Alastair Fowler
- Published in print:
- 1996
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198183402
- eISBN:
- 9780191674037
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198183402.001.0001
- Subject:
- Literature, 16th-century and Renaissance Literature
This book explores the extraordinary prominence of astronomical imagery in Renaissance literature. Although the stars were important astrologically, this is at best a ...
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This book explores the extraordinary prominence of astronomical imagery in Renaissance literature. Although the stars were important astrologically, this is at best a partial explanation for the popularity of such imagery, and the impact of astronomical discoveries (particularly their implications for stellification, or translation to the stars) is also an important factor. Seventeenth-century culture was both religious and materialistic and the literature of the period shows a great variety of negotiated reconciliations of the two.Less
This book explores the extraordinary prominence of astronomical imagery in Renaissance literature. Although the stars were important astrologically, this is at best a partial explanation for the popularity of such imagery, and the impact of astronomical discoveries (particularly their implications for stellification, or translation to the stars) is also an important factor. Seventeenth-century culture was both religious and materialistic and the literature of the period shows a great variety of negotiated reconciliations of the two.
Jacqueline Feke
- Published in print:
- 2018
- Published Online:
- May 2019
- ISBN:
- 9780691179582
- eISBN:
- 9780691184036
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691179582.001.0001
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Philosophy of Science
The Greco-Roman mathematician Claudius Ptolemy is one of the most significant figures in the history of science. He is remembered today for his astronomy, but his philosophy is almost entirely lost ...
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The Greco-Roman mathematician Claudius Ptolemy is one of the most significant figures in the history of science. He is remembered today for his astronomy, but his philosophy is almost entirely lost to history. This book reconstructs Ptolemy's general philosophical system—including his metaphysics, epistemology, and ethics—and to explore its relationship to astronomy, harmonics, element theory, astrology, cosmology, psychology, and theology. The book uncovers references to a complex and sophisticated philosophical agenda scattered among Ptolemy's technical studies in the physical and mathematical sciences. It shows how he developed a philosophy that was radical and even subversive, appropriating ideas and turning them against the very philosophers from whom he drew influence. The book reveals how Ptolemy's unique system is at once a critique of prevailing philosophical trends and a conception of the world in which mathematics reigns supreme. The book demonstrates how Ptolemy situated mathematics at the very foundation of all philosophy—theoretical and practical—and advanced the mathematical way of life as the true path to human perfection.Less
The Greco-Roman mathematician Claudius Ptolemy is one of the most significant figures in the history of science. He is remembered today for his astronomy, but his philosophy is almost entirely lost to history. This book reconstructs Ptolemy's general philosophical system—including his metaphysics, epistemology, and ethics—and to explore its relationship to astronomy, harmonics, element theory, astrology, cosmology, psychology, and theology. The book uncovers references to a complex and sophisticated philosophical agenda scattered among Ptolemy's technical studies in the physical and mathematical sciences. It shows how he developed a philosophy that was radical and even subversive, appropriating ideas and turning them against the very philosophers from whom he drew influence. The book reveals how Ptolemy's unique system is at once a critique of prevailing philosophical trends and a conception of the world in which mathematics reigns supreme. The book demonstrates how Ptolemy situated mathematics at the very foundation of all philosophy—theoretical and practical—and advanced the mathematical way of life as the true path to human perfection.
Peter Adamson
- Published in print:
- 2006
- Published Online:
- January 2007
- ISBN:
- 9780195181425
- eISBN:
- 9780199785087
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195181425.003.0008
- Subject:
- Religion, Philosophy of Religion
This chapter shows how al-Kindī interweaves ideas from Greek cosmology to give a theory that can explain the efficacy of astrology and how God’s providence is dispersed by means of heavenly ...
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This chapter shows how al-Kindī interweaves ideas from Greek cosmology to give a theory that can explain the efficacy of astrology and how God’s providence is dispersed by means of heavenly influence. A concrete example is found in al-Kindī’s works on meteorology, since he thinks that weather is produced by celestial causation. The mechanics of this causation are explained differently in different works, which leads to a consideration of the authenticity of On Rays, which is ascribed to al-Kindī, and its place in his corpus. Finally, the chapter considers whether al-Kindī’s account commits him to determinism, and whether he thinks universal causal determinism is compatible with human freedom.Less
This chapter shows how al-Kindī interweaves ideas from Greek cosmology to give a theory that can explain the efficacy of astrology and how God’s providence is dispersed by means of heavenly influence. A concrete example is found in al-Kindī’s works on meteorology, since he thinks that weather is produced by celestial causation. The mechanics of this causation are explained differently in different works, which leads to a consideration of the authenticity of On Rays, which is ascribed to al-Kindī, and its place in his corpus. Finally, the chapter considers whether al-Kindī’s account commits him to determinism, and whether he thinks universal causal determinism is compatible with human freedom.
