Roman Astrology

• Astrology and Astrologers were considered very highly in Greek and Roman Society and were regularly consulted by Roman Emperors, until it was banned by First Council of Nicaea in 325 CE.
• Roman Astrology was written about by Ptolemy in Ptolemy's Tetrabiblos. He was an Astronomer and Cartographer who lived in Alexandria, Egypt.

Berossus (c.280 BCE)

• Berossus was a priest astronomer of Bel-Marduk from Babylon in Persia.
• He arrived in the island of Kos in c. 280 BCE and taught Persian Astrology to the Greeks.

Astrology in Ancient Rome

• Initially, Astrology was referred to mockingly as Chaldean wisdom.
• Cato the Elder (234-149 BCE) warned against the Chaldeans and Cicero (106-43 BCE) rejected Astrology outright.
• The Emperor Tiberius (14-37 CE) was the first Emperor to employ a full time Astrologer called Thrasyllus.
• In c.150 CE, the Astronomer Ptolemy published a complete work on Astrology.

Ptolemy's Tetrabiblos (c.150 CE)

• Ptolemy’s Tetrabiblos or ‘Quadripartitum’ meaning ‘the four books’, is an Astrological Work combining Astrology with Philosophy of Aristotle.

First Council of Nicaea (325 CE)

• In 325 CE, First Council of Nicaea, banned Astrology as an unapproved belief, along with Roman Numerology and Roman Magic.