This project investigates the theory of melothesia, which refers to the assignment of the 12 Zodiac signs to different body parts or bodily regions. We explore the development of astrological melothesia in the 1st century CE and its subsequent influence on Roman and Sanskrit astral sciences through an examination of the interplay between astrology, religion, and medicine in ancient Rome and India.
Chapter 1, "nulla ars sine religione: Vedic and Roman Religious Metaphysics and Astrology," examines the semiotics and complex systems of meaning present in sacrificial rituals in Vedic India and Rome. Zodiacal astrology was a Babylonian science that established itself in both Mediterranean and Indian cultures, and I suggest here that the same sacrificial semiotic systems which enabled communication between the realms of the gods and men were further developed with mathematical precision by astrologers who used the positions of the planets and stars to create a highly detailed predictive science. Here we examine how the adoption of a science like horoscopic astrology, considered foreign by both the Romans and Indians, relied on earlier semiotic systems to establish itself and flourish in each cultural context. Secondly, we outline a theoretical framework for “religious metaphysics,” which served as the mechanism facilitating the semiotics system that connected different mundane, cosmic, and divine substances on the divine, celestial, and terrestrial planes. I argue that the system of associations established by religious metaphysics provided the groundwork for astrology’s rich network of cosmic connectivities.
To do this, I first outline the Vedic religious metaphysical system, which is more generously explained by the Sanskritic textual tradition, and highlight similar patterns in the Roman material. My comparative approach presents, for the first time, a discussion of Mediterranean religious metaphysics originating from sacrificial and divinatory practices. Although religion had created the categories of man, animal, and divinity, astrology integrated humans with Time and Temporality in a highly personalized way. Our theoretical intervention is a critical advancement in explaining astrology’s success in the Mediterranean and Indic science and religion.
Chapter 2, "medicina sine fine: Astrological Medicine & Anthropology," delves into astrology's role in ancient Roman and Indian conceptions of the body and its interaction with the medical science. It discusses how astrology and medicine sought to understand and predict life outcomes, and how they competed for clients in the Mediterranean, in contrast with the Jyotiṣa which integrated itself with Āyurvedic and Dharmic treatises. We also explore the micro- / macro-cosmic conceptions of the body and the use of amulets to counteract harmful planetary influences. We also examine astrology's role in ancient Roman and Indian conceptions of the body as a product of its environment and as being subject to a specific and, debatably, unchangeable fate. Manilius combines melothesia and Hippocratic environmental determinism to provide an anthropology of Roman provinces governed by the zodiac, endowing different races of men with particular psycho-physiologies. Even in “rational” Greek and Roman astral science and medicine, micro- /macro-cosmic conceptions of the body remained a central component of understanding Rome’s self-positioning in the realpolitik of the ancient Mediterranean and Near East. Astrologers recommended wearing engraved gemstone amulets to mollify harmful planetary influences sometimes in conjunction with medical treatment and at others in competition with it. Sphujidhvaja describes Brahminical geographical regions, social classes, and religious orders of Indian monks governed by each sign, weaving his work into earlier Āyurvedic theories.
Both astrology and medicine sought the causes (aitia) of particular events and predicted life outcomes, which naturally led experts in each field to compete with one another for clients. Medicine endeavored to lengthen a person's lifespan by 1) diagnosing an illness, 2) prognosing its duration and outcome, and 3) prescribing treatment for the patient to lessen its harmful effects. While the doctor was limited to only prognosing health outcomes, the astrologer was capable of predicting all aspects of one's life, including personality, health, wealth, profession, and marriage.
