waybread
Well-known member
tsmall, thanks for your kind words.
I think it is pretty well established that the principal ancient cultures that practiced some form of astrology had ideas about their gods in place before they ascribed planets to them.
A good example is ancient Greece. The planet we called Mercury was earlier called Stilbon, meaning gleaming or glittering. Pyeroeis, "the fiery one" was the planet Mars. The Greeks thought of them as minor gods, whose parents were Titans. https://www.greeklegendsandmyths.com/the-astra-planeta.html
The Greeks did not practice astrology until it was introduced by a Babylonian priest and historian, Berrosus, who lived in the early 3rd century BCE. It is well known that Greek and Roman mythology borrowed heavily from the Babylonians, so about this time, the planets took on the names and tutelage of the planetary gods familiar to us today.The attributes of the Babylonian planetary god Nabu (Nebo) were assimilated to Hermes/Mercury
Meanwhile, Homer and Hesiod (7th/8th century BCE) were writing about the Greek gods long prior to the introduction of astrology.
I think it is pretty well established that the principal ancient cultures that practiced some form of astrology had ideas about their gods in place before they ascribed planets to them.
A good example is ancient Greece. The planet we called Mercury was earlier called Stilbon, meaning gleaming or glittering. Pyeroeis, "the fiery one" was the planet Mars. The Greeks thought of them as minor gods, whose parents were Titans. https://www.greeklegendsandmyths.com/the-astra-planeta.html
The Greeks did not practice astrology until it was introduced by a Babylonian priest and historian, Berrosus, who lived in the early 3rd century BCE. It is well known that Greek and Roman mythology borrowed heavily from the Babylonians, so about this time, the planets took on the names and tutelage of the planetary gods familiar to us today.The attributes of the Babylonian planetary god Nabu (Nebo) were assimilated to Hermes/Mercury
Meanwhile, Homer and Hesiod (7th/8th century BCE) were writing about the Greek gods long prior to the introduction of astrology.
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