Mesopotamian Astrology

In episode 490 professor M. Willis Monroe joins the podcast to discuss the history of astrology in ancient Mesopotamia.

Willis is a historian of the ancient Near East and scholar of Cuneiform Studies with a focus on the science and scholarship of first millennium Mesopotamia, and he did his doctoral thesis on the use of zodiacal subdivisions in cuneiform sources.

During the course of the episode we give an overview of the origins of western astrology in ancient Mesopotamia, starting with the earliest surviving sources around 2000 BCE, and then working our way forward until cuneiform writing died out around the 1st century CE.

We end up discussing the earliest evidence for astrology in eclipse omens from the 2nd millennium BCE, the high point of state supported astrology under the Neo-Assyrian kings in the 7th century BCE, and eventually the development of the zodiac and natal astrology in the 5th century BCE.

This episode is available in both audio and video versions below.