While Greeks and Romans looked to astrology to learn about the future, Indians who subscribed to saṃsāra (cyclical rebirth) used it to investigate not only their immediate future in their current life and body, but also their past and future births. Ancient Mediterranean peoples, Brahmins, Jains, and Buddhists also believed that Time passed at different rates for humans, gods, and other types of beings, which materialized Time and temporality variously for different species of beings. Ancient Mediterranean and Brahminic rites of passage rituals (saṃskāras), and civic and household ritual calendars dictated daily life and each person’s actions. Though people celebrated birthdays and death anniversaries as part of this domestic ritual calendar, only with astrology did individuals conceive of themselves as a product of eternal cosmic clockwork. This re-conceptualization of Time served as a central framework for understanding the human body’s lived experiences and made Time a highly personal matter long before the rise of 19th-century Phenomenology. Finally, this chapter examines the development of the practice of using astrological gems for healing by using the example of Roman engraved gems employed in averting Sirius’ dangerous influence and the use of the Navaratnas (assembly of nine planetary gems) in Jyotiṣa.
Chapter 3, "astrologia universalis: śastra and ars as global sciences," critically examines the category of technical sciences in Sanskritic and Roman contexts. It analyzes the transliteration and translation of scientific theories through inter- / intra-cultural exchanges, challenging the Eurocentric narrative of scientific development as being driven solely by Greek rationalism. I critically examine the category of technical sciences in the Sanskritic and Roman contexts to highlight key differences in their development and purpose, and the mechanisms through which scientific theories were transliterated and translated by inter- / intra-cultural exchanges. I wrangle with the inherent messiness of studying astrology, the oldest interdisciplinary subject, a quality that rendered it antithetical to the specializing impulse that drove ancient Roman sciences. This discussion decolonizes the history of science, which often draws direct connections between 1) modern, positivist scientific methods, 2) the 17th century European Enlightenment, and 3) ancient Greek-Roman rationalism. My research refutes this Orientalist narrative of the unidirectional, chronological movement of ancient scientific methods from Mesopotamia and Egypt to Greece and then Rome. This narrative insists that Greek rational science arrived in an India which was home primarily to irrationally spiritual modes of thought and magic. This linear, Eurocentric narrative precludes us from appreciating astrological texts (and other scientific texts) in their full cultural contexts while considering the scientific literatures and traditions that already existed in India. My work relies on a more open reading - à la Eco - of ancient “scientific” texts alongside “non-scientific” texts with the intention of understanding how ancient science developed from, and remained in conversation, with other intellectual traditions both within and outside of their respective cultural boundaries. This better contextualizes the Astronomica and Yavana Jātaka within the corpus of the global scientific pursuit that was astral science.
This dissertation expands the boundaries of Classical Studies through its deep engagement with global scientific perspectives. It explores the cultural and intellectual transformations that occurred directly and indirectly during the imperial interactions between Rome and India. By examining the intersections of astrology, religion, medicine, and culture, this study sheds light on the enduring relevance of astrology in our modern world. We emphasize the importance of understanding ancient intercultural interactions in the development of globalized scientific discourses throughout history and advocate for a "Global Classics" approach that recognizes the contributions of diverse cultures.
My project shifts the academic discourse of traditional Classics, which emphasizes the importance of Greece and Rome over other cultures, to a "Global Classics" which repositions the Mediterranean as one of many ancient cultures with their intellectual traditions and languages. Thinking of Greece and Rome as the peripheries of other imperial cultures can shape how we think about Classics' impact historically and now in a post-colonial world. This research, with my philologically rigorous approach of working from primary sources in Greek, Latin, and Sanskrit, brings Classics into the 21st century by engaging with scholarship across disciplines and expands the scope of Classical Studies beyond the Mediterranean as we strive for a more diverse and decolonized Classics and Humanities.
Additionally, my project addresses essential aspects of Classical Studies, South Asian Studies, the history of science, and the relationship between the sciences and humanities. I place Classics in conversation with religious studies, the history of science, and other disciplines to foster discussions that transcend disciplinary boundaries. This is crucial in the modern academy where the silo-ing of disciplines has led to great advances in every subdiscipline, including Classics, but it remains the fact that innovative work in the humanities develops through collaboration across the STEM - Humanities divide.