unsuitable non-emic classification), while others propose a globalizing perspective. Still, it has been employed by scholars who recognize the category, used to denote comparable secret stud…

Evidence: — • authority: 72

Tetrabiblos (Greek: Τετράβιβλος, lit. 'Four books'), also known as Apotelesmatiká (Greek: Ἀποτελεσματικά, lit. 'On the effects') and in Latin as Quadripartitum (lit. 'Four Parts'), is a text on the philosophy and practice of astrology, written by the Alexandrian scholar Claudius Ptolemy in Koine Greek during the 2nd century CE (c. 90 CE – 168 CE). Ptolemy's Almagest was an authoritative text on astronomy for more than a thousand years, and the Tetrabiblos, its companion volume, was equally influential in astrology, the study of the effects of astronomical cycles on earthly matters. But whilst the Almagest as an astronomical authority was superseded by acceptance of the heliocentric model of…

Evidence: — • authority: 72

Persian astrology, particularly during the Sasanian era and earlier, is considered one of the most important connecting links in the history of global astronomy and astrology. This scientific school was a combination of Babylonian, Indian, and Greek knowledge that developed within the context of Iranian culture. The Sasanian Empire, by establishing scientific centers such as the Academy of Gondishapur, became a hub for the translation and compilation of astronomical and astrological texts. Important texts from Sanskrit and Greek were translated into Middle Persian (Pahlavi). Sasanian astrologers played a fundamental role in developing concepts such as continuous historical astrology and the…