Gary Scott Smith
- Published in print:
- 2006
- Published Online:
- January 2007
- ISBN:
- 9780195300604
- eISBN:
- 9780199785285
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195300604.003.0010
- Subject:
- Religion, Religion and Society
Ronald Reagan’s religious convictions were crucial to his understanding of the world and performance as president, but few scholars have provided substantive analysis of his faith and its impact on ...
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Ronald Reagan’s religious convictions were crucial to his understanding of the world and performance as president, but few scholars have provided substantive analysis of his faith and its impact on his policies during his tenure in the White House. Although the circumstances of Reagan’s life and the seeming inconsistencies between his beliefs and his practices make his faith difficult to explain, it appears to have been genuine, very meaningful to him, and essential to his political philosophy. Reagan firmly believed and often declared that God intended America to be a beacon of hope, faith, freedom, and democracy — “a city on the hill”. Reagan was deeply influenced by his godly mother, Nelle, and raised in the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ). Reagan’s firm belief that God had a plan for his life was fortified by his survival of an assassination attempt in March 1981. In many addresses, proclamations, letters, and private conversations, Reagan stressed his faith in God and prayer, the inspiration of the Bible, and the divinity of Jesus. Numerous leaders of the religious right were troubled by his infrequent church attendance and his wife’s interest in astrology. Although historians debate the nature of Reagan’s personal faith, they concur that he used religious rhetoric, discussed religious themes, and spoke to religious groups more than any other 20th-century president. Religion played a very important role in Reagan’s 1984 reelection campaign. Reagan’s personal life was not a paragon of evangelical piety, but his worldview was strongly shaped by his understanding of biblical teaching. His faith affected many of his policies, most notably his endeavors to curb abortion, pass a school prayer amendment, secure tuition tax credits, and oppose communism.Less
Ronald Reagan’s religious convictions were crucial to his understanding of the world and performance as president, but few scholars have provided substantive analysis of his faith and its impact on his policies during his tenure in the White House. Although the circumstances of Reagan’s life and the seeming inconsistencies between his beliefs and his practices make his faith difficult to explain, it appears to have been genuine, very meaningful to him, and essential to his political philosophy. Reagan firmly believed and often declared that God intended America to be a beacon of hope, faith, freedom, and democracy — “a city on the hill”. Reagan was deeply influenced by his godly mother, Nelle, and raised in the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ). Reagan’s firm belief that God had a plan for his life was fortified by his survival of an assassination attempt in March 1981. In many addresses, proclamations, letters, and private conversations, Reagan stressed his faith in God and prayer, the inspiration of the Bible, and the divinity of Jesus. Numerous leaders of the religious right were troubled by his infrequent church attendance and his wife’s interest in astrology. Although historians debate the nature of Reagan’s personal faith, they concur that he used religious rhetoric, discussed religious themes, and spoke to religious groups more than any other 20th-century president. Religion played a very important role in Reagan’s 1984 reelection campaign. Reagan’s personal life was not a paragon of evangelical piety, but his worldview was strongly shaped by his understanding of biblical teaching. His faith affected many of his policies, most notably his endeavors to curb abortion, pass a school prayer amendment, secure tuition tax credits, and oppose communism.
Michael Ward
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- January 2008
- ISBN:
- 9780195313871
- eISBN:
- 9780199871964
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195313871.001.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Religion and Literature
As a scholar of medieval and renaissance literature, C.S. Lewis was deeply interested in the imaginative effects of the new heliocentric model of the universe theorised by Copernicus and verified by ...
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As a scholar of medieval and renaissance literature, C.S. Lewis was deeply interested in the imaginative effects of the new heliocentric model of the universe theorised by Copernicus and verified by Kepler and Galileo. As a writer of fiction, Lewis held that success in imaginative composition came through suggestion rather than through statement; a good story's principal achievement was the atmosphere which it allowed the reader to inhabit, an atmosphere which should constitute the reader's mode of attention, not the reader's focus of attention. In his Chronicles of Narnia (The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe; Prince Caspian; The Voyage of the ‘Dawn Treader’; The Silver Chair; The Horse and his Boy; The Magician's Nephew; The Last Battle), Lewis drew upon his academic expertise in Ptolemaic astronomy and astrology, constructing each story so that it embodied and expressed the qualitative atmosphere associated with one of the seven planets of the pre‐Copernican cosmos (respectively, Jupiter; Mars; Sol; Luna; Mercury; Venus; Saturn), planets which he described as ‘spiritual symbols of permanent value’. In each Chronicle, the arc of the narrative, countless points of ornamental detail, and the portrayal of the Christological figure of Aslan, are all governed by this cosmologically based imaginative intention. The Chronicles therefore are not, first and foremost, Biblical allegories, as critics have previously assumed, but attempts to communicate seven ancient archetypes through the genre of romance. The occasioning of the first story is argued to be the famous debate at Oxford's Socratic Club in which Lewis's Christian Idealism was critiqued by the philosopher, Elizabeth Anscombe. In sum, Planet Narnia contends that the Chronicles are the product of a subtler writer and thinker than has hitherto been recognised, whose abiding interests were hiddenness, immanence, and knowledge by acquaintance.Less
