Astrology: A History [Hardcover]

This solid, amazingly attractive history of Astrology is quite possibly the best overall book on the subject currently available in English. Although it does not replace the superior A HISTORY OF WESTERN ASTROLOGY by Jim Tester, the latter does not deal with every epoch in the history of the subject since Tester did not live to complete his work. Whereas Tester begins with the Greeks and largely ends in the Renaissance, Whitfield continues into the early modern period with the demise of Western Astrology due to the parallel collapse of the Aristotelian scientific worldview upon which astrology depended. Whitfield also focuses on the semi-revival of astrology in the 19th and 20th centuries, which has only a very superficial connection with classical Western Astrology, superficial because the scientific worldview that made astrological influences scientifically tenable to educated individuals is no longer in place.

Whitfield is not an original researcher, in the sense that he has blazed new trails in the study of astrological history, but he seems to be familiar with all of the basic materials and historians in the field of study. He does an admirable job of explaining both the scientific assumptions of the originators of the astrological synthesis that took place in Hellenistic Egypt in the two or three centuries from 200 B.C. onwards that established most of the key elements of Western Astrology. He provides clear and coherent discussions of all the major figures from Ptolemy to William Lilly. He correctly understands that astrology was not directly refuted by its various critics over the centuries, but fell only after the scientific worldview upon which it depended collapsed. Astrology fell out of favor after the 17th century because the work of such scientists as Gallileo and Robert Boyle made Aristotelianism untenable.

The book is outstanding not only for its precise and coherent narrative, but for the host of attractive illustrations. Though the text makes it one of the finest surveys of the history of astrology in English, the illustrations make the volume as attractive as many coffee table books. These illustrations are not mere window dressing. They show how intimately astrological concerns were bound up with the way both intellectuals and everyday folk conceptualized the universe from 200 B.C. to the 17th century.

I will add that Whitfield is clearly an agnostic regarding the claims of astrology. If one is an ardent believer in astrology, one might find this aspect of the book offputting. Nonetheless, even for true believers in astrology, this fine volume will remain essential as a superb summary of scholarly and academic study of the birth, development, continuation, and eventual collapse of Western Astrology.

This work attempts to trace the key role of astrology in Western intellectual life, but Peter Whitfield does not incorporate all ancient, classical, medieval, and modern sources as well as Dr. Lester Ness' recent study. Like, "Written in the Stars", it does however show that Western astrology evolved in different cultures and adapted to differing belief systems.

Preface 7 (2)
Babylonia: The Dawn of Astrology

The Sacred Writing
9 (3)
The Gods of the Sky
12 (3)
The Astronomical Framework
15 (6)
Zodiac and Horoscope
21 (5)
Greece: The System Perfected

Babylonia and Greece
26 (7)
The Philosophical Background to Greek Astrology
33 (6)
Marcus Manilius: the First Astrological Treatise
39 (16)
The Scientific Astrology of Claudius Ptolemy
55 (12)
The Political Dimension: Astrology in Rome
67 (10)
The Middle Ages: Eclipse and Re-Emergence

The Post-Classical Crisis
77 (5)
Astrology in the Islamic World
82 (14)
The Revival of Astrology in the Latin West
96 (5)
God or Destiny: the Debate about the Limits of Astrology
101 (13)
Astrology and Medieval Science
114 (12)
The Renaissance: Triumph and Downfall

Astrology and Power Politics in England and France
126 (18)
Philosophical Renewal from Italy
144 (21)
Astrology in England 1550-1700
165 (12)
The Scientific Revolution and the Death of Astrology
177 (11)
Undefeated: Astrology in the Modern Era
188 (16)
Bibliographical note 204 (1)
Index 205

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