Download or read book Astrology through History written by William E. Burns and published by Bloomsbury Publishing USA. This book was released on 2018-07-20 with total page 432 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 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 instead offers an objective treatment of astrology across world history from ancient Mesopotamia to the present. The book provides alphabetically arranged entries by expert contributors writing on such topics as horoscopes, court astrologers, Renaissance astrology, and comets. While it considers the Western tradition, it also treats Islamic, Indian, East Asian, and Mesoamerican astrology. In doing so, it explores the role of astrology in shaping science, literature, religion, art, and other defining cultural traditions. Sidebars offer excerpts from various historical texts, while entries provide suggestions for further reading.

Download or read book Magus written by Anthony Grafton and published by Harvard University Press. This book was released on 2023 with total page 305 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Anthony Grafton explores the art and influence of an opaque historical figure: the magus, or learned magician. A distinctive intellectual type in Renaissance Europe, magi contributed to the humanistic currents of the time and had a transformative impact on public life, influencing advances in sculpture, painting, engineering, and other fields.

Download or read book Jesuit Astrology written by Luís Campos Ribeiro and published by BRILL. This book was released on 2023-06-12 with total page 704 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Connections between the Society of Jesus and astrology used to appear as unexpected at best. Astrology was never viewed favourably by the Church, especially in early modern times, and since Jesuits were strong defenders of Catholic orthodoxy, most historians assumed that their religious fervour would be matched by an equally strong rejection of astrology. This groundbreaking and compelling study brings to light new Jesuit scientific texts revealing a much more positive, practical, and nuanced attitude. What emerges forcefully is a totally new perspective into early modern Jesuit culture, science, and education, highlighting the element that has been long overlooked: astrology.

Download or read book Natural Philosophy written by Alister McGrath and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2023-02-02 with total page 257 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Recovering the forgotten discipline of Natural Philosophy for the modern world This book argues for the retrieval of 'natural philosophy', a concept that faded into comparative obscurity as individual scientific disciplines became established and institutionalized. Natural philosophy was understood in the early modern period as a way of exploring the human relationship with the natural world, encompassing what would now be seen as the distinct disciplines of the natural sciences, mathematics, music, philosophy, and theology. The first part of the work represents a critical conversation with the tradition, identifying the essential characteristics of natural philosophy, particularly its emphasis on both learning about and learning from nature. After noting the factors which led to the disintegration of natural philosophy during the nineteenth century, the second part of the work sets out the reasons why natural philosophy should be retrieved, and a creative and innovative proposal for how this might be done. This draws on Karl Popper's 'Three Worlds' and Mary Midgley's notion of using multiple maps in bringing together the many aspects of the human encounter with the natural world. Such a retrieved or 're-imagined' natural philosophy is able to encourage both human attentiveness and respectfulness towards Nature, while enfolding both the desire to understand the natural world, and the need to preserve the affective, imaginative, and aesthetic aspects of the human response to nature.

Download or read book Marking Time written by Duncan Steel and published by Turner Publishing Company. This book was released on 2007-08-03 with total page 499 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "If you lie awake worrying about the overnight transition from December 31, 1 b.c., to January 1, a.d. 1 (there is no year zero), then you will enjoy Duncan Steel's Marking Time."--American Scientist "No book could serve as a better guide to the cumulative invention that defines the imaginary threshold to the new millennium."--Booklist A Fascinating March through History and the Evolution of the Modern-Day Calendar . . . In this vivid, fast-moving narrative, you'll discover the surprising story of how our modern calendar came about and how it has changed dramatically through the years. Acclaimed author Duncan Steel explores each major step in creating the current calendar along with the many different systems for defining the number of days in a week, the length of a month, and the number of days in a year. From the definition of the lunar month by Meton of Athens in 432 b.c. to the roles played by Julius Caesar, William the Conqueror, and Isaac Newton to present-day proposals to reform our calendar, this entertaining read also presents "timely" tidbits that will take you across the full span of recorded history. Find out how and why comets have been used as clocks, why there is no year zero between 1 b.c. and a.d. 1, and why for centuries Britain and its colonies rang in the New Year on March 25th. Marking Time will leave you with a sense of awe at the haphazard nature of our calendar's development. Once you've read this eye-opening book, you'll never look at the calendar the same way again.

