Suchergebnisse

During the two decades before the turning point in Copernicus's personal and scientific development in 1510, he had experience of political activity which has been largely ignored by the existing Copernicus literature but part of which is reconstructed in outline in this paper. Given the close linkage between politics and astrology, Copernicus's likely reaction to astrology is re-examined. This reconstruction also suggests that the turning point in 1510 when Copernicus left his post as secretary to his uncle Lucas Watzenrode, the prince-bishop of Warmia, was not only linked to Copernicus's first version of his heliocentric theory in the Commentariolus, but also to major political setbacks being experienced by Watzenrode during these years, and with the publication of Copernicus's translation of the Letters of Theophylactus Simocatta. Some of these considerations contribute to maintaining the view that Copernicus and his work were in several respects exceptional.

This book examines the Babylonian backgroundof melothesia, the science of charting zodiac influences on the human body, which transformed older divination by connecting astrology with medical techniques. Special attention is given to a text from late-5th-century Uruk, which is argued to be an important representative of this new approach to the healing arts, previously only known from Greek and medieval astrology.

The science of the stars: learning astrology at the University of Pavia -- The making of a dynasty: astrology under Bianca Maria Visconti and Francesco Sforza -- Astrology is destiny: Galeazzo Sforza and the political uses of astrology -- The star-crossed duke: Gian Galeazzo Sforza and medical astrology -- The viper and the eagle: the rise and fall of astrology under Ludovico Sforza