The Ancient Mediterranean Religions Index Database

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26 results for "astrology"

1. Pindar, Fragments, 129 (6th cent. BCE - 5th cent. BCE) Tagged with subjects: •astrology, and fate Found in books: Griffiths (1975) 309

2. Tosefta, Taanit, 154 (1st cent. CE - 2nd cent. CE) Tagged with subjects: •astrology, and fate Found in books: Griffiths (1975) 309

3. Pliny The Elder, Natural History, 2.4.22 (1st cent. CE - 1st cent. CE) Tagged with subjects: •astrology, and fate Found in books: Griffiths (1975) 242

4. New Testament, Luke, 17.18 (1st cent. CE - 1st cent. CE) Tagged with subjects: •astrology, and fate Found in books: Griffiths (1975) 328

17.18. οὐχ εὑρέθησαν ὑποστρέψαντες δοῦναι δόξαν τῷ θεῷ εἰ μὴ ὁ ἀλλογενὴς οὗτος;

17.18. Were there none found who returned to give glory to God, except this stranger?"

5. New Testament, Hebrews, 2, 4 (1st cent. CE - 1st cent. CE) Tagged with subjects: •nan Found in books: nan nan

6. Plutarch, On Isis And Osiris, 19, 27, 68 (1st cent. CE - 2nd cent. CE) Tagged with subjects: •nan Found in books: Griffiths (1975) 283

68. Wherefore in the study of these matters it is especially necessary that we adopt, as our guide in these mysteries, the reasoning that comes from philosophy, and consider reverently each one of the things that are said and done, so that, to quote Theodorus, Cf. Moralia , 467 b. who said that while he offered the good word with his right hand some of his auditors received it in their left, we may not thus err by accepting in a different spirit the things that the laws have dictated admirably concerning the sacrifices and festivals. The fact that everything is to be referred to reason we may gather from the Egyptians themselves; for on the nineteenth day of the first month, when they are holding festival in honour of Hermes, they eat honey and a fig; and as they eat they say, A sweet thing is Truth. The amulet Cf. 377 b, supra . of Isis, which they traditionally assert that she hung about her neck, is interpreted a true voice. And Harpocrates is not to be regarded as an imperfect and an infant god, nor some deity or other that protects legumes, but as the representative and corrector of unseasoned, imperfect, and inarticulate reasoning about the gods among mankind. For this reason he keeps his finger on his lips in token of restrained speech or silence. In the month of Mesorê they bring to him an offering of legumes and say, The tongue is luck, the tongue is god. of the plants in Egypt they say that the persea is especially consecrated to the goddess because its fruit resembles a heart and its leaf a tongue. The fact is that nothing of mans usual possessions is more divine than reasoning, especially reasoning about the gods; and nothing has a greater influence toward happiness. For this reason we give instructions to anyone who comes down to the oracle here to think holy thoughts and to speak words of good omen. But the mass of mankind act ridiculously in their processions and festivals in that they proclaim at the outset the use of words of good omen, The regular proclamation ( εὐφημεῖτε ) used by the Greeks at the beginning of any ceremony. but later they both say and think the most unhallowed thoughts about the very gods.

7. Lucan, Pharsalia, 8.831 (1st cent. CE - 1st cent. CE) Tagged with subjects: •astrology, and fate Found in books: Griffiths (1975) 328

8. Sextus, Outlines of Pyrrhonism, 1-3, 1, 19, 3 (2nd cent. CE - 3rd cent. CE) Tagged with subjects: •nan Found in books: nan nan nan nan nan nan nan nan

9. Apuleius, Apology, 27 (2nd cent. CE - 2nd cent. CE) Tagged with subjects: •astrology, and fate Found in books: Griffiths (1975) 322

10. Apuleius, The Golden Ass, 1.5 (2nd cent. CE - 2nd cent. CE) Tagged with subjects: •astrology, and fate Found in books: Griffiths (1975) 276

11. Pliny The Younger, Letters, 8.4 (2nd cent. CE - 2nd cent. CE) Tagged with subjects: •astrology, and fate Found in books: Griffiths (1975) 283

