At first an
expression of primitive "science," astrology became a superstition, from
which the human mind has not yet escaped. In contrast to divination,
astrology does not seem to have made much impression on the Hebrews and
definite references in the Bible are scanty. From Babylonia it passed to
Greece (without, however, exerting any particular influence upon Greek
medicine). Our own language is rich in words of astral significance
derived from the Greek, e.g., disaster.
The introduction of astrology into Europe has a passing interest.
Apparently the Greeks had made important advances in astronomy before
coming in contact with the Babylonians,--who, in all probability,
received from the former a scientific conception of the universe. "In
Babylonia and Assyria we have astrology first and astronomy afterwards,
in Greece we have the sequence reversed--astronomy first and astrology
afterwards" (Jastrow).(18)
(18) M. Jastrow: Aspects of Religious Belief and Practice
in Babylonia and Assyria, New York, 1911, p. 256.
It is surprising to learn that, previous to their contact with the
Greeks, astrology as relating to the individual--that is to say,
the reading of the stars to determine the conditions under which the
individual was born--had no place in the cult of the Babylonians and
Assyrians.
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