Heilen's unveiling of Nechepsos, Petosiris, Hermes and Asc..

[waybread]

Anyone interested in the Nechepso-Petosiris literature may be interested in this book, which I just found out about:

Ian S. Moyer, Egypt and the Limits of Hellenism (Cambridge University Press, 2011.)

Portions of it are available on-line as a heavily excerpted Google Book. About 20 pages near the end of the book seem to deal with Necho, Petosiris, and astrology.

[PaulParal]

Waybread, thanks for pointing out this book! I am re-reading it now and I am finding it extremely useful and full of references and insights, which should be a great value to any astrologer who is interested in (not only) Hellenistic tradition. It provides a fascinating study of two environments, cultures and societies, which were melting pots of ideas, at times a bit remotely, but at times very strongly connected to astrological development.

The book provides a great stage where you can start to imagine quite vividly exchanges of ideas and people of various prominences influencing each other. Besides dealing with Great Ideas, you also get a sense of a how these exchanges took place in a real life. Quote from the fore-word of the book: “In writing these histories, the author moves beyond Orientalizing representations of the Other and colonial metanarratives of the civilizing process to reveal interactions between Greeks and Egyptians as transactional processes in which the traditions, discourses, and pragmatic interests of both sides shaped the outcome. The result is a dialogical history of cultural and intellectual exchanges between the great civilizations of Greece and Egypt.“ References to astrology are not only on the above mentioned 20 pages but are rather numerous thru the book, as much as references to Nechepso and Petosiris. There is an extensive description of this book at Cambridge University Press page:
http://www.cambridge.org/aus/catalogue/catalogue.asp?isbn=9780521765510&ss=fro
The book is rather pricey, but after reading it: I think it’s worth every penny I paid for it. Strongly recommended!

Thanks again!
Paul Paral

[waybread]

Thanks for your positive feedback, Paul!

As time permits, I am working on Egyptian contributions to Hellenistic houses. It's tough going, because I have no expertise in the relevant areas of scholarship, and I live in a rather remote part of the Canadian Rockies were where getting any sources not on-line is either a slow or expensive process, or both.

I am familiar with some of the the issues of orientalism and post-colonial studies, and I agree that it is good to read the author's critical perspectives. I sometimes wonder if Benedict Anderson's ideas on "imagined communities" (minus his focus on nationalism) are relevant to how neo-Hellenistic astrologers today view Hellenistic astrology.

If you can recommend further sources (ideally in English, French is passable) or are exploring this area, as well, I hope you will respond again.

Best wishes, W.

[PaulParal]

I guess astrological resources are quite well known and they have been mentioned regularly. There are, however, many academic resources, which can be useful to study the subject:

1) I am quite fortunate that there is a very strong Department of Egyptology at Charles University in Prague:
http://egyptologie.ff.cuni.cz/?lang=en
If you take a look at their books and publications, you will find that about half of the stuff is published in English.

2) Harvard has a very strong Hellenistic Department:
http://chs.harvard.edu/wa/pageR?tn=Welcome&bdc=12&mn=0

3) The Schoenberg Database of Manuscripts:
http://dla.library.upenn.edu/dla/schoenberg/index.html

4) Other links:
Institut de recherche et d’histoire des textes
http://www.irht.cnrs.fr/

New York University
http://isaw.nyu.edu/online-resources

This is good search engine for academic journals:
http://www.jstor.org/

Paul Paral

[waybread]

Thanks, Paul-- I appreciate your posting these links, and I will pursue them.

I am not looking so much for general sources on astrology, classical studies, or Egyptology, but more specifically on a probable link between later Egyptian lore on the solar/soul's journey after death and the meanings ascribed to astrological houses. [Stuff like why the 3rd house is simultaneously the house of brothers, the goddess, and the moon in early house delineations.] I have on-line access to my former university library's journal data base, which includes JSTOR plus other article collections. I'll be off to a city with a major university library next month for a few days, when hopefully I can nail down some books.

Best wishes, W.