The Astrologer's Apparatus: A Picture of Professional Practice in Greco-Roman Egypt

Thirty-two Babylonian nativities exist and have been most recently edited and translated by Francesca Rochberg , Babylonian horoscopes (Transactions of the American Philosophical Society , lxxxviii/1 (1998)). The earliest is for 410 b.c. For the relation of astrology to other forms of divination, as well as to magic and medicine, see Erica Reiner , Astral magic in Babylon (Transactions of the American Philosophical Society , lxxxv/4 (1995)).

In modern astrology the places are usually called “houses”. I avoid this usage, since “house” means something else in Greek astrology. For the history of Greek astrology, still indispensable is the survey by Bouché-Leclercq A. , L'astrologie grecque (Paris, 1899; reprinted, Brussels, 1966). This should be supplemented by Wilhelm Gundel Gundel Georg Hans , Astrologumena: Die astrologische Literatur in der Antike und ihre Geschichte (Wiesbaden, 1966). A readable and up-to-date introduction is provided by Tamsyn Barton , Ancient astrology (London and New York, 1994). A rich commentary on the philosophical and physical roots of Ptolemy's astrology is provided by Giuseppe Bezza , Commento al primo libro della Tetrabiblos di Claudio Tolemeo (Milan, 1990). For an introduction to the iconography see Françoise Gury , “Principes de composition de l'image zodiacale”, Latomus , liii (1994), 528–42. The following works provide other important views of ancient astrology by focusing on its connections with religion, with political life, and with personal power and authority: Franz Cumont , Astrology and religion among the Greeks and Romans (New York and London, 1912); Cramer Frederick H. , Astrology in Roman law and politics (Memoirs of the American Philosophical Society , xxxvii (1954)); and Barton Tamsyn S. , Power and knowledge: Astrology, physiognomics, and medicine under the Roman Empire (Ann Arbor, 1994).

Editions and translations of the extant treatises include the following: Goold G. P. , Manilius: Astronomica (London and Cambridge, MA, 1977); David Pingree , Dorothei Sidonii carmen astrologicum (Leipzig, 1976); Robbins F. E. , Ptolemy: Tetrabiblos (London and Cambridge, MA, 1940); David Pingree , Vettii Valentis Antiocheni Anthologiarum libri novem (Leipzig, 1986); Joëlle-Frédérique Bara , Vettius Valens d'Antioche: Anthologies, Livre I (Leiden, 1989); Monat P. , Firmicus Maternus: Mathesis (3 vols, Paris, 1992–97); Boer Æ. , Pauli Alexandrini Elementa apotelesmatica (Leipzig, 1958); and Boer Æ. , Heliodori, ut dicitur, in Paulum Alexandrinum commentarium (Leipzig, 1962).

All Greek horoscopes known to them were published by Neugebauer O. van Hoesen H. B. , Greek horoscopes (Memoirs of the American Philosophical Society , xlviii (1959)). Eighteen new papyrus horoscopes were collected in Donata Baccani , Oroscopi Greci: Documentazione papirologica (Messina, 1992). The number of papyrus horoscopes was greatly augmented with the publication of Alexander Jones , Astronomical papyri from Oxyrhynchus (Memoirs of the American Philosophical Society , ccxxxiii (1999)).

Otto Neugebauer , “Demotic horoscopes”, Journal of the American Oriental Society , lxiii (1943), 115–27; Waddell W. G. , Manetho (London and Cambridge, MA, 1940), 169–71; Neugebauer O. Parker Richard A. , “Two Demotic horoscopes”, Journal of Egyptian archaeology , liv (1968), 231–5; M. A. A. Nur El-Din , The Demotic ostraca in the National Museum of Antiquities at Leiden (Leiden, 1974), no. 333; and Devauchelle D. , “Cinq ostraca démotiques de Karnak”, Cahiers de Karnak , viii (1987), 137–42.

Ernestus Riess , “Nechepsonodis et Petosiridis fragmenta”, Philologus , Supplement 6 (1892), 325–94. See also David Pingree , “Petosiris, Pseudo-”, in Dictionary of scientific biography , x, 547–9.