As a scholar of medieval and renaissance literature, C.S. Lewis was deeply interested in the imaginative effects of the new heliocentric model of the universe theorised by Copernicus and verified by Kepler and Galileo. As a writer of fiction, Lewis held that success in imaginative composition came through suggestion rather than through statement; a good story's principal achievement was the atmosphere which it allowed the reader to inhabit, an atmosphere which should constitute the reader's mode of attention, not the reader's focus of attention. In his Chronicles of Narnia (The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe; Prince Caspian; The Voyage of the ‘Dawn Treader’; The Silver Chair; The Horse and his Boy; The Magician's Nephew; The Last Battle), Lewis drew upon his academic expertise in Ptolemaic astronomy and astrology, constructing each story so that it embodied and expressed the qualitative atmosphere associated with one of the seven planets of the pre‐Copernican cosmos (respectively, Jupiter; Mars; Sol; Luna; Mercury; Venus; Saturn), planets which he described as ‘spiritual symbols of permanent value’. In each Chronicle, the arc of the narrative, countless points of ornamental detail, and the portrayal of the Christological figure of Aslan, are all governed by this cosmologically based imaginative intention. The Chronicles therefore are not, first and foremost, Biblical allegories, as critics have previously assumed, but attempts to communicate seven ancient archetypes through the genre of romance. The occasioning of the first story is argued to be the famous debate at Oxford's Socratic Club in which Lewis's Christian Idealism was critiqued by the philosopher, Elizabeth Anscombe. In sum, Planet Narnia contends that the Chronicles are the product of a subtler writer and thinker than has hitherto been recognised, whose abiding interests were hiddenness, immanence, and knowledge by acquaintance.
Jiang Wu and Ron Dziwenka
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- May 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780231171601
- eISBN:
- 9780231540193
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Columbia University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7312/columbia/9780231171601.003.0009
- Subject:
- Religion, Buddhism
Chapter 8 situates the two editions of Korean Canon in Goryeo’s religious culture and the complicated international history between Korea, Song China, and the Khitan Liao and argue that the canon had ...
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Chapter 8 situates the two editions of Korean Canon in Goryeo’s religious culture and the complicated international history between Korea, Song China, and the Khitan Liao and argue that the canon had been used as a gigantic talisman and was instrumental to the formation of a Buddhist culture which aimed at praying for blessing the nation and expelling calamities.Less
Chapter 8 situates the two editions of Korean Canon in Goryeo’s religious culture and the complicated international history between Korea, Song China, and the Khitan Liao and argue that the canon had been used as a gigantic talisman and was instrumental to the formation of a Buddhist culture which aimed at praying for blessing the nation and expelling calamities.
Michael Ward
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- January 2008
- ISBN:
- 9780195313871
- eISBN:
- 9780199871964
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195313871.003.0002
- Subject:
- Religion, Religion and Literature
Lewis was interested in the medieval heavens both from an academic and an imaginative perspective. The pagan gods, to his mind, were aesthetically beautiful and also apologetically useful, and ...
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Lewis was interested in the medieval heavens both from an academic and an imaginative perspective. The pagan gods, to his mind, were aesthetically beautiful and also apologetically useful, and Ptolemaic astrology was deemed consonant with Christianity until at least the sixteenth century (Dante being chief among those poets who Christianized it). The seven planets Lewis regarded as spiritual symbols of permanent value, able to convey truths relating to psychology, rationality, and novitas. Lewis's Idealism and his dislike of spiritual introspection pertinent to the question of Enjoyment of these symbols. Contemplating the planets and their influences in the Chronicles of Narnia.Less
Lewis was interested in the medieval heavens both from an academic and an imaginative perspective. The pagan gods, to his mind, were aesthetically beautiful and also apologetically useful, and Ptolemaic astrology was deemed consonant with Christianity until at least the sixteenth century (Dante being chief among those poets who Christianized it). The seven planets Lewis regarded as spiritual symbols of permanent value, able to convey truths relating to psychology, rationality, and novitas. Lewis's Idealism and his dislike of spiritual introspection pertinent to the question of Enjoyment of these symbols. Contemplating the planets and their influences in the Chronicles of Narnia.
Michael Ward
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- January 2008
- ISBN:
- 9780195313871
- eISBN:
- 9780199871964
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195313871.003.0012
- Subject:
- Religion, Religion and Literature
Reasons why Lewis's critics were not looking for a secret layer of meaning. Reasons why Lewis's critics were not interested in astrology. The extent to which Lewis knew about astronomy. The extent to ...
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Reasons why Lewis's critics were not looking for a secret layer of meaning. Reasons why Lewis's critics were not interested in astrology. The extent to which Lewis knew about astronomy. The extent to which he believed in astrology. The circumstances in which the donegalitarian discovery was made.Less
Reasons why Lewis's critics were not looking for a secret layer of meaning. Reasons why Lewis's critics were not interested in astrology. The extent to which Lewis knew about astronomy. The extent to which he believed in astrology. The circumstances in which the donegalitarian discovery was made.
