Paulus Alexandrinus was an astrological author from the late

Roman Empire The Roman Empire ( la, Imperium Romanum ; grc-gre, Βασιλεία τῶν Ῥωμαίων, Basileía tôn Rhōmaíōn) was the post-Republican period of ancient Rome. As a polity, it included large territorial holdings around the Mediterr ...

. His extant work, ''Eisagogika'', or ''Introductory Matters'' (or ''Introduction''), which was written in 378 AD, is a treatment of major topics in astrology as practiced in the fourth century

Biography

Little is known about Paulus' life. He lived in

Alexandria Alexandria ( or ; ar, ٱلْإِسْكَنْدَرِيَّةُ ; grc-gre, Αλεξάνδρεια, Alexándria) is the second largest city in Egypt, and the largest city on the Mediterranean coast. Founded in by Alexander the Great, Alexandria ...

, one of the most scholarly cities of the

Roman world The culture of ancient Rome existed throughout the almost 1200-year history of the civilization of Ancient Rome. The term refers to the culture of the Roman Republic, later the Roman Empire, which at its peak covered an area from present-day Lo ...

, where astrology was also at its most sophisticated. In his lifetime, Rome's power was declining and the capital of the

had been moved to

Constantinople la, Constantinopolis ota, قسطنطينيه , alternate_name = Byzantion (earlier Greek name), Nova Roma ("New Rome"), Miklagard/Miklagarth (Old Norse), Tsargrad ( Slavic), Qustantiniya (Arabic), Basileuousa ("Queen of Cities"), Megalopolis (" ...

. We know he was regarded as a considerable authority because we have the record of a series of lectures given on his work by the respected Neo-Platonist philosopher Olympiodorus some two centuries later (in 564 AD), in Alexandria. These lectures were preserved in a ''Commentary'' and both Paulus' ''Introduction'' and Olympiodorus' ''Commentary'' have been translated together, giving a view of the development of astrological technique and contemporary attitudes towards astrology from the tumultuous late

Empire An empire is a "political unit" made up of several territories and peoples, "usually created by conquest, and divided between a dominant center and subordinate peripheries". The center of the empire (sometimes referred to as the metropole) ex ...

through the even more unstable early

Byzantine Empire The Byzantine Empire, also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantium, was the continuation of the Roman Empire primarily in its eastern provinces during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, when its capital city was Constantinopl ...

. The ''Introduction'' may be most interesting for its discussion of the eleven phases of the Moon, because it gives us a clear treatment of a topic whose influence on Greek astrological speculation has likely been much underestimated The Moon's phases are probably the single most influential factor in katarchic charts of the Hellenistic period, going back beyond

Dorotheus of Sidon Dorotheus of Sidon ( grc-gre, Δωρόθεος Σιδώνιος, c. 75 CE - ?? CE) was a 1st-century Greek astrologer and astrological poet, who, during the Hellenistic Period, wrote a didactic poem on horoscopic astrology in Greek, known as the ...

. Also very important in the ''Introduction'' are the Lots, which were at the core of

Hellenistic In Classical antiquity, the Hellenistic period covers the time in Mediterranean history after Classical Greece, between the death of Alexander the Great in 323 BC and the emergence of the Roman Empire, as signified by the Battle of Actium in ...

astrological technique, although the scientifically minded

Ptolemy Claudius Ptolemy (; grc-gre, Πτολεμαῖος, ; la, Claudius Ptolemaeus; AD) was a mathematician, astronomer, astrologer, geographer, and music theorist, who wrote about a dozen scientific treatises, three of which were of importanc ...

avoids them. Paulus also discusses dodekatemoria and

monomoiria The ''Monomoiria'' are the 360 individual degrees of the sky in Hellenistic astrology. They were each associated with particular planets, especially in traditions that influenced and were influenced by Paulus Alexandrinus's ''Eisagogika'' and Vet ...