Download or read book Time Astronomy and Calendars in the Jewish Tradition written by Sacha Stern and published by BRILL. This book was released on 2013-11-07 with total page 387 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The study of time, astronomy, and calendars, has been closely intertwined in the history of Western culture and, more particularly, Jewish tradition. Jewish interest in astronomy was fostered by the Jewish calendar, which was based on the courses of the sun and the moon, whilst astronomy, in turn, led to a better understanding of how time should be reckoned. Time, Astronomy, and Calendars in the Jewish Tradition, edited by Sacha Stern and Charles Burnett, presents a wide selection of original research in this multi-disciplinary field, ranging from Antiquity to the later Middle Ages. Its variety of approaches and sub-themes reflects the relevance of astronomy and calendars to many aspects of Jewish, and more generally ancient and medieval, culture and social history. Contributors include: Jonathan Ben-Dov, Reimund Leicht, Marina Rustow, Francois de Blois, Raymond Mercier, Philipp Nothaft, Josefina Rodriguez Arribas, Ilana Wartenberg, Israel Sandman, Justine Isserles, Anne C. Kineret Sittig, Katharina Keim, and Sacha Stern

Download or read book The Secret Language of Astrology written by Roy Gillett and published by Watkins Media Limited. This book was released on 2017-03-07 with total page 177 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A beautifully illustrated practical guide to astrology – with a unique AstrolabeTM weblink that allows you to download personalised birth charts for free, in a matter of moments. What is the effect of each of the planets on your zodiac sign? What is the influence of the 12 "houses"? What are "aspects" and how do they relate to your birth chart? In this unique book and weblink package, renowned astrologer Roy Gillett uncovers the hidden layers of astrology to explain the complex interplay of influences that shape our character. The Secret Language of Astrology gives access to an AstrolableTM website created exclusively for the book, enabling you to create a detailed birth chart for yourself, or for family or friends, within seconds. A historical introduction traces the history of astrology from antiquity to the present day. The second part of the book, "The Elements of Astrology", looks at the planets, the zodiac signs, the twelve houses and the aspects. The emphasis throughout is on equipping the reader to analyse their birth chart, by examining the influences and showing how they combine to shape our lives and our potential for growth. The third part, "Putting the Pieces Together", shows you how to apply all this information when reading a full birth chart. Thoroughly practical, but with a wealth of historical and cultural detail, as well as superb illustrations and photographs, this is a landmark in astrological publishing.

Download or read book The Light The Stones and The Sacred written by Andrea Orlando and published by Springer. This book was released on 2017-05-27 with total page 245 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book addresses a variety of topics within the growing discipline of Archaeoastronomy, focusing especially on Archaeoastronomy in Sicily and the Mediterranean and Cultural Astronomy. A further priority is discussion of the astronomical and statistical methods used today to ascertain the degree of reliability of the chronological and cultural definition of sites and artifacts of archaeoastronomical interest. The contributions were all delivered at the XVth Congress of the Italian Society of Archaeoastronomy (SIA), held under the rubric "The Light, the Stones and the Sacred" – a theme inspired by the International Year of Light 2015, organized by UNESCO. The full meaning of many ancient monuments can only be understood by examining their relation to light, given the effects that light radiation produces in “interacting” with lithic structures. Moreover, in addition to manifestations of the sacred through the medium of light (hierophanies), there are many ties between temples, tombs, megalithic structures, and the architecture of almost all ages and cultures and our star, the Sun. Readers will find the book to be a source of fascinating insights based on synergies between the disciplines of archaeology and astronomy.

Download or read book Sapientia Astrologica Astrology Magic and Natural Knowledge ca 1250 1800 written by H Darrel Rutkin and published by Springer. This book was released on 2019-04-24 with total page 591 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book explores the changing perspective of astrology from the Middle Ages to the Early Modern Era. It introduces a framework for understanding both its former centrality and its later removal from legitimate knowledge and practice. The discussion reconstructs the changing roles of astrology in Western science, theology, and culture from 1250 to 1500. The author considers both the how and the why. He analyzes and integrates a broad range of sources. This analysis shows that the history of astrology—in particular, the story of the protracted criticism and ultimate removal of astrology from the realm of legitimate knowledge and practice—is crucial for fully understanding the transition from premodern Aristotelian-Ptolemaic natural philosophy to modern Newtonian science. This removal, the author argues, was neither obvious nor unproblematic. Astrology was not some sort of magical nebulous hodge-podge of beliefs. Rather, astrology emerged in the 13th century as a richly mathematical system that served to integrate astronomy and natural philosophy, precisely the aim of the “New Science” of the 17th century. As such, it becomes a fundamentally important historical question to determine why this promising astrological synthesis was rejected in favor of a rather different mathematical natural philosophy—and one with a very different causal structure than Aristotle's.