Katharina Volk
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- May 2009
- ISBN:
- 9780199265220
- eISBN:
- 9780191708800
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199265220.003.0003
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, Literary Studies: Classical, Early, and Medieval
The chapter dicusses the system of astrology that Manilius describes in Books 2-5 of his Astronomica. It begins with an exposition of the tenets of ancient astrology, pointing out that Manilius' ...
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The chapter dicusses the system of astrology that Manilius describes in Books 2-5 of his Astronomica. It begins with an exposition of the tenets of ancient astrology, pointing out that Manilius' astrology is both ‘strong’ (the stars hold the key to every aspect of our fate) and ‘hard’ (the stars themselves cause this fate). A brief history of ancient astrology from Mesopotamia via Hellenistic Greece to Rome is followed by a detailed examination of Manilius' text: the poet treats first the three astrologically significant circles (zodiac, fixed circle of the observer, and circle of lots) and then the influences of the heavenly bodies—in particular the signs of the zodiac and the paranatellonta—on human beings. The chapter concludes with an examination of the idiosyncrasies of Manilius' astrology, a topic that harks back to the puzzle of the planets discussed at the end of Chapter 1.Less
The chapter dicusses the system of astrology that Manilius describes in Books 2-5 of his Astronomica. It begins with an exposition of the tenets of ancient astrology, pointing out that Manilius' astrology is both ‘strong’ (the stars hold the key to every aspect of our fate) and ‘hard’ (the stars themselves cause this fate). A brief history of ancient astrology from Mesopotamia via Hellenistic Greece to Rome is followed by a detailed examination of Manilius' text: the poet treats first the three astrologically significant circles (zodiac, fixed circle of the observer, and circle of lots) and then the influences of the heavenly bodies—in particular the signs of the zodiac and the paranatellonta—on human beings. The chapter concludes with an examination of the idiosyncrasies of Manilius' astrology, a topic that harks back to the puzzle of the planets discussed at the end of Chapter 1.
Steven J. Green and Katharina Volk (eds)
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- May 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780199586462
- eISBN:
- 9780191724961
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199586462.001.0001
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, Literary Studies: Classical, Early, and Medieval
The Astronomica of Manilius is a poem in five books, at least partly written under Augustus, which purports to teach the reader the art of astrology and the means by which an accurate horoscope may ...
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The Astronomica of Manilius is a poem in five books, at least partly written under Augustus, which purports to teach the reader the art of astrology and the means by which an accurate horoscope may be cast. It is, therefore, a text from the classical age of Latin literature which deals with a topic to whose enduring popular interest any daily western newspaper will testify. And yet, despite some notable modern exceptions, the infamously harsh verdict of Manilius’ most famous twentieth-century editor, A. E. Housman, continues to cast an imposing shadow on the poem, especially for Anglophone readers. The current volume—seeks to lift this shadow once and for all, as it brings together an international contingent of scholars for an interdisciplinary exploration of Manilius at an auspiciously significant time, close to the bimillennial celebration of the poem’s composition. The range of perspectives from which Manilius is approached in the present volume is testament to both the complexity of Manilius and the differing fruitful avenues for modern interdisciplinary enquiry. Matters of literary interest, especially generic affiliation and intertextuality, are complemented by approaches which assess the socio-political, philosophical, scientific, and astrological resonance of the poem. Moreover, as a salutary counterbalance to the relative neglect of our author in recent times, the popular reception of the poem, especially in Renaissance times, is also explored.Less
The Astronomica of Manilius is a poem in five books, at least partly written under Augustus, which purports to teach the reader the art of astrology and the means by which an accurate horoscope may be cast. It is, therefore, a text from the classical age of Latin literature which deals with a topic to whose enduring popular interest any daily western newspaper will testify. And yet, despite some notable modern exceptions, the infamously harsh verdict of Manilius’ most famous twentieth-century editor, A. E. Housman, continues to cast an imposing shadow on the poem, especially for Anglophone readers. The current volume—seeks to lift this shadow once and for all, as it brings together an international contingent of scholars for an interdisciplinary exploration of Manilius at an auspiciously significant time, close to the bimillennial celebration of the poem’s composition. The range of perspectives from which Manilius is approached in the present volume is testament to both the complexity of Manilius and the differing fruitful avenues for modern interdisciplinary enquiry. Matters of literary interest, especially generic affiliation and intertextuality, are complemented by approaches which assess the socio-political, philosophical, scientific, and astrological resonance of the poem. Moreover, as a salutary counterbalance to the relative neglect of our author in recent times, the popular reception of the poem, especially in Renaissance times, is also explored.
Geraldine Herbert-Brown (ed.)
- Published in print:
- 2002
- Published Online:
- September 2007
- ISBN:
- 9780198154754
- eISBN:
- 9780191715457
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198154754.001.0001
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, Literary Studies: Classical, Early, and Medieval
This book celebrates the bimillennial anniversary of the inception of Ovid’s Fasti by offering a variety of approaches to Ovid’s poem on the Roman religious calendar. The volume does not aim at ...