Pseudo-Callisthenes , The Alexander romance , transl. by Ken Dowden , in Reardon B. P. (ed.), Collected ancient Greek novels (Berkeley, 1989), 657.

Festugière A.-J. , La révélation d'Hermès Trismégiste (4 vols, Paris, 1950–54), i, 1–18.

Plutarch , n the obsolescence of oracles , 411F, in Moralia , v, transl. by Babbitt F. C. (London and Cambridge, MA, 1936).

Juvenal , Satire VI, 555–6, in Ramsay G. G. , Juvenal and Persius (London and Cambridge, MA, 1940).

For a rich study of the changing temple culture see David Frankfurter , Religion in Roman Egypt: Assimilation and resistance (Princeton, 1998), espcecially chap. 4, “Mutations of the Egyptian oracle”.

The best example is provided by a group of four Demotic horoscopes on ostraca. Neugebauer surmised that all four were written by one person at Medinet Habu. Neugebauer, “Demotic horoscopes” (ref. 5), 120. The case for the Greek horoscopes on papyrus is much less clear, and it is perfectly possible that some of them belonged to the clients.

P. Washington University inv. 181. Translation adapted from Packman Zola M. , “Instructions for the use of planet markers on a horoscope board”, Zeitschrift für Papyrologie und Epigraphik , lxxiv (1988), 85–95. First publication: Packman Zola M. , “Three magical texts from the Washington University Collection”, Bulletin of the American Association of Papyrologists , xiii (1976), 175–80. In the second publication. Packman was able to add a few lines from a second papyrus fragment identified as belonging with this one and he also improved the translation. This papyrus is included in Betz Dieter Hans , The Greek magical papyri in translation, including the Demotic spells , 2nd edn (Chicago, 1992), as PGM CX (p. 312).

Merkelbach R. , quoted by Packman ( op. cit. (ref. 13)), 85.

Riess , “Nechepsonis et Petosiridis fragmenta magica” (ref. 6), fragment 1, p. 332.

Kroll W. (ed.), Historia Alexandri Magni (Berlin, 1926), I, 4. 5–6 (my translation). English translations, based on somewhat different versions of the text, are available in Richard Stoneman , The Greek Alexander romance (London, 1991), and by Ken Dowden Reardon B. P. (ed.), Collected ancient Greek novels (Berkeley, 1989). The regular Greek term for lapis lazuli is <given-names> (<given-names>), not to be confused with our sapphire. I have left smaragdos (<given-names>) untranslated. Often this is rendered “emerald”, but several other green stones were also called by this name. Emerald is unlikely since it is too hard for engraving. “Adamant” can indicate a hard metal or a hard stone, including (but not necessarily) diamond. I do not know what airstone (<given-names>) is. For discussions of the gems used by Greek and Roman engravers see the Richter Gisela M. A. , The engraved gems of the Greeks, Etruscans and Romans , Part 1: Engraved gems of the Greeks and the Etruscans (London, 1968), 8–13, and Jeffrey Spier , Ancient gems and finger rings: Catalogue of the collections (Malibu, J. Paul Getty Museum, 1992), 5–10.

Abry J.-H. (ed.), Les tablettes astrologiques de Grand (Vosges) et l'astrologie en Gaule romaine (Lyon and Paris, 1993). One of the boards from Grand is included by Gundel in his census of ancient zodiac imagery: Gundel Georg Hans , Zodiakos. Tierkreisbilder im Altertum. Kosmische Bezüge und Jenseitsvorstellungen im antiken Alltagsleben (Mainz am Rhein, 1992), no. 82, pp. 232–3. A. J. Turner stresses the Hermetic associations of the tablets in “Greco-Egyptian zodiacs from a Gallo-Roman site”, Nuncius , ii (1987), 95–110. See also Mahé J.-P. , “Hermès Trismégiste, philosophe alexandrin: Mythe et réalité”, Les dossiers de l'archéologie , no. 201 (March, 1995), 38–43. For an overview of the site, see Jean-Paul Bertaux , “The Gallo-Roman sanctuary at Grand, France”, Conservation and management of archaeological sites , ii (1998), 207–15 and 217–28.

