The British Society for the History of Science

Ancient Astrology by Tamsyn Barton Review by: Cornelius O'Boyle The British Journal for the History of Science, Vol. 29, No. 1 (Mar., 1996), pp. 90-91 Published by: Cambridge University Press on behalf of The British Society for the History of Science Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/4027514 . Accessed: 18/03/2012 07:32
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90

Book reviews

larger context. Here Barton relates the theory of astrology to its practice and explores the broader social, religious and intellectual associations of 118 astrology. Throughout the book the reader is constantly impressed by the painstaking and thorough scholarship and is always aware that a sophisticated interpretation of the sources is being adopted. In her reconstruction of ancient astrology, Barton draws upon a wide range of 119 sources, including both astrological and nonastrological sources: she examines the records 120 of horoscopes, horoscopal treatises, literary sources, legal documents, imperial edicts, senatorial decrees and contemporary historical 121 accounts. In her careful use of these sources, Barton infers no more than the evidence will bear. Indeed, she rightly calls into question the TAMSYN BARTON, Ancient Astrology. London status and meaning of these sources. For and New York: Routledge, 1994. Pp. xxv + 245. example, she sets literary works in astrology ISBN 0-415-11029-7. ?12.99. within the context of Greek public contests in display oratory and public debating and then At last we have a reliable and readable account explains the increasing use of subtle distinctions of horoscopal astrology from its origins in about in these works and the apparentdesire to include the fourth century BC to its apparent decline in every possible predictive technique as a conwestern Europe in about the fifth century AD. sequence of a desire to impress and a fear of The work falls into three clear and convenient appearingill informed on the part of astrological sections. Drawing upon recent research in the orators and debaters. field, Barton first provides a detailed historical Probably the most impressive aspect of this account of the rise of astrology from its origins book is its ability to combine detailed technical in Mesopotamia and Egypt, through its decompetence with a broad understanding of the velopment in ancient Greece, to its reception in nature and historical significance of astrology. the later Roman Republic and Empire. This Barton carefully distinguishes between popular section of the book ends with an account of the and learned astrology and points out the suppression of astrology that was brought about differences between its theoretical aspects. She with the rise of Christianity as the state religion presents astrology more as an apprenticeship of the late Roman Empire.The second section of craft ratherthan a text-based discipline, in which the book is given over to a detailed technical learning is akin to initiation into the hidden description of the principles of astrology. This knowledge of a cult or a priest-craft. In her very clear account also explains how horoscopes examination of the complex nature of the were cast and explores the problems of interpre- discipline she shows how astrology was assoting the various - often apparentlycontradictory ciated with astronomy, medicine, natural phil- predictions that they generated. British readers osophy and religion as well as with various will appreciate the wit and humour in Barton's forms of divination and magic. Barton also gives extended example of Prince Charles' horoscope a vivid account of the political and social in this section; but this does not detract from the background of astrology in the Roman Empire. serious point of this well-chosen example in She examines the acceptance of astrology by the highlighting the social function of horoscopal Roman elite in the Early Empire and investigates astrology. The final section of the book is the ways in which it was used as an ideological concerned with placing astrology within its tool of legitimation of Roman emperors from

SusanWright,MolecularPolitics: Developing American and British Regulatory Policy for Genetic Engineering, 1972-1982. By Glenn E. Bugos Raymond Corbey and Bert Theunissen (eds.), Ape, Man, Apeman: Changing Views Since 1600. Evaluative Proceedings of the Symposium Ape, Man, Apeman: Changing Views Since 1600, Leiden, The Netherlands, 28 June - 1 July, 1993. By Mark McKenzie M. Norton Wise (ed.), The Values of Precision. By Nicolas Rasmussen R. V. Wallis and P. J. Wallis, Index of British Mathematicians, Part III: 1701-1800. By John Fauvel

Book reviews
Augustus onwards. She also describes contemporary criticisms of astrology. Here Barton concentrates specifically on the reactions of Christian writers. This is a finely nuanced account which reveals that Christians did indeed recognize the existence of some form of astral influence, or at least that the heavenly bodies did reflect something of the divine plan. But Christian writers rarely accepted that this knowledge was meant for human beings. Moreover, in common with other critics of the period, Christian writers often claimed that astrology entailed the doctrine of fatalism, which ran counter to the traditional Christian understanding of free will. The book comes with useful summaries of each chapter, helpful (black and white) illustrations and diagrams, a glossary of technical terms, a bibliography and full index. Barton's text is preceded by an elegantly written introduction by the general series editor Roger French. This is not so much a philosophical analysis of the problems of writing about the sciences of antiquity as a series of sensible methodological precautions that guide the reader and underpin the series to which this volume belongs. Barton's contribution to the series sets high standards indeed. One looks forward in anticipation to subsequent works in the collection.
CORNELIUS O'BOYLE

91

University of Notre Dame

SACHIKOKUSUKAWA,The Transformation of

Natural Philosophy: The Case of Philip Melanchthon. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1995. ISBN 0-521-47347-0. ?35.00.
It is Kusukawa's intention to demonstrate that

Melanchthon's Lutherantheology, together with the historical events he experienced, led him to effect a radical transformation of natural philosophy away from the scholastic focus on language and meaning and towards a study of the world as God had created it. This change is, she argues, based upon Melanchthon's understanding of the doctrine of Providence, in which he maintains that God created the world in an orderly fashion so that the order of the world

would reveal God to the observer. The human body, the uses of plants and the movements of the heavens all reveal this order, and it is thus the study of these which Melanchthon believes to be the proper concern of natural philosophy. This divinely created order also offers a model for the orderly structure which God intends for society, and the study of natural philosophy thus facilitates orderly civic behaviour and is, therefore, an important part of the education of a good citizen. In her discussion of Melanchthon's thought, Kusukawa gives a painstaking and exact analysis of the various stages of his thinking which culminated in his textbooks De anima and Initia doctrinae physicae. She demonstrates that Melanchthon's conviction that natural philosophy should be related to the created world led him to incorporate the work of contemporary anatomists into his discussion of the soul. Similarly, the seeking of astrological causes and the interpreting of the 'divinely ordained' movements of the heavens was an important part of Melanchthon's physics. Although Melanchthon's work was not empirical in the sense that he did not himself make observations or do dissections, his referenceto contemporary scholars and to the natural world, Kusukawa argues, was a radical departurefrom the natural philosophy of both scholastic philosophers and Melanchthon's non-Lutheran contemporaries. The latter, working with a different understanding of God's presence in the world, found it either unnecessaryor impossible to appeal to the natural world as a revelation of God's Providence in the way that Melanchthon's theological programme meant that he could and did. Kusukawa argues that in making this change Melanchthon created a new Lutheran natural philosophy, and it is here that her book moves onto somewhat shaky ground. There seems to be little doubt that Melanchthon did indeed take a new approach to natural philosophy, but in what sense was this approach Lutheran? The answer to this question is complicated by the fact that it is not entirely clear from her argument whether Kusukawa intends to imply that because Melanchthon was Lutheran and because he integrated his natural philosophy and his theology the resulting natural philosophy, indi-