8.4. To Caninius. You are doing quite right to get together materials for a history of the Dacian War. For what subject is more fresh or affords more abundant materials and scope, or, in a word, is more fitted for poetic treatment? for, though it reads like a fable, it is strictly and literally true. You will describe how rivers have been turned into new channels, * how new bridges have been thrown over the rivers, how precipitous mountains have been levelled to form camping places, and how a king was driven from his palace and even from life itself and yet kept an undaunted front. Moreover, you will describe the two triumphs we have celebrated, one of which was the first ever won over that unconquered race, while the other was gained over its last death-struggle. Notwithstanding your genius, which soars to its highest flights and shines most brilliantly when engaged on a noble theme, you will find a difficulty, and it will be a very great one, in the arduous and immense task of giving an adequate description of these mighty deeds. Moreover, additional trouble will be entailed by the fact that their barbarous and savage names - especially that of the king himself cannot be made to scan in Greek verse. But there is no difficulty which cannot be, if not entirely overcome, at any rate considerably lessened by art and diligence. Besides, if licence was given to Homer to contract, lengthen, and inflect the soft syllables of the Greek tongue to suit the easy flow of his verse, why should a similar licence be denied to you, especially as in your case it would arise not from any fastidious caprice, but from sheer necessity? Well, then, invoke the gods to your assistance - as you bards have prescriptive right to do - not forgetting that deity whose achievements, work, and counsels you are about to sing; let go the ropes, spread sail, and now if ever let the full tide of your genius carry you along ! Why should I not write to a poet in a poetic strain? I only make one stipulation, and that is that you send on to me the very first part of the poem as soon as it is finished, or even before you have finished it, just as it is, fresh from your pen, in the rough, and, as it were, but newly born. You will tell me that a few patches cannot give the same pleasure as the finished whole, and that an incomplete work is not so satisfactory as a complete one. I know that, and so I shall only judge them as beginnings ; I shall regard them as dismembered limbs, and they will lie in my writing-desk waiting for your final corrections. Do let me have this additional pledge of your regard for me, which I should value above all others - that of being entrusted with secrets which you would not like anyone else to know. To put the matter in a nutshell - while it is possible that I should approve and applaud your writings the more if you send them to me in less haste and after deeper consideration, the more haste and want of consideration you show in forwarding them to me, the more I shall love and applaud you as a friend. Farewell.

12. Clement of Alexandria, Miscellanies, (2nd cent. CE - 3rd cent. CE) Tagged with subjects: •astrology, and fate Found in books: Griffiths (1975) 276, 283

13. Philostratus The Athenian, Life of Apollonius, 4.18 (2nd cent. CE - missingth cent. CE) Tagged with subjects: •astrology, and fate Found in books: Griffiths (1975) 289

4.18. ἦν μὲν δὴ ̓Επιδαυρίων ἡμέρα. τὰ δὲ ̓Επιδαύρια μετὰ πρόρρησίν τε καὶ ἱερεῖα δεῦρο μυεῖν ̓Αθηναίοις πάτριον ἐπὶ θυσίᾳ δευτέρᾳ, τουτὶ δὲ ἐνόμισαν ̓Ασκληπιοῦ ἕνεκα, ὅτι δὴ ἐμύησαν αὐτὸν ἥκοντα ̓Επιδαυρόθεν ὀψὲ μυστηρίων. ἀμελήσαντες δὲ οἱ πολλοὶ τοῦ μυεῖσθαι περὶ τὸν ̓Απολλώνιον εἶχον καὶ τοῦτ' ἐσπούδαζον μᾶλλον ἢ τὸ ἀπελθεῖν τετελεσμένοι, ὁ δὲ ξυνέσεσθαι μὲν αὐτοῖς αὖθις ἔλεγεν, ἐκέλευσε δὲ πρὸς τοῖς ἱεροῖς τότε γίγνεσθαι, καὶ γὰρ αὐτὸς μυεῖσθαι. ὁ δὲ ἱεροφάντης οὐκ ἐβούλετο παρέχειν τὰ ἱερά, μὴ γὰρ ἄν ποτε μυῆσαι γόητα, μηδὲ τὴν ̓Ελευσῖνα ἀνοῖξαι ἀνθρώπῳ μὴ καθαρῷ τὰ δαιμόνια. ὁ δὲ ̓Απολλώνιος οὐδὲν ὑπὸ τούτων ἥττων αὑτοῦ γενόμενος “οὔπω” ἔφη “τὸ μέγιστον, ὧν ἐγὼ ἐγκληθείην ἄν, εἴρηκας, ὅτι περὶ τῆς τελετῆς πλείω ἢ σὺ γιγνώσκων ἐγὼ δὲ ὡς παρὰ σοφώτερον ἐμαυτοῦ μυησόμενος ἦλθον.” ἐπαινεσάντων δὲ τῶν παρόντων, ὡς ἐρρωμένως καὶ παραπλησίως αὑτῷ ἀπεκρίνατο, ὁ μὲν ἱεροφάντης, ἐπειδὴ ἐξείργων αὐτὸν οὐ φίλα τοῖς πολλοῖς ἐδόκει πράττειν, μετέβαλε τοῦ τόνου καὶ “μυοῦ”, ἔφη “σοφὸς γάρ τις ἥκειν ἔοικας”, ὁ δὲ ̓Απολλώνιος “μυήσομαι” ἔφη “αὖθις, μυήσει δέ με ὁ δεῖνα” προγνώσει χρώμενος ἐς τὸν μετ' ἐκεῖνον ἱεροφάντην, ὃς μετὰ τέτταρα ἔτη τοῦ ἱεροῦ προὔστη.