Bertaux J.-P. , “La découverte des tablettes: Les données archéologiques”, in Abry (ed.), Tablettes astrologiques de Grand (ref. 17), 44.

Forrer R. , Das Mithra-Heiligtum von Königshofen bei Straßburg (Stuttgart, 1915), 116; cited by Manfred Clauss , The Roman cult of Mithras , transl. by Richard Gordon (New York, 2001), 170.

Ptolemy , Tetrabiblos I, 20. The lengths, in degrees, of the terms for each sign are: Aries: 6, 6, 8, 5, 5; Taurus: 8, 6, 8, 5, 3; and so on. According to Ptolemy, in the Egyptian system the terms of Aries are assigned in the order Jupiter, Venus, Mercury, Mars, Saturn; the terms of Taurus in the order Venus, Mercury, Jupiter, Saturn, Mars; and so on. A user of the Grand tablets would need a separate list of the order of precedence of the planets in each sign, for this information the tablets do not bear.

Goyon J.-C. , “L'origine égyptienne des tablettes décanales de Grand”, in Abry (ed.), Tablettes astrologiques de Grand (ref. 17).

On the tabula Bianchini , see Gundel , Zodiakos (ref. 17), no. 63 and 110–12, as well as the discussion by Françoise Gury Abry (ed.), Tablettes astrologiques de Grand (ref. 17).

Ptolemy , Tetrabiblos IV, 5, transl. Robbins .

See Ptolemy's rules for friends and enemies in Tetrabiblos IV, 7.

See Wolfgang Hübner , “Zur neuplatonischen Deutung und astrologischen Verwendung der Dodekaoros”, in Harlfinger Dieter (ed.), <given-names>: Festchrift für Martin Sicherl (Paderborn, 1990), 73–103.

For Teucer and Rhetorios on the dodecaoros see Catalogus codicum astrologorum Graecorum (Brussels, 1898–1953), vii, 194–213, and ix/2, 180–6. In chap. 25 of the Liber Hermetis, lists are given of the fixed stars associated with the parts of each sign of the zodiac, incuding some of the correspondences of the dodecaoros. For the most recent edition, see Simonetta Feraboli , Hermetis Trismegisti de triginta sex decanis (Hermes Latinus, iv/1; Corpus Christianorum, Continuatio Mediaevalis , cxliv (Turnhout, 1994).

On Teucer Rhetorios , see David Pingree , The Yavanajataka of Sphujidhvaja (Cambridge, MA, 1978), ii, 439–40 and 442–3.

Hanna Philipp , Mira et Magica: Gemmen im Ägyptischen Museum der Staatlichen Museen, Preussischer Kulturbesitz, Berlin-Charlottenburg (Mainz am Rhein, 1986), no. 115.

Georges Daressy , “Notes et remarques, No. CLXXXI”, Recueil de travaux , xxiii (1901), 126–7, and Georges Daressy , “L'Egypte cé1este”, Bulletin de l'Institut Français d'Archéologie Orientale , xii (1916), 1–34 and Plate II. See also Neugebauer O. Parker R. A. , Egyptian astronomical texts (Providence, 1969), iii, 103, and Gundel , Zodiakos (ref. 17), no. 62, pp. 226–7.

Petrie Flinders W. M. , Tunis , Part 1, 1883–84 (London, 1889), 48–49. For a colour painting of the surviving fragments, see Neugebauer Parker , Egyptian astronomical texts (ref. 29), iii, Plate 47C, with discussion on pp. 102–3. See also Gundel , Zodiakos (ref. 17), no. 104. The Tanis zodiac is in the British Museum, Egyptian Department, Inv. 29137.

Alexander Jones (personal communication).

Saidan A. S. (ed. and transl.), The Arithmetic of Al-Uqlīdisī (Dordrecht and Boston, 1978). My thanks to Len Berggren for this source.