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This book celebrates the bimillennial anniversary of the inception of Ovid’s Fasti by offering a variety of approaches to Ovid’s poem on the Roman religious calendar. The volume does not aim at consensus but provides a collection of differing interpretations and perspectives of Fasti scholars without allowing any single prejudice to prevail. In reconstructing the value-systems which inform the poem, twelve contributors discuss topics such as the calendar, religion, politics, women, mime, myth, theatre, cult, astronomy, astrology, theology, intertextuality, gender, poetic ecphrasis, speech, time, and space. The tension arising from the discrepancy in interpretation and approach in the essays is an apt reflection of the tension arising from the contradictory and elusive nature of the Fasti itself. It will engage all those interested in the relationship between literature and society during the early Roman Principate.Less
This book celebrates the bimillennial anniversary of the inception of Ovid’s Fasti by offering a variety of approaches to Ovid’s poem on the Roman religious calendar. The volume does not aim at consensus but provides a collection of differing interpretations and perspectives of Fasti scholars without allowing any single prejudice to prevail. In reconstructing the value-systems which inform the poem, twelve contributors discuss topics such as the calendar, religion, politics, women, mime, myth, theatre, cult, astronomy, astrology, theology, intertextuality, gender, poetic ecphrasis, speech, time, and space. The tension arising from the discrepancy in interpretation and approach in the essays is an apt reflection of the tension arising from the contradictory and elusive nature of the Fasti itself. It will engage all those interested in the relationship between literature and society during the early Roman Principate.
M.N. Srinivas
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- September 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780198077459
- eISBN:
- 9780199081165
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198077459.003.0010
- Subject:
- Sociology, Urban and Rural Studies
This chapter provides general remarks on religion in Rampura. The villagers propitiated a wide variety of deities from the high gods and goddesses of all-India Hinduism in their various ...
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This chapter provides general remarks on religion in Rampura. The villagers propitiated a wide variety of deities from the high gods and goddesses of all-India Hinduism in their various manifestations to local ones presiding over epidemics Deities differed from each other also in their personalities and character. This was particularly seen in the contrast between the mild, vegetarian deity Rama, and the fierce Mari. When several households had the same house deity, it was frequently indicative of the existence of an agnatic linkage between them. Astrology is woven into the fabric of Hindu religion as it is lived from day-to-day. The chapter takes into account certain ideas basic to the understanding of the day-to-day religious life of the people in Rampura and neighbouring villages.Less
This chapter provides general remarks on religion in Rampura. The villagers propitiated a wide variety of deities from the high gods and goddesses of all-India Hinduism in their various manifestations to local ones presiding over epidemics Deities differed from each other also in their personalities and character. This was particularly seen in the contrast between the mild, vegetarian deity Rama, and the fierce Mari. When several households had the same house deity, it was frequently indicative of the existence of an agnatic linkage between them. Astrology is woven into the fabric of Hindu religion as it is lived from day-to-day. The chapter takes into account certain ideas basic to the understanding of the day-to-day religious life of the people in Rampura and neighbouring villages.
Romila Thapar
- Published in print:
- 1996
- Published Online:
- October 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780195637984
- eISBN:
- 9780199081912
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195637984.003.0002
- Subject:
- History, Indian History
This chapter discusses different ideas about time in early India. It discusses how cyclical theories of time arise from the observance of rhythm based on the sequences in relation to the sun and the ...
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This chapter discusses different ideas about time in early India. It discusses how cyclical theories of time arise from the observance of rhythm based on the sequences in relation to the sun and the moon or the seasons. Time reckoning was generally based on a luni-solar calendar. The earliest sense of a calendar had to do with time-markers, both of the individual life cycle and involving the environment, which were gradually ritualized. The precision of the solar calendar was useful in agricultural activities and also in horoscopy, and in either case it became an agency of social control. Time measurement was required by astrology in the making of horoscopes. Indian interest in astronomy is revealed in texts dating to the fifth century BC. The mingling of Indian and Graeco–Babylonian ideas enhanced activity in astronomy and mathematics in India. This took the form of extensive calculations relating to planets, orbits, eclipses and the like.Less
This chapter discusses different ideas about time in early India. It discusses how cyclical theories of time arise from the observance of rhythm based on the sequences in relation to the sun and the moon or the seasons. Time reckoning was generally based on a luni-solar calendar. The earliest sense of a calendar had to do with time-markers, both of the individual life cycle and involving the environment, which were gradually ritualized. The precision of the solar calendar was useful in agricultural activities and also in horoscopy, and in either case it became an agency of social control. Time measurement was required by astrology in the making of horoscopes. Indian interest in astronomy is revealed in texts dating to the fifth century BC. The mingling of Indian and Graeco–Babylonian ideas enhanced activity in astronomy and mathematics in India. This took the form of extensive calculations relating to planets, orbits, eclipses and the like.
