Greek Horoscopes

by Otto Neugebauer, H. B. Van Hoesen

What we know about Greek astronomy is dominated by Ptolemy s Almagest (written c. 140 A.D.) & closely related works like Theon s Handy Tables (end of 4th C.) but we have only very little info. about the practice of computing the positions of sun, moon, & planets during any period of antiquity. Now, the Greek horoscopes are available for study as a group which could be expected to reflect the current techniques of Greek astronomy. About 60 horoscopes from the first 5 centuries of our era have been published since Young (1828) & Champollion-Figeac (1840) in the papyrological literature, which comprises 18,000 texts. This vol. includes all horoscopes from this widely scattered material & a few unpublished pieces. Illustrations.

242 pages, Paperback

First published December 1, 1987

About the author

Otto Eduard Neugebauer was an Austrian-American mathematician and historian of science who became known for his research on the history of astronomy and the other exact sciences in antiquity and into the Middle Ages. By studying clay tablets he discovered that the ancient Babylonians knew much more about mathematics and astronomy than had been previously realized. The National Academy of Sciences has called Neugebauer "the most original and productive scholar of the history of the exact sciences, perhaps of the history of science, of our age."

Neugebauer fought in WW1 in the Austrian army, and was imprisoned as a POW after the war. Refusing to sign a loyalty oath to the new Nazi government of Germany he immigrated to the United States in 1939 joining Brown University, where he spent most of his career.

from wikipedia.