See Bauer P. V. C. Rostovtzeff M. I. (eds), The excavations at Dura-Europos: Preliminary report of the second season of work (New Haven, 1931), 161–4 and Plate 51; Bauer P. V. C. (eds), … fourth season (New Haven, 1933), nos 232 and 235–9, pp. 105–10 and 115–19; and Rostovtzeff M. I. (eds), … sixth season (New Haven, 1936), no. 736, pp. 246–7. These horoscopes are discussed (without the diagrams) by Neugebauer Van Hoesen , Greek horoscopes (ref. 4), where they are assigned nos 176 and 219,1 and 250,1.

A graffito horoscope for a.d. 353 ( Neugebauer Van Hoesen , no. 353), found at Abydos in the temple of Sethos I, has a circle divided into twelve equal parts. But these seem to me clearly to represent the signs, not the places. Thus I take this drawing to be modelled on the boards of Type 1. See Paul Perdrizet Gustave Lefebvre , Les graffites grecs du Memnoneion d'Abydos (Nancy, Paris and Strasbourg, 1919), 114 and Plate 16A.

For game boards incised into the roofing slabs of a temple at Kurna in Egypt, see Murray H. J. R. , A history of board games other than chess (Oxford, 1952), 19.

For the eight-sided game boards, see Marco Fittà , Giochi e giocattoli nell'antichità (Milan, 1997), 162 and Figs 266 and 272.

The existence of an eight-place system in Roman astrology is controversial. Manilius ( Astronomica II, 856–970) has been read as endorsing a system of eight places, as by Bouché-Leclercq in L'astrologie grecque (ref. 2), 276–80. But this has been questioned by other scholars. See Goold , Manilius (ref. 3), pp. lxi–lxii. However, Firmicus Maternus ( Mathesis II, 14) seems clearly to describe a system of eight places before going on to the system of twelve.

For the use of objects in magical operations, see Fritz Graf , Magic in the ancient world , transl. by Franklin Philip (Cambridge, MA, 1997), especially chap. 5, “Curse tablets and voodoo dolls”, as well as Roy Kotansky , “Greek exorcistic amulets”, in Marvin Meyer Mirecki Paul (eds), Ancient magic and ritual power (Leiden, 1995), 243–77.

Hilde Hiller , “Zaubergerät”, in Vierneisel Klaus (ed.), Römisches im Antikenmuseum (Berlin, 1978), 39–43.

Enrica Leospo , La mensa Isiaca di Torino (Études Préliminares aux Religions Orientales dans l'Empire Romain, lxx: Catalogo del Museo Egizio di Torino, Serie Prima; Monumenti e testi , iv (Leiden, 1978)).

For a recent survey see Carol Andrews , Amulets of ancient Egypt (London and Austin, 1994). For a survey of Greek gems of the archaic and classical periods — i.e., before Egypt and magic began strongly to influence Greek style — see John Boardman , Greek gems and finger rings: Early Bronze Age to Late Classical (London, 1970), or Richter , Engraved gems of the Greeks. Part 1 (ref. 16), 1–124.

Simone Michel , Die magischen Gemmen im Britischen Museum (2 vols, London, 2001); A. Delatte and Derchain Ph. , Bilbliothèque Nationale: Cabinet des médailles et antiques. Les intailles magiques grécos-égyptiennes (Paris, 1964); and Philipp , Mira et magica (ref. 28). For the pioneering study in the interpretation of these objects, see Campbell Bonner , Studies in magical amulets, chiefly Graeco-Egyptian (Ann Arbor, 1950).

Sarianidi V. I. , “The lapis lazuli route in the ancient East”, transl. by Kowalski L. H. , Archaeology , xxiv (1971), 12–15, and Max Bauer , Precious stones , transl. by Spencer L. J. (2 vols. New York, 1968; first publ. 1904), 441–2. On the rarity of lapis lazuli among the intaglios see Spier , Ancient gems (ref. 16), 6.

Blue-stone Aphrodites in the British Museum collection include MG 77, 78, 79, 80 and 85. The preponderance of blue and bluish stones of Aphrodite in the collection of the Cabinet des Médailles has been noted by Delatte Derchain , op. cit. (ref. 42), 184), who point to DD 241, 243 and 245.

