Download Free PDF View PDF
MEDITERRANEAN ARCHAEOLOGY AND ARCHAEOMETRY, - Volume 16 - Issue 4 (Special Issue) - SEAC 2015 Conference "Astronomy in Past and Present Cultures" (November 2015 - Rome, Italy)
As a follow-up to my previous studies in astrological representations in the XV-XVI century art of Veneto, I will shed light on the fil rouge connecting different experiences like the planning of astrological frescoes in Montagnana by Galeottus Martius, the collaboration between Giovan Battista Abioso and Giorgione in the painting of the famous Castelfranco Frieze and the visual prognostication of Giulio Campagnola " s Astrologer , namely the artistic representation of highly complex astral theories applied to world history. This commitment to mundane astrology mixed with prophetic and apocalyptic doctrines emerges from an analysis of the whole catalogue of astral artworks in the Italian territory: 10 out of 240 of them reveal this unmistakable character and all are concentrated in the northeastern territory. There are many additional evidences that the recurring theme of astrological divination was in fact a widespread enterprise among humanists, philosophers , theologians and artists of the " Venetian Terraferma " at the time. Its discussion, reverberated across several generations and in nearby territories, reveals an informal " web " of study and research that goes well beyond the lecture halls of the local University, including poets, physicians, painters, heretics, goliardic secret societies and would-be revolutionary astronomers like Copernicus. In many features of the cited instances we find the typical rationalistic approach of the Aristotelian-Averroistic Paduan school inextricably linked to mysticism, neo-platonic magic and theology, a tradition going back at least to Pietro d " Abano and Biagio Pelacani. The same tradition, reinforced by a growing penchant for mathematical modelling and careful measuring, that will lead to the materialism of Pomponazzi, Telesius and Vanini and ultimately to the mature science of Galileo. Instead of considering this process a slow but glorious liberation from superstition as too many historians still do, I will try to argue that the interest in astrological divination has been a fertile breeding ground for the Scientific Revolution and in particular for the rebirth of Heliocentrism, a controversial thesis in the vein of Dame Frances Yates, akin to that recently advocated by Robert Westman in his debated " The Copernican Question " (2011).
Download Free PDF View PDF
In its original Babylonian and Egyptian contexts, astrology was the interpretation of celestial signs and omens sent by the gods as warnings to rulers and the elite. Roman fondness for Stoicism fertilized the growth of astrology in the Greco-Roman world, which developed into a natural science, fully integrated with the prevailing cosmology. Astrology became popularized, and anyone who could afford some level of the service knew basic features of his natal chart. The chapter explains the various forms and purposes of judicial or divinatory astrology: “mundane” (heavenly effects on regions), “genethlialogical” (heavenly effects on a life from its birth or conception), “horary” (heavenly effects on the present moment), and “catarchic” (heavenly effects on the future). The chapter also provides an historical sketch of classical astrology, from Babylonian origins through the major surviving handbooks, and an elaborated ancient example of a natal chart (of the emperor Hadrian), its methods, and interpretation.
Download Free PDF View PDF
Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part C: Studies in History and Philosophy of Biological and Biomedical Sciences
Download Free PDF View PDF
Arts the Journal of the Sydney University Arts Association
Download Free PDF View PDF
Prognostication in the Medieval World: A Handbook
Download Free PDF View PDF
Early Science and Medicine