, and gives an extensive treatment of

sect A sect is a subgroup of a religious, political, or philosophical belief system, usually an offshoot of a larger group. Although the term was originally a classification for religious separated groups, it can now refer to any organization that b ...

in astrological analysis, and of the influence of planetary aspects as they apply and separate (the Hellenistic understanding of which is considerably at odds with modern practice.) At the time Paulus wrote, there was notable intellectual consolidation taking place in astrology. Forty years earlier,

Julius Firmicus Maternus __NOTOC__ Julius Firmicus Maternus was a Roman Latin writer and astrologer, who received a pagan classical education that made him conversant with Greek; he lived in the reign of Constantine I (306 to 337 AD) and his successors. His triple career m ...

had written ''Mathesis'', a long and very detailed summary of the astrological technique of his time, which has come down to us intact. Contemporaneous with Paulus, an anonymous writer had produced a ''Treatise on the Fixed Stars'' in 379 AD, which is our best record of how practical astrologers of the

Roman period The Roman Empire ( la, Imperium Romanum ; grc-gre, Βασιλεία τῶν Ῥωμαίων, Basileía tôn Rhōmaíōn) was the post-Roman Republic, Republican period of ancient Rome. As a polity, it included large territorial holdings aro ...

after

dealt with stars in the context of the astrological chart; a few decades later came three books (''Apotelesmatika'') by the Egyptian Hephaistio of Thebes (415 AD) integrating

with earlier traditions.

Legacy

In the several hundred years following Paulus and Hephaistio, there continued to be an active astrological tradition, some works of which have come down to us, including writings by Julian of Laodicea (c. 500 AD),

Rhetorius Rhetorius of Egypt ( el, Ῥητόριος) was the last major classical astrologer from whom we have any excerpts. He lived in the sixth or early seventh century, in the early Byzantine era. He wrote an extensive compendium in Greek of the te ...

(6th or 7th century), and, in the 5th or 6th century, ''

Centiloquy The ''Centiloquium'' (= "one hundred sayings"), also called ''Ptolemy's Centiloquium'', is a collection of one hundred aphorisms about astrology and astrological rules. It is first recorded at the start of the tenth century CE, when a commentary ...

'' (spuriously attributed for many centuries to

), which exerted a very considerable influence on the astrological thinking of the

Arabs The Arabs (singular: Arab; singular ar, عَرَبِيٌّ, DIN 31635: , , plural ar, عَرَب, DIN 31635, DIN 31635: , Arabic pronunciation: ), also known as the Arab people, are an ethnic group mainly inhabiting the Arab world in Wester ...

and on European astrologers of the

Medieval In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the Post-classical, post-classical period of World history (field), global history. It began with t ...

and Early Modern periods. (See: Lilly.) An important Indian astrological treatise called the ''

Paulisa Siddhanta The Pauliṣa Siddhānta (literally, "The scientific-treatise of Pauliṣa Muni") refers to multiple Indian astronomical treatises, at least one of which is based on a Western source. "'' Siddhānta''" literally means "doctrine" or "tradition". It ...

'' ("Doctrine of Paulus") is sometimes thought to be derived from the work of Paulus. However, this notion has been rejected by other scholars in the field, notably by

David Pingree David Edwin Pingree (January 2, 1933, New Haven, Connecticut – November 11, 2005, Providence, Rhode Island) was an American historian of mathematics in the ancient world. He was a University Professor and Professor of History of Mathematics ...

who stated that "...the identification of Paulus Alexandrinus with the author of the ''Paulisasiddhanta'' is totally false".See David Pingree, ''The Yavanajataka of Sphujidhvaja'', Vol. 2,

Harvard Oriental Series The ''Harvard Oriental Series'' is a book series founded in 1891 by Charles Rockwell Lanman and Henry Clarke Warren. Lanman served as its inaugural editor (1891-1934) for the first 37 volumes. Other editors of the series include Walter Eugene Clark ...

, 1978, pgs. 437-438. Also see Pingree, ''The Later Paulisasiddhanta'', Centaurus 14, 1969, 172–241.

Works

* ''Elementa apotelesmatica'' (ed. by E. Boer), Teubner, Leipzig, 1958.

References

Translations

* Paulus Alexandrinus, ''Introductory Matters'', trans. Robert Schmidt, ed. Robert Hand, The Golden Hind Press, Berkeley Springs, WV, second edition, revised, 1993. * ''Late Classical Astrology: Paulus Alexandrinus and Olympiodorus, with the Scholia from Later Commentators'', trans. Dorian Giesler Greenbaum, ed. Robert Hand, ARHAT Publications, Reston, VA, 2001.

Biography

Legacy

Works

References

Translations

Further reading