The individualistic spirit led the Greek to make his gods
take note of every action in his life, and his preordained fate might
be read in the stars.--"A connecting link between the individual and the
movements in the heavens was found in an element which they shared in
common. Both man and stars moved in obedience to forces from which there
was no escape. An inexorable law controlling the planets corresponded to
an equally inexorable fate ordained for every individual from his birth.
Man was a part of nature and subject to its laws. The thought could
therefore arise that, if the conditions in the heavens were studied
under which a man was born, that man's future could be determined in
accord with the beliefs associated with the position of the planets
rising or visible at the time of birth or, according to other views, at
the time of conception. These views take us back directly to the system
of astrology developed by Babylonian baru priests. The basis on which
the modified Greek system rests is likewise the same that we have
observed in Babylonia--a correspondence between heaven and earth, but
with this important difference, that instead of the caprice of the
gods we have the unalterable fate controlling the entire universe--the
movements of the heavens and the life of the individual alike"
(Jastrow).
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