Dorian Gieseler Greenbaum

Fortune, the Daimon, Allotment and Fate in Hellenistic Astrology

About the Key Concept Lectures

The Key Concept Lectures address central issues in topics covered by the online MA in Cultural Astronomy and Astrology at the University of Wales Trinity Saint David. They are designed to be both accessible and represent the very best that postgraduate study offers. Please join us for a taste of the top-level academic study

This short series of lectures will cover topics essential to the theory, understanding and practice of Hellenistic astrology. The course will draw its material from the history of astrology, philosophy and religion in the ancient Mediterranean region.

All profit from these lectures will go to support student scholarships, research and publication.

Cost of each lecture is £10 while attending all three lectures is only £25

Please notice that for each registrant, links will be sent to the email address supplied by PayPal.

Attendance at the online seminars is free to all UWTSD students. Students who wish to attend one or more of the lectures, should email Dr. Frances Clynes at f.clynes@uwtsd.ac.uk, using their UWTSD email, and state which lectures they wish to attend.

4.00 PM BST, TUESDAY 7th JULY

Lecture 1: Philosophy and Fate in Hellenistic Astrology

The focus will be on the Meditteranean cultures that contributed to the development of Hellenistic astrology, especially Mesopotamia and Egyptian as well as Greco-Roman. Included will be these cultures’ ideas about fate, what it means and how it is understood in philosophy and religion. These will then be explored within the context of Hellenistic astrology.

To attend the keynote lecture on 7 July, please register and pay by clicking the button below, Make Payment. Cost is £10.

Registration is now closed

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4.00 PM BST TUESDAY 14th JULY

Lecture 2: Endowment and Chance: The Lots of Fortune and Daimon

This lecture begins with historical, cultural and religious understandings of the concepts of ‘fortune’ or chance, and ‘daimon’, the semi-divine being(s) appearing in Greek religion, but with parallels in other Mediterranean cultures. Also covered will be the doctrine of lots in astrology, particularly the Lots of Fortune and Daimon and how their antecedents in the Mediterranean cultural milieu contribute to their use in astrology.

To attend the keynote lecture on 14 July, please register and pay by clicking the button below, Make Payment. Cost is £10.

Registration is now closed

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4.00 PM BST TUESDAY 21TH JULY

Lecture 3: Love and Compulsion: The Lots of Eros and Necessity

This lecture will examine the concepts of love and necessity (a component of which can be the idea of force or compulsion), looking first at their cultural meanings and understanding, and then turning to their expression in the theory and practice of Hellenistic astrology. Examples from astrological, religious and philosophical material will be provided to elucidate these topics.

To attend the keynote lecture on 21 July, please register and pay by clicking the button below, Make Payment Cost is £10.

Booking for this seminar closes an hour before the seminar starts. Any bookings received after that will receive a link to the recording.

Registration is now closed

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To access the recording of Seminar 1 and 2 and attend Seminar 3, please register and pay by clicking the button below, Make Payment. Cost is £25

Registration is now closed

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About Dorian Gieseler Greenbaum

Dorian Gieseler Greenbaum is an expert in the history, theory and practice of ancient astrology, focusing on the Mediterranean region from the Hellenistic and Ptolemaic periods through Late Antiquity. She is a tutor on the MA in Cultural Astronomy and Astrology at the University of Wales Trinity Saint David. She received her PhD in Combined Historical Studies from the Warburg Institute, University of London in 2009, under the supervision of Charles Burnett. The book based on her thesis was published in 2016 by Brill as The Daimon in Hellenistic Astrology: Origins and Influence. She has a special interest in the history and doctrine of astrological lots, and has lectured and written extensively on them at conferences and in print. Among her many published articles are 'Arrows, Aiming and Divination: Astrology as a Stochastic Art', in Divination: Perspectives for a New Millennium, edited by Patrick Curry (2010); with Micah Ross, 'The Role of Egypt in the Development of the Horoscope' in Egypt in Transition: Social and Religious Development of Egypt in the First Millennium BCE (2010); with Franziska Naether, 'Astrological Implications in the Lot Oracle PGM 50', MHNH, 11, 2011, pp. 484-505; with Alexander Jones, 'P.Berl. 9825: An elaborate horoscope for 319 CE and its significance for Greek astronomical and astrological practice', ISAW Papers 12 (2017): dlib.nyu.edu/awdl/isaw/isaw-papers/12; and 'Porphyry of Tyre on the Daimon, Birth and the Stars', in Neoplatonic Demons and Angels, eds L. Brisson, S. O'Neill and A. Timotin (2018). She has edited volumes to do with the history, theory and practice of astrology alone (Kepler’s astrological writings) and with Nicholas Campion and Charles Burnett. Her most recently published works are 'The Hellenistic Horoscope' and 'Hellenistic Astronomy in Medicine' in Hellenistic Astronomy: The Science in its Contexts, edited by Alan C. Bowen and Francesca Rochberg in the Brill Companion Series (2020).

About

The Key Concept lectures are part of the Sophia Centre's public outreach programme and draw on material in the University of Wales Trinity Saint David's programme in Cultural Astronomy and Astrology. The programme is distance-learning and online and offers flexible options for study: take one or two modules as an Occasional Student, three modules for a Certificate, six modules for a Diploma and write a 15,000 word dissertation to gain the full MA. For further information e mail the Programme Director, Dr Nicholas Campion.