Download or read book Ptolemy in Perspective written by Alexander Jones and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2009-12-10 with total page 238 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Ptolemy was the most important physical scientist of the Roman Empire, and for a millennium and a half his writings on astronomy, astrology, and geography were models for imitation, resources for new work, and targets of criticism. Ptolemy in Perspective traces reactions to Ptolemy from his own times to ours. The nine studies show the complex processes by which an ancient scientist and his work gained and subsequently lost an overreaching reputation and authority.

Download or read book Prognostication in the Medieval World written by Matthias Heiduk and published by Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG. This book was released on 2020-11-09 with total page 1042 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Two opposing views of the future in the Middle Ages dominate recent historical scholarship. According to one opinion, medieval societies were expecting the near end of the world and therefore had no concept of the future. According to the other opinion, the expectation of the near end created a drive to change the world for the better and thus for innovation. Close inspection of the history of prognostication reveals the continuous attempts and multifold methods to recognize and interpret God’s will, the prodigies of nature, and the patterns of time. That proves, on the one hand, the constant human uncertainty facing the contingencies of the future. On the other hand, it demonstrates the firm believe during the Middle Ages in a future which could be shaped and even manipulated. The handbook provides the first overview of current historical research on medieval prognostication. It considers the entangled influences and transmissions between Christian, Jewish, Islamic, and non-monotheistic societies during the period from a wide range of perspectives. An international team of 63 renowned authors from about a dozen different academic disciplines contributed to this comprehensive overview.

Download or read book Divination and Knowledge in Greco Roman Antiquity written by Crystal Addey and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2021-07-15 with total page 226 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Addressing the close connections between ancient divination and knowledge, this volume offers an interlinked and detailed set of case studies which examine the epistemic value and significance of divination in ancient Greek and Roman cultures. Focusing on diverse types of divination, including oracles, astrology, and the reading of omens and signs in the entrails of sacrificial animals, chance utterances and other earthly and celestial phenomena, this volume reveals that divination was conceived of as a significant path to the attainment of insight and understanding by the ancient Greeks and Romans. It also explores the connections between divination and other branches of knowledge in Greco-Roman antiquity, such as medicine and ethnographic discourse. Drawing on anthropological studies of contemporary divination and exploring a wide range of ancient philosophical, historical, technical and literary evidence, chapters focus on the interconnections and close relationship between divine and human modes of knowledge, in relation to nuanced and subtle formulations of the blending of divine, cosmic and human agency; philosophical approaches towards and uses of divination (particularly within Platonism), including links between divination and time, ethics, and cosmology; and the relationship between divination and cultural discourses focusing on gender. The volume aims to catalyse new questions and approaches relating to these under-investigated areas of ancient Greek and Roman life. which have significant implications for the ways in which we understand and assess ancient Greek and Roman conceptions of epistemic value and variant ways of knowing, ancient philosophy and intellectual culture, lived, daily experience in the ancient world, and religious and ritual traditions. Divination and Knowledge in Greco-Roman Antiquity will be of particular relevance to researchers and students in classics, ancient history, ancient philosophy, religious studies and anthropology who are working on divination, lived religion and intellectual culture, but will also appeal to general readers who are interested in the widespread practice and significance of divination in the ancient world.

