Greenbaum, D. G. & M. T. Ross, 2010, “The Role of Egypt in the Development of the Horoscope” in Egypt in Transition, 153-4.
Although no ascendant appears in the corpus of extant Babylonian horoscopes, this lack does not negate the cuneiform birth charts as examples of natal astrology. The earliest evidence connects Egypt to the introduction of the ascendant in astrological practice. Balbillus, whose antecedents were probably Egyptian, provides the earliest non-Babylonian literary charts containing cardines in Greek. Balbillus wrote in the first century CE, but his charts were cast for 72 BCE and 43 BCE. The earliest documentary chart containing cardines, Ashmolean D.O. 633, appears in a Demotic context and astronomically corresponds to 38 BCE. The date of composition was probably some time after this date. Barring lacunae, however, subsequent Demotic charts generally contain at least an ascendant. Greek charts follow this standard of composition. In pOxyrhynchus 235, the diagram for a chart dated between 15 and 22 CE contains perpendicular horizontal and vertical lines which divide the circular form of the diagram into quadrants. The author clearly labelled the ascendant, midheaven and lower midheaven angles; though the horizontal line indicates the setting cardine, there is no label for it.
Because of Balbillus’s probable origins, the Demotic context of Ashmolean D.O. 633 and the Egyptian provenance of pOxyrhynchus 235, the cardines display an early and strong connection to Egypt. In fact, the cardines – specifically the most important cardines, the ascendant and midheaven – relate to known Egyptian astronomical practices. A first century CE chart which equates the decans with “36 bright horoscopes” (λ̅ϛ̅ λάμπροι ὡροσκόποι) hints at the practices which may have prompted astrological interest in these positions.45 Before discussing this chart, along with other texts which call decans “horoscopes”, a brief overview of the decan system in Egypt, in particular the origin of rising and transit decans which correlate best with the astrological chart, will be useful.
Greenbaum, D. G. & M. T. Ross, 2010, “The Role of Egypt in the Development of the Horoscope” in Egypt in Transition: Social and Religious Development of Egypt in the First Millennium BCE, ed. L. Bareš, F. Coppens & K. Smolarikova, 146-82. Praga: Faculty of Arts, Charles University in Prague.
