the-astrology-book

The earliest Mesopotamian texts, which survive only in fragments, date from
around 2200 B.C.E., and the earliest complete text, the Venus Tablet, detailing the
political and global correlates with Venus’ rising and setting, dates from the eighteenth
century B.C.E. Most existing written evidence, though, dates from the Assyrian
period of the eighth to seventh centuries B.C.E.
Sargon II (reigned 721–705 B.C.E.) was the first of the new line of Assyrian
monarchs known to have taken an astrologer on his military campaigns. An inscription
from a tablet in the Louvre recording his attack on the city of Musasir, now in
northwest Iran, suggests that the timing of his invasion may have been arranged by
reference to astronomical factors:
At the exalted command of Nabû [Mercury] and Marduk [Jupiter], who
had moved on a path in a stellar station for starting my campaign, and
besides, as a favourable sign for seizing power, Magur [“the boat” = the
moon], lord of the tiara [made an eclipse that] lasted one watch, to herald
the destruction of Gutium. Upon the precious approval of the warrior
Shamash [the sun], who wrote encouraging omens on the text that
he would walk at my side … I mustered my army.
It is fascinating to observe the clear and logical manner in which the military
arrangements proceeded. Mercury’s movements revealed the mind of Nabû, the
Scribe, while Jupiter’s position indicated the thoughts of Marduk, the proprietary god
of Babylon. Sin, the moon god, confirmed his colleague’s intentions, and lastly
Shamash, the solar deity, indicated his agreement by giving a positive answer to a
question posed via extispicy (i.e., through entrail divination). The gods’ intentions
would have been clarified against previous events listed in the omen literature, and
Sargon would have been informed that a majority of the divine council had approved
his action. One can only imagine the crushing effect of the Assyrian army, which was
one of the greatest fighting machines of the first millennium. The forces were armed
not only with superior numbers and technology, but also with the knowledge that
heaven was on its side, which, in turn, must have had an enormous effect on morale.
With the sanction of the stars the Assyrian campaign assumed the character of a jihad,
or holy war, and Sargon’s success no doubt convinced him that astrology was an essential
tool in his political and military arsenal.
Documented examples of astrology’s supposed ability to provide military
advantage exist from later European history. As late as the 1640s, a positive forecast
from the astrologer William Lilly for either side in the English civil war was considered
of more value than the force of a dozen regiments. Further, in spite of the substantial
changes in astrological technique and interpretative style since Sargon
marched at the head of his conquering army, astrology retains a strict logical procedure,
matching each astronomical feature against a corresponding meaning in organized
steps in order to arrive at a single conclusion.
The notion of a cosmic state in which the human polity is intimately connected
to the celestial world survived into Greek astrology, reinforced by similar conceptions
in Egypt, in which the Pharaoh was a representative of the sun god and an incarnation
of the star Sopdet (Greek Sothis, modern Sirius), itself identified with the god
Mundane Astrology
THE ASTROLOGY BOOK
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