RICHARD KALMIN
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- January 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780197264744
- eISBN:
- 9780191734663
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- British Academy
- DOI:
- 10.5871/bacad/9780197264744.003.0011
- Subject:
- History, Middle East History
This chapter evaluates the use of the Babylonian Talmud for the study of the history of late-Roman Palestine using astrology as a case example. It explains that the Babylonian Talmud contains much ...
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This chapter evaluates the use of the Babylonian Talmud for the study of the history of late-Roman Palestine using astrology as a case example. It explains that the Babylonian Talmud contains much material which derives from Palestine and may sometimes preserve Palestinian rabbinic material in a form closer to the original than is found in Palestinian compilations. Palestinian sources often do not contain trustworthy evidence about Palestinian Sages and institutions.Less
This chapter evaluates the use of the Babylonian Talmud for the study of the history of late-Roman Palestine using astrology as a case example. It explains that the Babylonian Talmud contains much material which derives from Palestine and may sometimes preserve Palestinian rabbinic material in a form closer to the original than is found in Palestinian compilations. Palestinian sources often do not contain trustworthy evidence about Palestinian Sages and institutions.
Robert C. Fuller
- Published in print:
- 2001
- Published Online:
- November 2003
- ISBN:
- 9780195146806
- eISBN:
- 9780199834204
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0195146808.003.0002
- Subject:
- Religion, Religion and Society
In colonial America, only 15% of the population belonged to a church. The majority was nonetheless spiritual at a personal level, but fashioned their personal beliefs by drawing upon a variety of ...
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In colonial America, only 15% of the population belonged to a church. The majority was nonetheless spiritual at a personal level, but fashioned their personal beliefs by drawing upon a variety of magical and occult philosophies. Astrology, divination, and witchcraft permeated everyday life in the colonies. By the early and mid‐nineteenth century, the writings of the Swedish mystic Emanuel Swedenborg and the American Transcendentalist Ralph Waldo Emerson gave middle‐class Americans a new vocabulary for describing their inner‐relationship to unseen spiritual dimensions of life. And, by the latter part of the nineteenth century, both mesmerism and spiritualism provided general audiences with new ways of exploring this inner‐relationship to the spirit world.Less
In colonial America, only 15% of the population belonged to a church. The majority was nonetheless spiritual at a personal level, but fashioned their personal beliefs by drawing upon a variety of magical and occult philosophies. Astrology, divination, and witchcraft permeated everyday life in the colonies. By the early and mid‐nineteenth century, the writings of the Swedish mystic Emanuel Swedenborg and the American Transcendentalist Ralph Waldo Emerson gave middle‐class Americans a new vocabulary for describing their inner‐relationship to unseen spiritual dimensions of life. And, by the latter part of the nineteenth century, both mesmerism and spiritualism provided general audiences with new ways of exploring this inner‐relationship to the spirit world.
Michael A. Ryan
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- August 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780801449840
- eISBN:
- 9780801463150
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Cornell University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7591/cornell/9780801449840.001.0001
- Subject:
- History, European Medieval History
Astrology in the Middle Ages was considered a branch of the magical arts, one informed by Jewish and Muslim scientific knowledge in Muslim Spain. Using the stars and planets to divine the future ran ...
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Astrology in the Middle Ages was considered a branch of the magical arts, one informed by Jewish and Muslim scientific knowledge in Muslim Spain. Using the stars and planets to divine the future ran counter to the orthodox Christian notion that human beings have free will, and some clerical authorities argued that it almost certainly entailed the summoning of spiritual forces considered diabolical. We know that occult beliefs and practices became widespread in the later Middle Ages, but there is much about the phenomenon that we do not understand. This book examines the interest in astrology in the Iberian kingdom of Aragon, where ideas about magic and the occult were deeply intertwined with notions of power, authority, and providence. The book focuses on the reigns of Pere III (1336–1387) and his sons Joan I (1387–1395) and Martí I (1395–1410). Pere and Joan spent lavish amounts of money on astrological writings, and astrologers held great sway within their courts. When Martí I took the throne, however, he was determined to purge Joan's courtiers and return to religious orthodoxy. The book shows the appeal of astrology to those in power: predicting the future through divination was a valuable tool for addressing the extraordinary problems plaguing Europe in the fourteenth century. Meanwhile, the kings' contemporaries within the noble, ecclesiastical, and mercantile elite had their own reasons for wanting to know what the future held, but their engagement with the occult was directly related to the amount of power and authority the monarch exhibited and applied.Less
Astrology in the Middle Ages was considered a branch of the magical arts, one informed by Jewish and Muslim scientific knowledge in Muslim Spain. Using the stars and planets to divine the future ran counter to the orthodox Christian notion that human beings have free will, and some clerical authorities argued that it almost certainly entailed the summoning of spiritual forces considered diabolical. We know that occult beliefs and practices became widespread in the later Middle Ages, but there is much about the phenomenon that we do not understand. This book examines the interest in astrology in the Iberian kingdom of Aragon, where ideas about magic and the occult were deeply intertwined with notions of power, authority, and providence. The book focuses on the reigns of Pere III (1336–1387) and his sons Joan I (1387–1395) and Martí I (1395–1410). Pere and Joan spent lavish amounts of money on astrological writings, and astrologers held great sway within their courts. When Martí I took the throne, however, he was determined to purge Joan's courtiers and return to religious orthodoxy. The book shows the appeal of astrology to those in power: predicting the future through divination was a valuable tool for addressing the extraordinary problems plaguing Europe in the fourteenth century. Meanwhile, the kings' contemporaries within the noble, ecclesiastical, and mercantile elite had their own reasons for wanting to know what the future held, but their engagement with the occult was directly related to the amount of power and authority the monarch exhibited and applied.
