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Review
"It shines light on the heaven for scholars and amateurs alike; its narrative is dense but rich, readable and suggestive." --Literary Review
...the advantage of Campion s work lies in its material wealth, including figures, themes and topics normally excluded from histories of astrology. --European Review of History
...the advantage of Campion s work lies in its material wealth, including figures, themes and topics normally excluded from histories of astrology. --European Review of History
Product Description
This first volume comprehensively charts Western astrology from 30,000 BCE up to the 17th century, with particular focus on its magical, political and apocalyptic movements and use in everyday life throughout history. This is the first comprehensive examination of astrology's origins and examines the foundations of a major feature of popular culture in the contemporary west, one which has its origins in the ancient world. Campion explores the relationship between astrology and religion, magic and science, and explores its use in politics and the arts in a fascinating and readable fashion. The book's scope and depth is greater than any other comparable text. Beginning with theories of the origins of religion in sun-worship, it spans the period between the first Paleolithic lunar counters around 30,000BC and the end of the classical world and rise of Christianity. Campion challenges the idea that astrology was invented by the Greeks, and asks whether its origins lie in Near-Eastern religion, or whether it can be considered a decadent Eastern import to the west. He considers the evidence for reverence for the stars in Neolithic culture, Mesopotamian astral divination, Egyptian stellar religion, and examines attitudes to astrology and celestial prophecy in the Bible. He considers such artifacts as the mysterious, fifteen-thousand year-old "Venus of Lauselle", the reasons for the orientation of the pyramids, the latest theories on Stonehenge as a sacred observatory, Greek theories of the ascent of the soul to the stars and the Roman emperor Nero's use of astrology to persecute his rivals.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
15 of 15 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
At last an academic approach to astrology that takes the subject seriously.There has been a lot of interest in the starlore of the ancients.Think about the alignments of stone circles and pyramids and speculative books on those subjects.All of this book is good but what particularly struck me were the chapters on how platonic philosophy and later Christianity reacted to astrology.Some of the arguments still seem pertinent today.My only fear is that the the high street bookshops will stock this next to the the pop sun sign books. This is an important work that deserves a wide readership.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
5 reviews
11 of 11 people found the following review helpful
More than just a good book
7 Sep 2010
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
The first reviewer of this book is perfectly correct in giving this book a five star-rating and calling it a must read. But she doesnt go far enough! This book, and its sequel, Volume Two, are masterpieces of good history and good writing. I review both books under Volume Two but feel compelled to repeat my analysis here as well, and I am not even an astrologer, nor actually believe in it with any certainty. Having completed Volume One, and now, finally, Volume Two after an entire summer of reading, I stand in awe at this man's ability to wade through an ocean of conflicting and confusing history, involving philosophy, religion and social upheavals, and somehow never lose cite of his central thesis--the ebb and flow of astrological beliefs. And all in very readable prose, carefully documented, and largely unbiased. Of course, with such a broad overview, and with so many influences and trends to dissect and analyze, there is no doubt that experts in individual fields may quibble about certain points and generalizations. After all, this is controversial material concerning a movement embraced by some, but reviled by many powerful forces. But that doesn't detract from the value of this encyclopedic work. Whether you believe in Astrology or not, noone can deny that it has played a major role in the intellectual and psychological life of Man since the beginning of time, and a respectful interest in its development is certainly warranted by anyone, whether academic or not. And noone does this with such clarity and insightful prose through the jungle of intellectual ideas than Campion, in two massive volumes of scholarship. I should know...I am a college writing teacher, and can professionally declare that this is great writing, not just great scholarship. I only regret that having read the complete work through once, I will probably have to do it several times over again, before I retain even a tiny portion of the information presented in these dense but fascinating texts.
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful
The Dawn of Astrology Volume
23 Sep 2009
Format:Paperback
this is a must read for everyone. you do not have to be an astrologer to appreciate the historical sequence of reglion and the sciences. astrology was the first science and without it we would not have medicine, mathematics, astronomy or any of the knowledge we have today. The Dawn of Astrology clearly outlines the rise and fall of oldest science, astrology.
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
The best history of ancient astrology out there
10 Sep 2010
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
Campion's history of ancient astrology does what other such histories do not: it places astrology in the context of the societies in which it developed. So Campion's book describes the religious practices and beliefs of ancient Mesopotamia, Egypt, Greece, Rome and the British Isles and shows why and how they spawned astrology. This method is far preferable to that used by other histories, which often treat astrology as a subject unto itself without fully explaining its connection to the societies that gave it birth. Campion relies on both primary and secondary sources -- the bibiliography is staggering in its size and scope -- as well as on his own insights. Highly readable for a work of this type (which can easily suffer from dryness), comprehensive and thorough, The Dawn of Astrology is simply the best treatment of its subject I have yet encountered. Highly recommended.
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