Ancient world

See also: Babylonian astrology

Astrology, in its broadest sense, is the search for meaning in the sky.[21]:2,3 Early
evidence for humans making conscious attempts to measure, record, and predict
seasonal changes by reference to astronomical cycles, appears as markings on
bones and cave walls, which show that lunar cycles were being noted as early as
25,000 years ago.[22]:81ff This was a first step towards recording the Moon's
influence upon tides and rivers, and towards organising a communal calendar.
[22]
 Farmers addressed agricultural needs with increasing knowledge of
the constellations that appear in the different seasons—and used the rising of
particular star-groups to herald annual floods or seasonal activities.[23] By the
3rd millennium BCE, civilisations had sophisticated awareness of celestial
cycles, and may have oriented temples in alignment with heliacal risings of the
stars.[24]
Scattered evidence suggests that the oldest known astrological references are
copies of texts made in the ancient world. The Venus tablet of Ammisaduqa is
thought to be compiled in Babylon around 1700 BCE.[25] A scroll documenting
an early use of electional astrology is doubtfully ascribed to the reign of
the Sumerian ruler Gudea of Lagash (c. 2144 – 2124 BCE). This describes how
the gods revealed to him in a dream the constellations that would be most
favourable for the planned construction of a temple.[26] However, there is
controversy about whether these were genuinely recorded at the time or merely
ascribed to ancient rulers by posterity. The oldest undisputed evidence of the
use of astrology as an integrated system of knowledge is therefore attributed to
the records of the first dynasty of Mesopotamia (1950–1651 BCE). This
astrology had some parallels with Hellenistic Greek (western) astrology,
including the zodiac, a norming point near 9 degrees in Aries, the trine aspect,
planetary exaltations, and the dodekatemoria (the twelve divisions of 30 degrees
each).[27] The Babylonians viewed celestial events as possible signs rather than
as causes of physical events.[27]
The system of Chinese astrology was elaborated during the Zhou
dynasty (1046–256 BCE) and flourished during the Han Dynasty (2nd century
BCE to 2nd century CE), during which all the familiar elements of traditional
Chinese culture – the Yin-Yang philosophy, theory of the five elements, Heaven
and Earth, Confucian morality – were brought together to formalise the
philosophical principles of Chinese medicine and divination, astrology and
alchemy.[28]:3,4