Byzantine Astrology
Introduction to Byzantine Astrology
During the 5th and 6th centuries AD, Byzantium (the Eastern Roman Empire) boasted a host of astrologers: Hephaestion, Julian of Laodicea, “Proclus,” Rhetorius, and John Lydus. Though their works are singularly unoriginal compilations, they remain the major sources for an understanding of earlier Hellenistic astrology. By the end of the 6th century, however, the general decline of the Byzantine Empire’s intellectual life and the strong opposition of the church had combined to virtually obliterate astrology, though some practice of reading celestial omens survived in Byzantium as it did in western Europe. The science was revived only in the late 8th century and the 9th century under the impact of translations from Syriac and Arabic. The period from about 800 to 1200 was the most propitious for Byzantine astrology, though nothing was essentially added to astrological theories or techniques.
For instance, Manuel I Comnenus, emperor of the Byzantine Empire between 1143-1180, utilized astrology in his political and personal life, as well as supporting translations of occult literature in his court. When the Church Patriarch presented Manuel with a letter from a simple monk claiming that the astrological teaching was a sacrilege, Manuel could not allow a charge of heresy to be leveled against him. He composed a defense of astrology, asserting that it was compatible with Christian doctrine. Only as he became ill and eventually died in 1180, on the advice of Theodosius (Patriarch of Constantinople), he renounced to astrology.
\\ tags: Astrology, Byzantine Astrology