For a gem similar to that of Plate IIC, see MM 35. Helios is depicted driving a quadriga on DD 295, 296 and 297, as well as MM 33. The boat of the Sun: DD 294. Helios, three stars and lunar crescent: DD 301. Helios surrounded by the signs of the zodiac: MG 245, 246 and 247. Helios, lion and star: DD 313 and 321. Helios, lion and cock: MM 32.

The inscription MYPω on the stone of Plate IID is an example of a frequently puzzling aspect of the magical gems. This might be the verb “I weep”, except that this should normally be in the middle rather than the active voice. Or, as Michel suggests ( Mira et magica , 41), it might be an allusion to myrrh, the burning of which is associated with love-spells in the magical papyri. Or it might be a word whose significance was clear only to a magician of first-century Egypt.

Hermes as ithyphallic herm: DD 230. Hermes-Thoth: MG 51–56, DD 184–94. For other Hermes gems see MM 36, 37 and DD 233.

Festugière A.-J. , “Amulettes magiques à propos d'un ouvrage récent”, Classical philology , xlvi (1951), 81–92, pp. 84–86. Other gems of Kronos as reaper are DD 262–5 and 268, as well as MG 425–9.

Hesiod , Theogony 176ff.

For plentiful examples of Sarapis gems see MG 25–39, MM 55–59, DD 100 and 101.

See also DD 256 and MG 86, 87.

The use of astrological gems as phylacteries is mentioned by the lapidary attributed to Damigeron and Evax. See Robert Halleux Jacques Schamp , Les lapidaires grecs (Paris, 1985), 232. The lapidary of Damigeron and Evax was composed in Greek, but survives only in a Latin translation, probably made in the fifth or sixth century (p. 227). This work contains one list associating zodiac signs with stones, and another associating planets with stones. However the list of signs contains only seven, from which it is clear that it really functions as another list of planet-stone correspondences. For each of the seven signs, one should simply substitute the planet whose house it is, as noted by Halleux Schamp (p. 219). See also Quack Friedrich Joachim , “Zum ersten astrologischen Lapidar im Steinbuck des Damigeron und Evax”, Philologus , cxlv (2001), 337–44, on the Greco-Egyptian roots of these associations.

There are many ancient and medieval lists associating the planets with particular stones or particular metals. There is very little agreement between lists. Most such lists have no bearing at all on the problem here under discussion. What is special about PGM CX and the Alexander romance is that the texts specifically say the stones are to represent the planets on an astrologer's board and that the texts come from the same period as the extant boards. However, for a survey of these lists, see Pingree , Yavanajataka (ref. 27), ii, 253–9. For similar lists in medieval manuscripts see Lynn Thorndike , “De lapidibus”, Ambix , xviii (1960), 6–23. Medieval lapidaries can tell us little about the ancient Greek astrological gems. However, from time to time, we do find Venus associated with “sapphire”, as in a Bodleian manuscript (Laud. Misc. 203, fol. 107r-v; see Thorndike , op. cit. , 11).

Abry J.-H. , “Les diptyques de Grand, noms et images des decans”, in Abry , Tablettes astrologiques de Grand (ref. 17), 85.

Jean-Claude Goyon (personal communication).

Other magical gems bearing a crab include MG 93, 96, MM 115, and DD 385 and 386. For another gem with crab and crescent see MG 94.

An almost identical gem is MG 260. Gems with lion and stars include MG 255 and 256. It should also be pointed out that there are a number of gems engraved with a lion and a lunar crescent, including MG 253, 254 and 264. Either these gems are not astrological in meaning, or else they represent a non-standard astrological doctrine.

Scorpion gems include DD 388, 389, 390 and 391, as well as MG 342, 3343, 344, 345 and 346.

Magical gems with Capricorns include MM 25 and DD 393 and 394.

