Of Monsters [According to Egyptian Ptolemy]
last updated: 23/Aug/2021
Note: For references, I utilized the version of the cosmopolitan Tetrabiblos from the anthologist Ptolemy’s four books of the influence of the stars [or the Quadripartite Mathematical Treatise] translated from the Greek paraphrase of Proclus by j. m. Ashmand – more specifically I will refer this article to the Book III; ? [London, Davis and Dickson; 1822].
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VIII. Of Monsters
Ptolemy measures word, and from a Nondescript person to retarded and dumb – “The subject of monsters is not foreign to the present inquiry; for, in the first place, in such cases the luminaries [Sun/Moon] are, found to be as far as possible removed from the horoscope [Asc] or in no way related to it [In Aversion or Alien to it], and the angles are separated by the maleficent planets [or, Malefic at the Angles].”:
Kind of Monster | Scan/Investigate |
Humble and Unlucky | “…Whenever, then, such a disposition is observed, for it frequently occurs in humble and unlucky nativities, even though they are not the genitures of monsters,…” |
Nondescript Person | “…One should at once look for the last preceding New or Full moon [Syzygy], and the lord of this and of the luminaries of the birth. For if the places of the birth, of the Moon, and of the horoscope [Asc], all or the majority of them, happen to be unrelated to the place of the preceding syzygy, it must be supposed that the child will be nondescript [not a single part of the body will be attractive in overall sense? deformed?].” |
Savage like an Animal | “…Now if, under such conditions, the luminaries are found in four-footed or animal-shaped signs, and the two maleficent planets [Mars and Saturn] are centred, the child will not even belong to the human race, but if no beneficent planet [Venus and Jupiter] witnesses to the luminaries [Sun/Moon], but the maleficent planets do so, it will be completely savage, an animal with wild and harmful nature;” |
Resemblance of an Animal | “…but if Jupiter or Venus witness, it will be one of the kinds regarded as sacred, as for example dogs, cats, and the like; if Mercury witnesses, one of those that are of use to man, such as birds, swine, oxen, goats, and the like.” |
Deformed and Nondescript in qualitative character | “… If the luminaries are found in signs of human form, but the other planets are disposed in the same way, what is born will be, indeed, of the human race or to be classed with humans, but monsters and nondescript in qualitative character, and their qualities in this case too are to be observed from the form of the signs in which the maleficent planets which separate the luminaries or the angles happen to be.” |
Retarded | “…Now if even in this case not one of the beneficent planets bears witness to any of the places mentioned, the offspring are entirely irrational and in the true sense of the word nondescript;” |
Honorable | “…but if Jupiter or Venus bears witness, the type of monster will be honoured and seemly, such as is usually the case with hermaphrodites or the so-called harpocratiacs, and the like.” |
The Profitable Prophet | “…If Mercury should bear witness, along with the foregoing, this disposition produces prophets who also make money thereby;” |
Toothless , Deaf and Dumb | “…but when alone, Mercury makes them toothless and deaf and dumb, though otherwise clever and cunning.” |
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References
Tetrabiblos Ptolemy’s four books of the influence of the stars [or the Quadripartite Mathematical Treatise] translated from the Greek paraphrase of Proclus by j. m. Ashmand – [London, Davis and Dickson; 1822]
Ptolemy. Tetrabiblos. Translated by F. E. Robbins. Loeb Classical Library 435. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1940.
Porphyry The Philosopher – Introduction To The Tetrabiblos & Serapio Of Alexandria; Astrological Definitions (Translated from the Greek by ] James Herschel Holden, M.A.)