Katharina Volk
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- May 2009
- ISBN:
- 9780199265220
- eISBN:
- 9780191708800
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199265220.001.0001
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, Literary Studies: Classical, Early, and Medieval
This book describes the Latin astrological poet Marcus Manilius. Manilius, about whose life nothing is known, composed his didactic poem Astronomica in the second decade of the 1st century AD. The ...
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This book describes the Latin astrological poet Marcus Manilius. Manilius, about whose life nothing is known, composed his didactic poem Astronomica in the second decade of the 1st century AD. The work is our earliest extant comprehensive treatment of astrology, a discipline developed in Hellenistic Greece under the influence of Near Eastern practices that had become highly fashionable in Rome during the final years of the Republic. Apparently without much impact in his own lifetime and the rest of antiquity, Manilius was rediscovered in the Renaissance and has received numerous editions over the centuries, including by such influential critics as Joseph Scaliger, Richard Bentley, and A. E. Housman. In recent times, however, his work has been largely neglected by classical scholarship. This book explores the manifold intellectual traditions that have gone into shaping the Astronomica: ancient astronomy and cosmology, the history and practice of astrology, the historical and political situation at the poem's composition, the poetic and generic conventions that inform it, and the philosophical underpinnings of Manilius' world-view. What emerges is a panoroma of the cultural imagination of the Early Empire, a fascinating picture of the ways in which educated Greeks and Romans were accustomed to think and speak about the cosmos and man's place in it.Less
This book describes the Latin astrological poet Marcus Manilius. Manilius, about whose life nothing is known, composed his didactic poem Astronomica in the second decade of the 1st century AD. The work is our earliest extant comprehensive treatment of astrology, a discipline developed in Hellenistic Greece under the influence of Near Eastern practices that had become highly fashionable in Rome during the final years of the Republic. Apparently without much impact in his own lifetime and the rest of antiquity, Manilius was rediscovered in the Renaissance and has received numerous editions over the centuries, including by such influential critics as Joseph Scaliger, Richard Bentley, and A. E. Housman. In recent times, however, his work has been largely neglected by classical scholarship. This book explores the manifold intellectual traditions that have gone into shaping the Astronomica: ancient astronomy and cosmology, the history and practice of astrology, the historical and political situation at the poem's composition, the poetic and generic conventions that inform it, and the philosophical underpinnings of Manilius' world-view. What emerges is a panoroma of the cultural imagination of the Early Empire, a fascinating picture of the ways in which educated Greeks and Romans were accustomed to think and speak about the cosmos and man's place in it.
Kevin van Bladel
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- September 2009
- ISBN:
- 9780195376135
- eISBN:
- 9780199871636
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195376135.003.0002
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, Ancient Religions
The first references to Hermes and his works in Arabic appear among the Iranian astrologers at the court of the ʿAbbāsid caliphs during the second half of the 8th century. These astrologers knew ...
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The first references to Hermes and his works in Arabic appear among the Iranian astrologers at the court of the ʿAbbāsid caliphs during the second half of the 8th century. These astrologers knew works of Hermes written in Middle Persian. This chapter investigates the existence of this pre-Islamic tradition of Hermetica in Arabic. First it verifies that Middle Persian Hermetica did indeed exist, although no Hermetic work survives in Middle Persian today. Then it investigates the extant accounts of how Hermetica came to be translated into Middle Persian in the Sasanian Empire. The chapter includes an extended discussion of precisely when these Middle Persian works were composed or translated from Greek. The extant sources suggest, albeit inconclusively, that Greek Hermetica were translated into Arabic already in the 3rd century. The pre-Islamic Persian Hermetic tradition provides a historical basis for understanding the origins of the Arabic Hermetica and the earliest Arabic accounts of Hermes’ identity.Less
The first references to Hermes and his works in Arabic appear among the Iranian astrologers at the court of the ʿAbbāsid caliphs during the second half of the 8th century. These astrologers knew works of Hermes written in Middle Persian. This chapter investigates the existence of this pre-Islamic tradition of Hermetica in Arabic. First it verifies that Middle Persian Hermetica did indeed exist, although no Hermetic work survives in Middle Persian today. Then it investigates the extant accounts of how Hermetica came to be translated into Middle Persian in the Sasanian Empire. The chapter includes an extended discussion of precisely when these Middle Persian works were composed or translated from Greek. The extant sources suggest, albeit inconclusively, that Greek Hermetica were translated into Arabic already in the 3rd century. The pre-Islamic Persian Hermetic tradition provides a historical basis for understanding the origins of the Arabic Hermetica and the earliest Arabic accounts of Hermes’ identity.