Three of the photographs in Figure 5 are reproduced from Monete imperiali greche: Numi Augg. Alexandrini. Catalogo della collezione G. Dattari compilato dal proprietario (Cairo, 1901). See also Poole Stuart Reginald , A catalogue of the Greek coins in the British Museum: Catalogue of the coins of Alexandria and the Nomes (Bologna, 1964; reprint of the 1892 edn), nos 1080–90 and Plate XII. On the use of the symbol L for ‘year’ (the origin of which is uncertain), see p. xi. For numismatic details see Carl Carlson , “Rarities 3: The zodiac series”, SAN (Journal of the Society for Ancient Numismatics), iv (1972–73), 46–48, 53, and “The zodiac series revisited”, SAN , v (1973–74), 49–50 (however, the astrological interpretations mentioned in these two articles are not reliable).

Magical gems bearing starred images of the Dioskoroi include MG 290, 300 and 303, with the latter being the best candidate for a straightforward astrological marker. On Dattari 2969, Demeter stands upright, dangling two spears of grain from her left hand. In her right, she balances a torch, which rests upon the ground. Demeter gems include DD 409, 410, MG 37, and MM 45 (all lacking stars). MM 43 has on one side an enthroned Demeter and on the other a Gorgon with three stars.

Franz Cumont , L'Égypte des astrologues (Brussels, 1937), 113–31, especially pp. 113–14 and 124–5. On the astrological writers' lack of understanding of the Greek cities, see p. 72. Alexander Jones , “The place of astronomy in Egypt Roman”, Apeiron , xxvii (1994), 25–51, provides compelling additions to Cumont's argument, using archaeological and papyrological evidence.

On the Dendera Zodiac , which is now in the Louvre, see Cauville S. , Le zodiaque d'Osiris (Leuven, 1997), a popular treatment based on the same author's Dendera: Les chapelles osiriennes (5 vols, Cairo, 1997). Besides the temple zodiacs, we should also mention the zodiacs from the tomb of Petosiris, in the Dachla oasis, dated to between a.d. 54 and 84. A certain Petosiris was, of course, the traditional founder of astrology. That astrological consultations might take place at the tomb of his namesake seems plausible. On the zodiacs from Egyptian temples, tombs and coffin lids, see Neugebauer Parker , Egyptian astronomical texts (ref. 29), iii, 203–12, and Marshall Clagett , Ancient Egyptian science , ii: Calendars, clocks, and astronomy (Memoirs of the American Philosophical Society , ccxiv (1995)), 126–7 and 471–88. On the tomb of Petosiris, see Neugebauer O. Parker R. A. Pingree D. , “The zodiac ceilings of Petosiris and Petubastis”, in Osing J. et at. (eds), Denkmäler der Oase Dachla aus dem Nachlass von Ahmed Fakhry (Mainz am Rhein, 1982), 66–101 and Tables 36–44. For the iconography of these zodiacs, see Françoise Gury , “L'iconographie zodiacale des tablettes de Grand”, in Abry , Tablettes astrologiques de Grand (ref. 17), 113–39.

Donata Baccani , “Appunti per oroscopi negli ostraca di Medinet Madi”, Analecta papyrologica , i (1989), 67–77, and “Appunti per oroscopi negli ostraca di Medinet Madi (II)”, Analecta papyrologica , vii (1995), 63–72. The ostraca quoted are Baccani's nos 2 and 10.

Paolo Gallo , Ostraca Demotici e ieratici dall'archivo bilinge di Narmouthis , ii (nos. 34–99) (Pisa, 1997), no. 84 (p. 89 and Table XXVIII). Also, a Demotic papyrus in Vienna carries three horoscope work-orders of similar type: Friedhelm Hoffmann , “Astronomische und astrologische Kleinigkeiten I: Pap. Wien D6005”, Enchoria , xxii (1995), 22–26, Table 2.

Guido Bastianini Claudio Gallazzi , “Dati per un oroscopo. O. Tebt. NS inv. 89/1”, Tyche , v (1990), 5–7 and Plate 2.

Vitruvius , On architecture IX, 8. 8–15. For a photograph of the Salzburg disk see James Evans , The history and practice of ancient astronomy (New York, 1998), 156. On the disk from Grand see: Marcel Nordon , “Sur un objet en bronze découvert à Grand, en Lorraine”, en 1886, Bulletin de l'Association Nationale des Collectionneurs et Amateurs d'Horlogerie Ancienne , no. 57 (1990), 27–42; Otto Neugebauer , A history of ancient mathematical astronomy (Berlin, 1975), 870; and, for a drawing, King Henry C. , Geared to the stars: The evolution of planetariums, orreries and astronomical clocks (Toronto, 1978), 12.

