Skyscript Astrology Forum

Mark wrote:Deb wrote:

Valens was known as the author of several works, including a text on horary astrology ? what are we to make of that?

But is it Valens or a pseudo-Valens? Is it still extant?

Mark wrote:Yes but if this was true it would overturn the predominant view epoused by people like Robert Schmidt and Chris Brennan that horary did not exist in hellenistic astrology.

This ultimately comes from Pingree, doesn't it?

As for the Firdaria, I do wonder why exactly the lunar nodes get in there? That's what gives the impression of an Indic origin (or at least modification).

I also suspect that there is something ?in the air? at the moment, which is moving our astrological attention towards the Persians through the work of various individuals, such as Ben Dykes and others who are publishing the Persian texts.

I want to say some words about the Persian astrology.In this very short expos? when I will say "Persian astrology" or "Persian astrologer" I will understand astrology from Sassanidian Empire(from 224 to 651).
We know the names of only four Persian astrologers:Zaradusht, Jamasb, Buzurjmihr and al-Andarzaghar.The fist two are older than the second two.

1.Zaradusht is the author of the book "Kitab al-Mawalid"-the book is preserved in arabic translation
2.Jamasb is the author of two books, also preserved in arabic translation
3.Buzurjmihr is the author of the book "Bizidaj"based mainly on Valens books with his commentaries
4.al-Andarzaghar is the author of two books:"Kitab al Mawalid"(on Natal astrology) and "Kitab ahkam tah?awil sini"(On the solar revolutions) partly preserved in other arabic authors.

One very interesting fact:
Said al-Andalusi in his "Kitab tabaqat al-umam"( trans. R. Blachere
Paris, 1935) wrote that Valens' "Bizidaj" was concerned with nativities and their revolutions, and had an introduction to these topics.All arabic authors talk about 10 books of Valens, may be the 10-th book is commentaries on the nine books of Valens or is the lost book on the theme of Solar Revolutions of Nativities.

In the same book, " Kitab tabaqat al-umam"(Book of the Categories of Nations) , Said al-Andalusi (1029?1070)made very important statement.According to him Hermes is the author of the doctrine On projection of the rays of the stars and the doctrine On the uniformity of the Houses of the celestial sphere.
Tasyir or Projection of the Rays is the arabic term for profections and primary directions.

This assertion of Said al-Andalusi is supported by Al-Nadim in his "Fihrist", where he wrote that Hermes is the author of the book "Kitab Tasyir al-kawakib".But unfortunately this book probably don't come to us(Fuat Sezgin ,GAS VII, 58 ).

I?ve noticed that some very interesting ?facts? from this text are dismissed because they present a picture that we are not used to seeing ? for example, the report that Valens was known as the author of several works, including a text on horary astrology ? what are we to make of that?

But is it Valens or a pseudo-Valens? Is it still extant?

I will give here a long quotation from Pingree("Classical and Byzantine Astrology in Sassanian Persia", David Pingree, Dumbarton Oaks Papers, Vol. 43. (1989), p.231):

"Moreover, a valuable manuscript preserved in the Laleli Mosque in Istanbul, no. 2122, contains a short compilation on interrogations by Masha'allah.In this treatise, untitled in the manuscript, Masha'allah quotes from both Dorotheus and Valens-the latter on the subjects of buying land and of government, which are scarcely topics in our Greek Anthologes, but both of which are dealt with in the Arabic translation of a Pahlavi work on catarchic astrology ascribed to Valens, the Kitab al-asrar, preserved on folios 31v-60 of manuscript no. 2920 of the Nuruosmaniye Mosque in Istanbul.Masha'allah, in his Kitab fi qiyam al khulafa wa marifat qiyam kull malik, says that he has discussed the matter of government in his Bizidajat .So Masha'allah's collection of astrological dicta on catarchic astrology and interrogations in Laleli 2122 may have borne the title that Buzurjmihr gave to his expansion of Vettius Valens' Anthologies."