ESHS/HSS Annual Meeting

Horoscopic Diagrams in China: From the Eighth to the Seventeenth Centuries

• In Event: GRAPHICS AND TEXT TWENTY YEAR LATER-2: Diagrams, Figures, Plans And Graffiti In Translation

English Abstract

Foreign astrology was introduced into China from the eighth century onwards, at which time we see the first examples of circular tables indicating the zodiac signs as twelve divisions of the ecliptic. Within a few decades, horoscopy (diagrams indicating the positions of the planets) became known in China. The first versions were circular, following a Hellenistic precedent (albeit likely through an Indo-Iranian intermediary), but in later centuries we see rectangular forms. Finally, in the seventeenth century, following the translation of Latin astrology by Jesuits, we see a square format that was in use in Europe. This presentation will examine the evolution of these tables, showing how the Chinese had to localize them into a Chinese astronomical framework

Author

• Jeffrey Kotyk, Max Planck Institute for the History of Science