Firmicus Maternus’ Mathesis, with Benjamin Dykes

The Astrology Podcast

Chris Brennan

Religion & Spirituality, Society & Culture, Philosophy, Spirituality

4.7 • 1.7K Ratings

🗓️ 17 May 2023

⏱️ 142 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

In episode 401 Dr. Benjamin Dykes joins the podcast to talk about his new translation of the astrological work of the 4th century astrologer Firmicus Maternus. Firmicus was a lawyer and astrologer from the 4th century who wrote one of the longest surviving texts on astrology that has survived from antiquity, which is titled Mathesis. Firmicus' work is unique because it was written in Latin, and it preserves a lot of material from earlier Greek sources that did not survive into modern times, such as the works of Asclepius or Nechepso and Petosiris. The text also contains huge amounts of delineation material, where Firmicus explains how to interpret different placements in a person's birth chart. During the course of the interview we discuss Firmicus' life and work, Ben's motivation for translating this book, and some of the interesting features of the Mathesis. You can get a copy of Ben's new translation of Firmicus here: Firmicus Maternus Mathesis This episode is available in both audio and video versions below. Timestamps 00:00:00 A new translation of the Mathesis 00:09:52 The life and dating of Firmicus Maternus 00:19:50 Firmicus' philosophy and religious views 00:30:40 Later conversion to Christianity 00:37:00 Mathesis as the first comprehensive astrological text in Latin 00:57:00 Mitigating conditions 01:10:00 Firmicus views on fate 01:31:28 The Thema Mundi 01:38:33 Firmicus using whole sign and equal houses together 01:49:29 Firmicus' emphasis on the Moon 01:55:47 Apotelesmata and chart synthesis 01:59:35 Lots as houses/places 02:08:08 Fixed stars 02:13:32 Popularity of Firmicus in later tradition 02:17:53 Ben's upcoming projects 02:19:14 Patrons and sponsors Watch the Video Version of This Episode Watch the video version of this episode on Firmicus Maternus on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HoNf5JVNMZI - Transcript A full transcript of this episode is available: Episode 401 transcript Listen to the Audio Version of This Episode Listen to the audio version of this episode or download it as an MP3:

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hey, my name is Chris Brennan, and you're listening to the Astrology podcast in this
0:04.1	episode.
0:05.1	I'm going to be talking with Benjamin Dykes about his new translation of the astrological
0:09.0	texts of the fourth century astrologer for Max Maternis.
0:13.0	So he and welcome to the show me sir, having me back, yeah, it's going to have you.
0:18.0	This is I actually just recorded my 400th episode yesterday, and it reminded me that you were
0:22.1	actually my first guest on the Astrology podcast on episode two way back in 2012.
0:27.8	Wow, that was that was long ago.
0:30.5	Yeah, I think we were we were I was interviewing you about a much earlier book.
0:34.0	I think it was choices and inceptions your book on electional astrology.
0:37.8	Oh, congratulations.
0:39.7	Thank you.
0:40.3	Well, speaking of like big, huge feats of accomplishment, like you have just translated
0:47.4	what I believe it's often referred to as like the longest astrological text that survives
0:53.3	from antiquity.
0:54.2	And I think there's some debate about whether like valence is longer, whether fermix is longer,
0:58.0	but in terms of delineation material length, it seems like this is probably the longest surviving
1:03.4	astrological text from ancient times, or at least from probably prior to the medieval period,
1:08.3	I would think.
1:10.4	Yeah, and it's, I mean, as for completeness, it's hard to beat too.
1:14.4	I mean, there's as well as we'll talk about today, there's lots of special features to it.
1:19.8	And by his name dropping, we're also, we also know that we're getting some of the texts
	...

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