On the mummy portrait of Plate VI see the following: Klaus Parlasca , Mumienporträts und verwandte Denkmäler (Wiesbaden, 1966), 85–90; Barbara Borg , Mumienporträts: Chronologie und kultureller Kontext (Mainz am Rhein, 1996), 112; Barbara Borg , “Der zierlichste Anblick der Welt…”: Ägyptische Porträtmumien (Mainz am Rhein 1998), 70; Klaus Parlasca Seemann Hellmut (eds), Augenblicke: Mumienporträts und ägyptische Grabkunst aus römischer Zeit (Munich, 1999), 39, 138–9; and Walker Susan (ed.), Ancient faces: Mummy portraits from Roman Egypt (New York, 2000), 59–60. For a discussion of the dating of mummy portraits, see Corcoran Lorelei H. , Portrait mummies from Roman Egypt (I-IV centuries A.D.) with a catalog of portrait mummies in Egyptian museums (Chicago, 1995).

On the Egyptian roots of Sarapis see Stephen Quirke , Ancient Egyptian religion (London, 1992), 175–8, and Günter Hölbl , A history of the Ptolemaic Empire (London and New York, 2001), 99–100. On the Memphis Sarapieion, see Thompson Dorothy J. , Memphis under the Ptolemies (Princeton, 1988). On the introduction of the cult at Alexandria see Fraser P. M. , Ptolemaic Alexandria (Oxford, 1972), 246–59. For the iconography see Wilhelm Hornbostel , Sarapis: Studien zur Überlieferungsgeschichte, den Erscheinungsformen und Wandlungen der Gestalt eines Gottes (Leiden, 1973), and Kater-Sibbes G. J. F. , Preliminary catalogue of Sarapis monuments (Leiden, 1973). The story of the dream of Ptolemy Soter I , which led to the transportation of a cult statue of Sarapis to Alexandria, is told by Plutarch ( Isis and Osiris 361F–362B) and by Tacitus ( Histories IV, 83–84).

Goette Rupprecht Hans , “Kaiserzeitliche Bildnisse von Sarapis-Priestern”, Mitteilungen des Deutschen Archäologischen Instituts, Abteilung Kairo , xlv (1989), 173–86.

For Sarapis radiate, see Hornbostel , Sarapis (ref. 29), photographs 2, 140, 165, 270, 311, 312, as well as Richter Gisela M. A. , The engraved gems of the Greeks, Etruscans and Romans, Part II: Engraved gems of the Romans (London, 1971), nos 203, 204.

For the statue of Sarapis holding a disk in his hand see Hornbostel , photographs 26 and 42a. For other artifacts with Sarapis and disk, see Kater-Sibbes , op. cit. (ref. 69), nos 33, 63, 79, and 988. For gems of Sarapis with star and lunar crescent, see Hornbostel , Sarapis (ref. 29), photographs 178, 180, 182, and 338. For a lamp of Sarapis flanked by stars see ibid. , photograph 252. For a lamp of Sarapis with star and crescent see ibid., photograph 251.

For other examples of stars on coins, see James Evans , “The material culture of Greek astronomy”, Journal for the history of astronomy , xxx (1999), 237–307, Figs 40 and 41.

See Clauss , Roman cult of Mithras (ref. 19), 44–50, 131–6.

A gold star diadem ornament similar to the one in the mummy portrait of Plate VI exists in the collection of the British Museum (EA 26328, 3.4cm across, 1st to 3rd century a.d). Whether this particular ornament was really the badge of a Sarapis priest is doubtful, as it has eight rays. For a photograph see Walker , Ancient faces (ref. 68), 153, or Parlasca Seemann , Augenblicke (ref. 68), 138.

