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Astral omens in Syriac (1)

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05 Scientific knowledge and scholarly lore



Keywords
astrology
omens
Syria
Period
3rd century CE
Roman Empire
Channel
Christian-Syriac philosophers and scholars


Text
Syriac Book of Medicines, fol. 212a, 261a:
When the star shoots from the west to the east, there will be wrath and tribulation to men, but finally there will be happiness. When the star shoots from the east to the west, the king of Persia will wage war on Bēt Hūzāyē, even as it is written in the Book of Andronicus. When the star shoots from the north to the south, the kingdom will be disturbed and shaken, and the women who are with child will utter wailing lamentations. And a father will rise up against his son, and a brother against his brother, and there will be division (dissension) for three years, and then there will be peace. When the star shoots from the east to the west, and becomes divided into fragments on the south and on the west, it indicates the number of thrones which have been set up on the earth. And many will go in and will seize principalities, and there will be many wars, and they will be in number as is the number of the portions into which the star has been divided by the force of the athmosphere. Similarly [men] will lay violent hands on principalities, and powers, and dominions, and thrones. When the star shoots from the north to the south, and is divided into portions, the towns will fall upon each other, and there will be pestilence and slaughter, and great countries will be laid waste and desolate. And when a star shoots from the heavens, and it is seen to fall upon the earth, man will dwell in peace and prosperity. And God [only] knows the truth!


Sources (list of abbreviations)
Syriac Book of Medicines, fol. 212a
Syriac Book of Medicines, fol. 261a

Bibliography

Budge 1913, 521-522, 654-655Budge, E. A. Wallis. Syrian Anatomy, Pathology and Therapeutics or The Book of Medicines. London: Oxford University Press 1913.

Amar Annus


URL for this entry: http://www.aakkl.helsinki.fi/melammu/database/gen_html/a0000550.php


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