Astronomical and astrological knowledge circulated in many ways in the ancient world: in the form of written texts and through oral communication; by the conscious assimilation of sought-after knowledge and the unconscious absorption of ideas to which scholars were exposed. The Circulation of Astronomical Knowledge in the Ancient World explores the ways in which astronomical knowledge circulated between different communities of scholars over time and space, and what was done with that knowledge when it was received. Examples are discussed from Mesopotamia, Egypt, the Greco-Roman world, India, and China.

Table of Contents:
List of Figures and Tables Introduction 1 The Brown School of the History of Science: Historiography and the Astral Sciences Francesca Rochberg 2 Astral Knowledge in an International Age: Transmission of the Cuneiform Tradition, ca. 1500–1000b.c. Matthew T. Rutz 3 Traditions of Mesopotamian Celestial-Divinatory Schemes and the 4th Tablet of Šumma Sin ina Tāmartišu Zackary Wainer 4 The Circulation of Astronomical Knowledge between Babylon and Uruk John M. Steele 5 The Micro-Zodiac in Babylon and Uruk: Seleucid Zodiacal Astrology M. Willis Monroe 6 Virtual Moons over Babylonia: The Calendar Text System, Its Micro-Zodiac of 13, and the Making of Medical Zodiology John Z. Wee 7 On the Concomitancy of the Seemingly Incommensurable, or Why Egyptian Astral Tradition Needs to be Analyzed within Its Cultural Context Joachim Friedrich Quack 8 Some Astrologers and Their Handbooks in Demotic Egyptian Andreas Winkler 9 The Anaphoricus of Hypsicles of Alexandria Clemency Montelle 10 Interpolated Observations and Historical Observational Records in Ptolemy’s Astronomy Alexander Jones 11 Mesopotamian Lunar Omens in Justinian’s Constantinople Zoë Misiewicz 12 A Parallel Universe: The Transmission of Astronomical Terminology in Early Chinese Almanacs Ethan Harkness 13 Mercury and the Case for Plural Planetary Traditions in Early Imperial China Daniel Patrick Morgan 14 Calendrical Systems in Early Imperial China: Reform, Evaluation and Tradition Yuzhen Guan 15 The Twelve Signs of the Zodiac during the Tang and Song Dynasties: A Set of Signs Which Lost Their Meanings within Chinese Horoscopic Astrology Shenmi Song 16 On the Dunhuang Manuscript p.4071: A Case Study on the Sinicization of Western Horoscope in Late 10th Century China Weixing Niu 17 Were Planetary Models of Ancient India Strongly Influenced by Greek Astronomy? Dennis Duke Index of Modern Authors Index of Subjects Index of Sources