4.18. It was then the day of the Epidaurian festival, at which it is still customary for the Athenians to hold the initiation at a second sacrifice after both proclamation and victims have been offered; and this custom was instituted in honor of Asclepius, because they still initiated him when on one occasion he arrived from Epidaurus too late for the mysteries. Now most people neglected the initiation and hung around Apollonius, and thought more of doing that than of being perfected in their religion before they went home; but Apollonius said that he would join them later on, and urged them to attend at once to the rites of the religion, for that he himself would be initiated. But the hierophant was not disposed to admit him to the rites, for he said that he would never initiate a wizard and charlatan, nor open the Eleusinian rite to a man who dabbled in impure rites. Thereupon Apollonius, fully equal to the occasion, said: You have not yet mentioned the chief of my offense, which is that knowing, as I do, more about the initiatory rite than you do yourself, I have nevertheless come for initiation to you, as if you were wiser than I am. The bystanders applauded these words, and deemed that he had answered with vigor and like himself; and thereupon the hierophant, since he saw that his exclusion of Apollonius was not by any means popular with the crowd, changed his tone and said: Be thou initiated, for thou seemest to be some wise man who has come here. But Apollonius replied: I will be initiated at another time, and it is so and so, mentioning a name, who will initiate me. Herein he showed his gift of prevision, for he glanced at the hierophant who succeeded the one he addressed, and presided over the sanctuary four years later.

14. Gellius, Attic Nights, 3.2 (2nd cent. CE - 2nd cent. CE) Tagged with subjects: •astrology, and fate Found in books: Griffiths (1975) 328

15. Plotinus, Enneads, 1.6.7 (3rd cent. CE - 3rd cent. CE) Tagged with subjects: •astrology, and fate Found in books: Griffiths (1975) 309

16. Eusebius of Caesarea, Preparation For The Gospel, 3.4 (3rd cent. CE - 4th cent. CE) Tagged with subjects: •astrology, and fate Found in books: Griffiths (1975) 283

17. Porphyry, On Abstinence, 1.31, 4.8 (3rd cent. CE - 4th cent. CE) Tagged with subjects: •astrology, and fate Found in books: Griffiths (1975) 283, 309

