The Daimon in Hellenistic Astrology
Origins and Influence
by Dorian Gieseler Greenbaum
ISBN: 9789004306202
£180.01
2 Nov 2015
Hardcover; 600 pages
In The Daimon in Hellenistic Astrology: Origins and Influence, Dorian Gieseler Greenbaum investigates for the first time the concept of the daimon (daemon, demon), normally confined to religion and philosophy, within the theory and practice of ancient western astrology (2nd century BCE – 7th century CE). This multi-disciplinary study covers the daimon within astrology proper as well as the daimon and astrology in wider cultural practices including divination, Gnosticism, Mithraism and Neo-Platonism. It explores relationships between the daimon and fate and Daimon and Tyche (fortune or chance), and the doctrine of lots as exemplified in Plato’s Myth of Er. In finding the impact of Egyptian and Mesopotamian ideas of fate on Hellenistic astrology, it critically examines astrology’s perception as propounding an unalterable destiny.
Categories
History, Astrology
Tags
Hellenistic, Daimon,
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Table of Contents
Reviews
Table of Contents
Introduction
1 Kindled Spirits: The Daimon, Plutarch and Vettius Valens
2 Keeping in Good Spirits: The Places of Good Daimon and Fortune in Astrology
3 Twists of Fate: Daimon, Fortune and Astrology in Egypt and the Near East
4 Hie Thee to Hell: The Place of the Bad Daimon
5 Divergent Paths: Daimons and Astrology in Gnosticism and Mithraism
6 Ambivalent Daimons and Astrology
7 Porphyry, the Oikodespotēs and the Personal Daimon
8 Allotment, the Daimon and Astrology
9 Endowment and Chance: The Lots of Fortune and Daimon
10 ‘Parents of Human Civilisation’: The Lots of Love and Necessity
Conclusion
Appendices
Bibliography
General Index
Selected Citations Index
Selected Citations Index
Reviews
“…Greenbaum’s The Daimon in Hellenistic Astrology will indubitably enthrall those interested in the difference between fatalism and determinism and the solutions provided by astrologers of the past.”
~ Levente László, Budapest University of Technology and Economics, in: Aestimatio, vol. 13 (2016-2018)
“…the book has achieved a new level of excellence in the subject area.”
~ Nicolas Campion, University of Wales Trinity Saint David, in: Bryn Mawr Classical Review (2017)
About the Author
Dorian Gieseler Greenbaum is an expert in the history, theory and practice of ancient astrology, focusing on the Mediterranean region from the Hellenistic and Ptolemaic periods through Late Antiquity. She is a tutor on the MA in Cultural Astronomy and Astrology at the University of Wales Trinity Saint David. She received her PhD in Combined Historical Studies from the Warburg Institute, University of London in 2009, under the supervision of Charles Burnett. The book based on her thesis was published in 2016 by Brill as The Daimon in Hellenistic Astrology: Origins and Influence. She has a special interest in the history and doctrine of astrological lots, and has lectured and written extensively on them at conferences and in print.