Paulus Alexandrinus was an astrological author from the

late Roman Empire In historiography, the Late or Later Roman Empire, traditionally covering the period from 284 CE to 641 CE, was a time of significant transformation in Roman governance, society, and religion. Diocletian's reforms, including the establishment of t ...

. 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

Roman Empire The Roman Empire ruled the Mediterranean and much of Europe, Western Asia and North Africa. The Roman people, Romans conquered most of this during the Roman Republic, Republic, and it was ruled by emperors following Octavian's assumption of ...

Biography

Little is known about Paulus' life. He lived in

Alexandria Alexandria ( ; ) is the List of cities and towns in Egypt#Largest cities, second largest city in Egypt and the List of coastal settlements of the Mediterranean Sea, largest city on the Mediterranean coast. It lies at the western edge of the Nile ...

, one of the most scholarly cities of the Roman world, 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 Constantinople (#Names of Constantinople, see other names) was a historical city located on the Bosporus that served as the capital of the Roman Empire, Roman, Byzantine Empire, Byzantine, Latin Empire, Latin, and Ottoman Empire, Ottoman empire ...

. 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, military outpost (military), outposts, and peoples, "usually created by conquest, and divided between a hegemony, dominant center and subordinate peripheries". The center of the ...

through the even more unstable early

Byzantine Empire The Byzantine Empire, also known as the Eastern Roman Empire, was the continuation of the Roman Empire centred on Constantinople during late antiquity and the Middle Ages. Having survived History of the Roman Empire, the events that caused the ...

. 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 (, 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 ''Pentateuch'' (Πεντάτευχος; lit. ...

. 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 Greek history after Classical Greece, between the death of Alexander the Great in 323 BC and the death of Cleopatra VII in 30 BC, which was followed by the ascendancy of the R ...

astrological technique, although the scientifically minded

Ptolemy Claudius Ptolemy (; , ; ; – 160s/170s AD) was a Greco-Roman mathematician, astronomer, astrologer, geographer, and music theorist who wrote about a dozen scientific treatises, three of which were important to later Byzantine science, Byzant ...

avoids them. Paulus also discusses dodekatemoria and monomoiria, and gives an extensive treatment of

sect A sect is a subgroup of a religion, religious, politics, political, or philosophy, philosophical belief system, typically emerging as an offshoot of a larger organization. Originally, the term referred specifically to religious groups that had s ...

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 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 ruled the Mediterranean and much of Europe, Western Asia and North Africa. The Roman people, Romans conquered most of this during the Roman Republic, Republic, and it was ruled by emperors following Octavian's assumption of ...

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 (6th or 7th century), and, in the 5th or 6th century, '' Centiloquy'' (spuriously attributed for many centuries to

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

Arabs Arabs (, , ; , , ) are an ethnic group mainly inhabiting the Arab world in West Asia and North Africa. A significant Arab diaspora is present in various parts of the world. Arabs have been in the Fertile Crescent for thousands of yea ...

and on European astrologers of the

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

and

Early Modern The early modern period is a Periodization, historical period that is defined either as part of or as immediately preceding the modern period, with divisions based primarily on the history of Europe and the broader concept of modernity. There i ...

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". I ...

'' ("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 – November 11, 2005) was an American historian of mathematics in the ancient world. He was a University Professor and Professor of History of Mathematics and Classics at Brown University. Life Pingree gra ...

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 ...

, 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