For the gem of Fig. 7B see also Gundel , Zodiakos , no. 167, as well as Elfreide Brandt, Antike Gemmen in deutschen Sammlungen , i: Staatliche Münzsammlung München , Part 3, Gemmen und Gaspasten der römishen Kaiserzeit sowie Nachträge (Munich, 1972), no. 2664, p. 86 and Table 248. For the gem of Fig. 7C see Richter , Engraved gems of the Romans (ref. 71), no. 202. On the gem of Fig. 7D see also Gundel , Zodiakos , no. 144, pp. 126–7, 246.

Poole , Catalogue of the coins of Alexandria (ref. 59), p. lvi, conjectured that the astrological coins of year 8 of Antoninus celebrated the start of a new Sothic cycle (when Sirius makes its morning rising on the first day of the Egyptian year). Poole therefore interpreted the matched zodiacs of Fig. 8B as symbolizing the synchronicity of two kinds of year. But, if this is right, as Poole himself pointed out, it is hard to understand the reason for the delay, since the new Sothic cycle actually began five years earlier, in year 3 of Antoninus. Moreover, there was no iconographic tradition among the Greeks of representing two motions of different period by offset zodiac circles, such as we find in medieval and Renaissance representations of the theory of the trepidation of the equinoxes [see, for example, Evans , History and practice (ref. 67), Fig. 6.16, on p. 280], Finally, the other coins of the same series all reflect standard astrological motifs.

Cairo Egyptian Museum CG 27567. See Günter Grimm , Kunst der Ptolemäer- und Römerzeit im Ägyptischen Museum Kairo (Mainz am Rhein, 1975), Plate 13, no. 12. This stele is also discussed in the following: Rostovtzeff M. , The social and economic history of the Hellenistic world (Oxford, 1941), ii, 900, Plate ci; Thompson , Memphis under the Ptolemies (ref. 69), Plate vii and pp. 87, 195, 197, 225, 265; and Susan Walker Higgs Peter (eds), Cleopatra of Egypt (London, 2001), 104.

Earlier writers call this Parisinus P. 1, but it is now known at the Louvre as N 2325. For the text see Blass F. , Eudoxi ars astronomica (Kiel, 1887). There is a French translation in Paul Tannery, Recherches sur l'histoire de l'astronomie ancienne (Paris, 1893), 283–94.

For the chronology of the triple monarchy, see Hölbl , Ptolemaic Empire (ref. 69), 181 and 335–6.

This account of the provenance of the papyrus is due to Thompson , Memphis under the Ptolemies (ref. 69), 252–65. See also her remarkable reconstruction of the life and worries of Ptolemaios, son of Glaukias, at the Memphis Sarapieion from his letters, pp. 215–52.

Zodiac Esna A was located in the part of the temple constructed during the reigns of Ptolemy III-V. See Clagett , Ancient Egyptian science (ref. 63), ii, 126. Ptolemy III came into power in 246 b.c. and Ptolemy V was poisoned by his generals in 180. See the chronological table starting on p. 318 in Hölbl , Ptolemaic Empire (ref. 69).

On the transition from omens to real horoscopic astrology see David Pingree , From astral omens to astrology: From Babylon to Bīkāner (Rome, 1997).

For examples of the gem types see Hélène Guiraud , Intailles et camées de l'époque romaine en Gaule (supplement 48 to Gallia; Paris, 1988).

Plutarch , On the obsolescence of oracles , 407C, transl. by Babbitt (ref. 9), 331.

The Alexander romance mentions the illumination of the zodiac board in a small circle of light. Lamps decorated with images of Sarapis may be seen in many collections (for example, Louvre Inv. S1925, S 1926, S 5928, S 5929, CA 696, CA 2689, CA 5929, Tarse 111, and KLL 13–CA 5888). For examples of Sarapis lamps bearing astrological symbolism see Hornbostel , op. cit. (ref. 69) photo 251 (Sarapis flanked by star and lunar crescent) and 252 (Sarapis flanked by two stars). For a gold amulet casket of the second century a.d. decorated with images of Isis and Sarapis as serpents see Parlasca Seemann , Augenblicke (ref. 68), p. 198, no. 105.