Kevin van Bladel
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- September 2009
- ISBN:
- 9780195376135
- eISBN:
- 9780199871636
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195376135.003.0004
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, Ancient Religions
The Book of the Thousands (Kitāb al-Ulūf), written in Arabic in the middle of the 9th century by the astrologer Abū Maʿšar of Balkh, contained an important account of not one but three ancient sages ...
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The Book of the Thousands (Kitāb al-Ulūf), written in Arabic in the middle of the 9th century by the astrologer Abū Maʿšar of Balkh, contained an important account of not one but three ancient sages named Hermes. This was to become the most widespread and influential account of Hermes’ life and history in all subsequent Arabic literature, but the original, and rather technical, work in which it first appeared does not survive. We know Abū Maʿšar's Hermes-legend only through the citations of later authors, the earliest of which is that of Ibn Ǧulǧul in the late 10th century. After providing the text and an annotated translation of Abū Maʿšar's account, this chapter pieces together its original literary context—a chronological discussion contributing to a work of historical astrology—and discovers Abū Maʿšar's sources for the stories. These sources include at least one late antique Christian world chronicle, which Abū Maʿšar knew in a translation from Syriac. This was based partly and through undetermined intermediaries on the lost chronography of the antediluvian period by the Egyptian monk Annianus (ca 400). Another source of Abū Maʿšar is found to be his contemporary, the philosopher al-Kindī. In short, Abū Maʿšar's influential account of the three Hermeses is not a fanciful invention in Arabic but a synthesis of late antique and early Arabic elements. The Arabic account of Hermes is closely connected to the history of the world chronicle and its genre.Less
The Book of the Thousands (Kitāb al-Ulūf), written in Arabic in the middle of the 9th century by the astrologer Abū Maʿšar of Balkh, contained an important account of not one but three ancient sages named Hermes. This was to become the most widespread and influential account of Hermes’ life and history in all subsequent Arabic literature, but the original, and rather technical, work in which it first appeared does not survive. We know Abū Maʿšar's Hermes-legend only through the citations of later authors, the earliest of which is that of Ibn Ǧulǧul in the late 10th century. After providing the text and an annotated translation of Abū Maʿšar's account, this chapter pieces together its original literary context—a chronological discussion contributing to a work of historical astrology—and discovers Abū Maʿšar's sources for the stories. These sources include at least one late antique Christian world chronicle, which Abū Maʿšar knew in a translation from Syriac. This was based partly and through undetermined intermediaries on the lost chronography of the antediluvian period by the Egyptian monk Annianus (ca 400). Another source of Abū Maʿšar is found to be his contemporary, the philosopher al-Kindī. In short, Abū Maʿšar's influential account of the three Hermeses is not a fanciful invention in Arabic but a synthesis of late antique and early Arabic elements. The Arabic account of Hermes is closely connected to the history of the world chronicle and its genre.
Mark Williams
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- September 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780199571840
- eISBN:
- 9780191594434
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199571840.001.0001
- Subject:
- Literature, Early and Medieval Literature, Mythology and Folklore
The presentation of the magical and mantic in Celtic literature has persistently been dogged by misunderstanding and over-romanticised readings. Among the misconceptions about the ancient and ...
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The presentation of the magical and mantic in Celtic literature has persistently been dogged by misunderstanding and over-romanticised readings. Among the misconceptions about the ancient and medieval Celtic peoples, the notion of a specifically ‘Celtic’ astrology remains widespread in the popular mind. This study aims to counter such myth-making, and to demonstrate how a number Irish and Welsh literary writers in the medieval and Early Modern period conceived of portents in the heavens — comets, blood-coloured moons, darkened suns — and what they knew of the complex art of astrology. The book examines the dissemination of concepts of portents and the science of the stars on the Celtic fringe from a literary perspective. A central concern is to provide an examination of the classes of people represented as expert in the interpretation of celestial portents: the early Irish annal-writer, the literary druid, the seer, the mythical prophet Merlin, and the learned Welsh poet of the late Middle Ages and beyond.Less
The presentation of the magical and mantic in Celtic literature has persistently been dogged by misunderstanding and over-romanticised readings. Among the misconceptions about the ancient and medieval Celtic peoples, the notion of a specifically ‘Celtic’ astrology remains widespread in the popular mind. This study aims to counter such myth-making, and to demonstrate how a number Irish and Welsh literary writers in the medieval and Early Modern period conceived of portents in the heavens — comets, blood-coloured moons, darkened suns — and what they knew of the complex art of astrology. The book examines the dissemination of concepts of portents and the science of the stars on the Celtic fringe from a literary perspective. A central concern is to provide an examination of the classes of people represented as expert in the interpretation of celestial portents: the early Irish annal-writer, the literary druid, the seer, the mythical prophet Merlin, and the learned Welsh poet of the late Middle Ages and beyond.