Download or read book The Star of the Magi written by Courtney Roberts and published by ReadHowYouWant.com. This book was released on 2009-01-30 with total page 402 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold there came Magi from the east to Jerusalem saying, Where is he that is born King of the Jews? For we have seen his star in the east and have come to worship him. NEW LIGHT ON AN ANCIENT MYSTERY The Star of Bethlehem is still one of the most popular and puzzling mysteries of the Bible. Its inclusion, at the very beginning of the very first Gospel, raises so many awkward questions for orthodox Christianity that one has to wonder how it ever made the canonical cut in the first place. So why would the authors (and editors) of the Christian Gospels choose Zoroastrian Magi and astrology to herald the coming of Jesus Christ? Did the Magi have some special significance then that we have since lost? After all, the New Testament narrative opens with them. So who were the Magi, and did their astrological beliefs really lead them to Jesus? Now, for the first time, in The Star of the Magi, an author with a solid background in the history of astrology in ancient religion examines the Star. The result is a breathtaking blend of history, religious studies, astronomy, and astrology that tells the whole story as it has never been told before. The Magi had definite expectations of a coming world savior who would be born of a virgin, all mysteriously encoded and foretold in Magian astrology. These ancient Persian beliefs had tremendous bearing on the development of Jewish messianic expectations - they inspired early Christians and their Jewish and Persian neighbors, and gave them hope in their desperate battles against the Romans. Astronomy alone cannot unlock the secrets of the Star. There are simply too many phenomena to choose from - even astronomers concede that that we must now look to astrology for better answers.

Download or read book The Cambridge World History written by Norman Yoffee and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2015-03-12 with total page 597 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The most comprehensive account yet of the human past from prehistory to the present.

Download or read book Niccol Ridolfi and the Cardinal s Court written by Lucinda Byatt and published by Taylor & Francis. This book was released on 2022-08-29 with total page 360 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Niccolò Ridolfi (1501–50), was a Florentine cardinal, nephew and cousin to the Medici popes Leo X and Clement VII, and he owed his status and wealth to their patronage. He remained actively engaged in Florentine politics, above all during the years of crisis that saw the Florentine state change from republic to duchy. A widely respected patron and scholar throughout his life, his sudden death during the conclave of 1549–50 led to allegations of poison that an autopsy appears to confirm. This book examines Cardinal Ridolfi and his court in order to understand the extent to which cardinalate courts played a key part in Rome’s resurgence and acted as hubs of knowledge located on the fault lines of politics and reform in church and state, hospitable spaces that can be analysed in the context of entanglements in Florentine and Roman cultural and political patronage, and intersections between the princely court and a more professional and complex knowledge and practice of household management in the consumer and service economy of early modern Rome. Based on an array of archival sources and on three treatises whose authors were closely linked to Ridolfi’s court, this monograph explores these multidisciplinary intersections to allow the more traditional fields of church and political history to be approached from different angles. Niccolò Ridolfi and the Cardinal's Court will appeal to all those interested in the organisation of these elite establishments and their place in sixteenth-century Roman society, the life and patronage of Niccolò Ridolfi in the context of the Florentine exiles who desired a return to republicanism, and the history of the Roman Catholic Church.

Download or read book The Star of Bethlehem and the Magi written by George H. van Kooten and published by BRILL. This book was released on 2015-11-02 with total page 718 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book is the fruit of the first ever interdisciplinary international scientific conference on Matthew's story of the Star of Bethlehem and the Magi, held in 2014 at the University of Groningen, and attended by world-leading specialists in all relevant fields: modern astronomy, the ancient near-eastern and Greco-Roman worlds, the history of science, and religion. The scholarly discussions and the exchange of the interdisciplinary views proved to be immensely fruitful and resulted in the present book. Its twenty chapters describe the various aspects of The Star: the history of its interpretation, ancient near-eastern astronomy and astrology and the Magi, astrology in the Greco-Roman and the Jewish worlds, and the early Christian world – at a generally accessible level. An epilogue summarizes the fact-fiction balance of the most famous star which has ever shone.

Download or read book The Cambridge World History Volume 3 Early Cities in Comparative Perspective 4000 BCE 1200 CE written by Norman Yoffee and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2015-03-19 with total page 597 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From the fourth millennium BCE to the early second millennium CE the world became a world of cities. This volume explores this critical transformation, from the appearance of the earliest cities in Mesopotamia and Egypt to the rise of cities in Asia and the Mediterranean world, Africa, and the Americas. Through case studies and comparative accounts of key cities across the world, leading scholars chart the ways in which these cities grew as nodal points of pilgrimages and ceremonies, exchange, storage and redistribution, and centres for defence and warfare. They show how in these cities, along with their associated and restructured countrysides, new rituals and ceremonies connected leaders with citizens and the gods, new identities as citizens were created, and new forms of power and sovereignty emerged. They also examine how this unprecedented concentration of people led to disease, violence, slavery and subjugations of unprecedented kinds and scales.