1.31. 31.So that, if we are desirous of returning to those natures with which we formerly associated, we must endeavour to the utmost of our power to withdraw ourselves from sense and imagination, and the irrationality with which they are attended, and also from the passions which subsist |28 about them, as far as the necessity of our condition in this life will permit. But such things as pertain to intellect should be distinctly arranged, procuring for it peace and quiet from the war with the irrational part; that we may not only be auditors of intellect and intelligibles, but may as much as possible enjoy the contemplation of them, and, being established in an incorporeal nature, may truly live through intellect; and not falsely in conjunction with things allied to bodies. We must therefore divest ourselves of our manifold garments, both of this visible and fleshly vestment, and of those with which we are internally clothed, and which are proximate to our cutaneous habiliments; and we must enter the stadium naked and unclothed, striving for [the most glorious of all prizes] the Olympia of the soul. The first thing, however, and without which we cannot contend, is to divest ourselves of our garments. But since of these some are external and others internal, thus also with respect to the denudation, one kind is through things which are apparent, but another through such as are more unapparent. Thus, for instance, not to eat, or not to receive what is offered to us, belongs to things which are immediately obvious; but not to desire is a thing more obscure; so that, together with deeds, we must also withdraw ourselves from an adhering affection and passion towards them. For what benefit shall we derive by abstaining from deeds, when at the same time we tenaciously adhere to the causes from which the deeds proceed? SPAN 4.8. 8.This also is a testimony of their continence, that, though they neither exercised themselves in walking or riding, yet they lived free from disease, and were sufficiently strong for the endurance of modern labours. They bore therefore many burdens in the performance of sacred operations, and accomplished many ministrant works, which required more than common strength. But they divided the night into the observation of the celestial bodies, and sometimes devoted a part of it to offices of purification; and they distributed the day into the worship of the Gods, according to which they celebrated them with hymns thrice or four times, viz. in the morning and evening, when the sun is at his meridian altitude, and when he is declining to the west. The rest of their time they devoted to arithmetical and geometrical speculations, always labouring to effect something, and to make some new discovery, and, in short, continually exercising their skill. In winter nights also they were occupied in the same employments, being vigilantly engaged in literary pursuits, as paying no attention to the acquisition of externals, and being liberated from the servitude of that bad master, excessive expense. Hence their unwearied and incessant labour testifies their endurance, but their continence is manifested by their liberation from the desire of external good. To sail from Egypt likewise, [i.e. to quit Egypt,] was considered by them to be one of the most unholy things, in consequence of their being careful to avoid foreign luxury and pursuits; for this appeared to them to be alone lawful to those who were compelled to do so by regal necessities. Indeed, they were very anxious to continue in the observance of the institutes of their country, and those who were found to have violated them, though but in a small degree were expelled [from the college of the priests]. The |119 true method of philosophizing, likewise, was preserved by the prophets, by the hierostolistae 9, and the sacred scribes, and also by the horologi, or calculators of nativities. But the rest of the priests, and of the pastophori 10, curators of temples, and ministers of the Gods, were similarly studious of purity, yet not so accurately, and with such great continence, as the priests of whom we have been speaking. And such are the particulars which are narrated of the Egyptians, by a man who was a lover of truth, and an accurate writer, and who among the Stoics strenuously and solidly philosophized. SPAN

18. Ammonius Hermiae, In Porphyrii Isagogen Sive V Voces, 44 (5th cent. CE - 6th cent. CE) Tagged with subjects: •astrology, and fate Found in books: Griffiths (1975) 322

19. Justinian, Codex Justinianus, 1 (5th cent. CE - 6th cent. CE) Tagged with subjects: •astrology, and fate Found in books: Griffiths (1975) 276

20. Anon., Sifra Behuqqotay, 245, 304 Tagged with subjects: •nan Found in books: Griffiths (1975) 328

21. Anon., Sifra Qedoshim, 4.193, 13.708 Tagged with subjects: •astrology, and fate Found in books: Griffiths (1975) 242, 254, 289

22. Papyri, P.Oxy., 11.43, 11.112, 11.157 Tagged with subjects: •astrology, and fate Found in books: Griffiths (1975) 254, 322

23. Dead Sea Scrolls, 4Q402, 4.8 Tagged with subjects: •astrology, and fate Found in books: Griffiths (1975) 283

24. Vergil, Georgics, 3.158 Tagged with subjects: •astrology, and fate Found in books: Griffiths (1975) 276

3.158. continuoque notas et nomina gentis inurunt

25. Vergil, Aeneis, 3.284, 6.849 Tagged with subjects: •astrology, and fate Found in books: Griffiths (1975) 322, 328

3.284. grew black and angry, while perpetual gales 6.849. Victorious paeans on the fragrant air

26. Valerius Maximus, Memorable Deeds And Sayings, 5.2.2 Tagged with subjects: •astrology, and fate Found in books: Griffiths (1975) 254

Tiresias: The Ancient Mediterranean Religions Source Database