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How did Mesopotamian astrology reach ancient Egypt, Greece, and India?
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astrology
Zodiac wheel showing the 12 astrological constellations or signs from an illumination of the poem Breviari d'Amour, Catalan (Spain), late 14th century; in the collection of the British Library.
Mesopotamian astrology, rooted in celestial omens, spread to Egypt, Greece, and India through various historical channels:
- Ancient Egypt: Evidence of transmission during the Achaemenian period exists in a demotic papyrus based on an original from about 500 BCE. Later, Mesopotamian celestial omens were incorporated into Greek-language works written in Egypt, such as those attributed to the priest Petosiris and the astronomer Ptolemy.1
- Greece: Mesopotamian ideas reached the Greeks through several channels, including the Magusaeans of Asia Minor—Persian settlers influenced by Babylonian traditions. Additionally, Greek astronomers like Hipparchus adopted Mesopotamian computational parameters and sexagesimal methods during the Seleucid period.12
- India: Mesopotamian omen literature arrived in India during the 5th century BCE, facilitated by the Achaemenid occupation of the Indus valley. These ideas were initially found in Buddhist texts. Later, in the 2nd and 3rd centuries CE, Hellenistic astrology was transmitted to India via Sanskrit translations, where it was integrated with indigenous systems like the nakshatras.134