Antiochus of Athens was an influential Hellenistic

Hellenistic civilization

Hellenistic civilization represents the zenith of Greek influence in the ancient world from 323 BCE to about 146 BCE...

 astrologer who flourished around 200 AD. There is some disagreement as to when he lived and wrote. Franz Cumont

Franz Cumont

Franz-Valéry-Marie Cumont was a Belgian archaeologist and historian, a philologist and student of epigraphy, who brought these often isolated specialties to bear on the syncretic mystery religions of Late Antiquity, notably Mithraism. Cumont was a graduate of the University of Ghent...

 argued that he lived as early as the 1st century BC, while David Pingree placed him as late as the end of the 2nd century AD. The one agreed datum is that Antiochus is referenced by Porphyry

Porphyry (philosopher)

Porphyry of Tyre , Porphyrios, AD 234–c. 305) was a Neoplatonic philosopher who was born in Tyre. He edited and published the Enneads, the only collection of the work of his teacher Plotinus. He also wrote many works himself on a wide variety of topics...

 (234-c. 305 AD), and so Antiochus must have lived before the death of Porphyry.

All the writings of Antiochus are now lost, but substantial fragments and extracts remain. The works ascribed to him are a Thesaurus (Treasuries), an Introduction (Eisagogika) to astrology, and also an astrological calendar, On the risings and settings of the starts in the 12 months of the year. Antiochus is extensively quoted or paraphrased by later writers, particularly the Neoplatonist Porphyry, and Rhetorius of Egypt

Rhetorius

Rhetorius of Egypt was the last major classical astrologer from whom we have any excerpts. He lived in the sixth or early seventh century, in the early Byzantine era. He wrote an extensive compendium in Greek of the techniques of the Hellenistic astrologers who preceded him, and is one of our...

. There is also a later Byzantine

Byzantine Empire

The Byzantine Empire was the Eastern Roman Empire during the periods of Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, centred on the capital of Constantinople. Known simply as the Roman Empire or Romania to its inhabitants and neighbours, the Empire was the direct continuation of the Ancient Roman State...

 epitome

Epitome

An epitome is a summary or miniature form; an instance that represents a larger reality, also used as a synonym for embodiment....

, or summary, of his work. A parapegma or calendar of star risings and settings and weather changes is also extant.

Antiochus was influential upon later astrologers. Parts of his text were used as the basis for Porphyry's third-century Introduction to the Tetrabiblos of Ptolemy

Ptolemy

Claudius Ptolemy , was a Roman citizen of Egypt who wrote in Greek. He was a mathematician, astronomer, geographer, astrologer, and poet of a single epigram in the Greek Anthology. He lived in Egypt under Roman rule, and is believed to have been born in the town of Ptolemais Hermiou in the...

, as well as being quoted by Hephaistio of Thebes

Hephaistio of Thebes

Hephaistio of Thebes was a Late Antique astrologer of Egyptian descent who wrote a work in Greek known as the Apotelesmatics in the early 5th century...

 (380 AD), Anonymous of 379 AD (Treatise on Fixed Stars) and Julius Firmicus Maternus

Julius Firmicus Maternus

Julius Firmicus Maternus was a Christian Latin writer and notable astrologer, who lived in the reign of Constantine I and his successors.-Life and works:...

 (c. 336 AD).

Porphyry relies heavily on Antiochus for definitions of technical terms used by Ptolemy in Tetrabiblos

Tetrabiblos

The Tetrabiblos , also known under the Latin title Quadripartitum , is a text on the philosophy and practice of astrology, written in the second century AD by the Alexandrian scholar Claudius Ptolemy ....

. Antiochus made one of the earliest references to astrological reception

Reception (astrology)

In astrology, reception is a condition where one planet is located in a sign where a second planet has astrological dignity--for example, a sign which the second planet rules or in which it is exalted, or where the second planet is the triplicity ruler....

, and discussed the twelves houses (topoi] of the astrological chart, heliacal rising

Heliacal rising

The heliacal rising of a star occurs when it first becomes visible above the eastern horizon for a brief moment just before sunrise, after a period of time when it had not been visible....

s and settings, and the Lots

Arabian Parts

In astrology, the Arabian/Arabic parts or lots are constructed points based on mathematical calculations of three horoscopic entities such as planets or angles...

.

Further reading

• Antiochus of Athens, The Thesaurus, Project Hindsight Greek Track, translated by Robert Schmidt, edited by Robert Hand, 1993.
• Antiochus of Athens, Das Kalendarium des Antiochus, 1911.

External links

• Marilynn Lawrence (West Chester U. of Penn.) in The Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy: Hellenistic Astrology -- section on Porphyry.
• Bill Johnston, Article on Oktotopos for Association for Young Astrologers, retrieved January 6, 2006.
• Robert Schmidt, Catalogue of Hellenistic astrologers and their writings at Project Hindsight -- on Antiochus and Porphyry.
• Deborah Houlding, A brief comparison of the use of reception in history at Skyscript, retrieved December 25, 2010.