Dorotheus’
work, unfortunately, is only partially extant in Arabic translation. We do,
however, possess Latin, Greek and Chinese fragments. Dorotheus’ work was first
translated into Pahlavī (Middle Persian) from Greek during the early years of
the Sassanian dynasty in Iran between 222–267. This version was later expanded
between 531–578, and then around the year 800, this recension was translated
into Arabic by ‘Umar al-Tabarī. It was curiously around the same time that a
certain figure named Li Miqian 李彌乾 (d.u.), said to hail from Western India (Xi Tianzhu 西天竺),
brought an astrological text to China, which was subsequently translated between
785–805 with the title in Chinese Duli yusi jing 都利聿斯經.
Some modern scholars in Japan in recent decades identified fragments of this text. Yano Michio suggested that it might have been a transcription of “Ptolemy”, but Bill M. Mak in 2014 argued on the basis of the fragments and a very short versified version of the original text that this work was most likely that of Dorotheus. My recent dissertation in 2017 (see here, pages 124–139) examined a number of additional fragments of Dorotheus in a Daoist astrological work of the ninth or early tenth century, especially those concerning lots.[1]
Lots
or κλῆροι refer to a technique
in which the distance between two planets or otherwise two points in a chart are
measured and then that same distance is applied from the ascendant in the same
direction. The degree or more generally the zodiac sign upon which the end of
that distance falls is designated as a lot. The lot in question will deal with
some concern, such as parents or marriage.
Being
illiterate in Arabic, I was forced to depend upon David Pingree’s translation
from 1976. In some cases the Chinese matched up with Pingree’s translation so
well that it was very clear that the Chinese text in question was derived from
Dorotheus. For example, the following remark is given concerning the lot of the
mother in the Daoist text:
日月同在翻復宮，又居東方，此人父母不同類。
If the Sun and the Moon are in tropical signs,
and also [a tropical sign] is resident in the East [at the ascendant], then
this person’s parents will be of different types.
Pingree’s
translation (1976: 174) of the section in Dorotheus concerning the lot of the
mother reads, “If you find the Sun and the Moon in tropical signs, and the ascendant is
a tropical sign, then the parents of this native are not from one race … .”
The term fanfu
gong 翻復宮, literally “tropical palace” (“palace” means “sign”), in the
Chinese refers to tropical or solstitial signs, i.e., Cancer and Capricorn.
These are the positions in which the Sun seems to “turns” in its apparent
motion during the solstices. The Chinese rendering of fanfu 翻復,
literally “turning” or “reversing”, actually semantically reflects the original Greek term τροπικός
quite well. Similarly, in English we have the term “tropical”, which is etymologically
derived from the same Greek word.
I
consulted Pingree’s translation, but last year Benjamin N. Dykes published his
translation of the Arabic translation of Dorotheus. He renders the
aforementioned line as follows (Dykes 2017: 84):
Now if you found the Sun and Moon in convertible signs, and the
Ascendant in a convertible sign, then the parents of that native will not be of
one [and the same] nationality …
Dykes’
translation is far more readable than Pingree’s. Dykes also provides numerous
footnotes, comments and a solid introduction to the work with many references
to other relevant texts of Antiquity and the Medieval period. Although I cannot
evaluate the quality of the translation, Dykes has a PhD from the University of
Illinois and has published numerous translations of Latin and Arabic texts, so
I have no reason to doubt his ability to translate the material.
Returning to
the Chinese, we might wonder from which language was the Chinese version of
Dorotheus produced? Although it is vaguely conceivable that the
Arabic translation of ‘Umar al-Tabarī could have been brought to China shortly
after its production, this is highly unlikely for the simple reason that there
were no documented translators who were bilingual in Arabic and Chinese and
moreover familiar with astrology at this point in history. At the time,
however, there were plenty of ethnically Persian men who had been born and
raised in China. Some of them even worked at court directly under the Emperor. It is therefore most likely that a Pahlavī translation of
Dorotheus was used as the source text for the Chinese. Whether it was the same
text that ‘Umar al-Tabarī used is an interesting question, but I have no good
answer for this. What I can say is that the translator(s) of the original Chinese
text, judging from its fragments in Chinese and also Japanese sources, were quite
capable and systematic in their work. The readability of the translation would have
facilitated its popularity in China.
At the moment I
am carrying out a research project concerning the sinicization of Indo-Iranian astrology
in Medieval China (eighth to sixteenth centuries). I am examining Dorothean and
Ptolemaic sources of astrology in Chinese translation, in addition to
considering the types of nakṣatra astrology (originally Indian, but Iranians
also adopted it) studied by Chinese astrologers throughout the centuries.
With
respect to horoscopy specifically, I’ve settled on calling it “Indo-Iranian”,
since Chinese astrologers built their traditions upon Indian and Iranian
sources, in addition to adding their own uniquely Chinese concepts and
interpretations. Although Dorothean horoscopy is originally Hellenistic, it is
simply more accurate to call it “Iranian” once it reached China, and moreover
it was integrated into a system that simultaneously utilized nakṣatra
lore. This is why I think we best just call this type of horoscopy “Indo-Iranian”.
Chinese writers by the fourteenth century interestingly forgot about the
originally foreign origin of their horoscopy, so by that point it had become
sufficiently sinicized that we could securely call their horoscopy simply as “Chinese
horoscopy”.
In some
forthcoming publications I will demonstrate the depth of Dorothean astrology in
East Asia. One of the points I want to make is that East Asia was as much heir
to Dorotheus’ work as was the Arabic world. More than that, East Asia was also as
much heir to Persian astrology as was the Arabic tradition.
The study of
horoscopy in East Asia is really in its infancy when we consider that there are
extant manuals that comprise hundreds of pages. Few of them have been read by
modern scholars. In order to make sense of them, you need to read Classical
Chinese in addition to understanding classical horoscopy. There are also numerous
social dynamics that we ought to consider. There were plenty of poets and
literati in the Tang and Song dynasties (particularly between the ninth and
eleventh centuries) who wrote about horoscopy. This art was clearly a part of
aristocratic society until at least the seventeenth century when some Jesuit
influences begin to appear. The deeper I dig into this topic, the more I
realize the scale of what needs to be done.
Dykes, Benjamin
N. 2017. Dorotheus of Sidon: Carmen Astrologicum, The ‘Umar al-Tabarī Translation.
Minneapolis: The Cazimi Press.
Kotyk, Jeffrey.
2017. “Buddhist Astrology and Astral Magic in the Tang Dynasty.” PhD dissertation,
Leiden University.
Mak, Bill M.
2014. “Yusi Jing – A treatise of
‘Western’ Astral Science in Chinese and its versified version Xitian yusi jing.” SCIAMVS 15: 105–169.
Pingree, David.
1976. Dorothei Sidonii Carmen astrologicum: interpretationem arabicam in linguam
anglicam versam una cum Dorothei fragmentis et graecis et latinis. Leipzig:
Teubner.
[1] Lingtai jing 靈臺經 (DZ 288) or Scripture of the Spiritual Terrace.
