Sapiens dominabitur astris (Latin for "the wise man shall master the stars") is a Latin maxim initially used in astrology, theology, philosophy and literature from the late 13th to late 17th centuries. The phrase has been traditionally attributed to Greco-Roman scientist Ptolemy, but modern scholarship views it as a compilation from two later sources. [1] Presently, the phrase is featured on the emblem of the Main Directorate of Intelligence of Ukraine.
The phrase began to be used in the late 13th century by both astrologers and their detractors. [1] To astrologers, the phrase meant the mastery of astrological knowledge to predict destiny while for others it implied allegiance to Christian belief on free will and dominance of reason over fatalism and superstition. [1]
Modern scholarship views the phrase as being likely derived from the pseudo-Ptolemaic work Centiloquium and passages from the introduction to the Introductorium maius in astrologiam (Kitāb al-mudkhal al-kabīr) by the Islamic astrologer Abu Ma'shar al-Balkhi. [1] Both works were translated into Latin in the 1130s, making them available to most Western scholars of the time. [1] One passage of the Centiloquium stated that "a skillful person acquainted with the nature of the stars is enabled to avert many of their effects and to prepare himself for those effects before they arrive", while another passage stated that "a sagacious mind improves the operation of the heavens, as a skillful farmer, by cultivation, improves nature". [1] Al-Balkhi, in turn, mentioned "the benefit to the wise masters of stars through foreknowledge of the power of the conditions of the stars in this world which is evident to them". [1]
While the phrase uses the word astra for "stars", which is synonymous with stellae, in an astronomical and astrological context the word sidus has been used more often. [2]
In 2016, sapiens dominabitur astris appeared on the new emblem of the Main Directorate of Intelligence of Ukraine. The phrase was chosen during the Russo-Ukrainian War in response to the Russian military intelligence's motto "above us only stars". [3]
Astrology is a range of divinatory practices, recognized as pseudoscientific since the 18th century, that claim to discern information about human affairs and terrestrial events by studying the apparent positions of celestial objects. Different cultures have employed forms of astrology since at least the 2nd millennium BCE, these practices having originated in calendrical systems used to predict seasonal shifts and to interpret celestial cycles as signs of divine communications. Most, if not all, cultures have attached importance to what they observed in the sky, and some—such as the Hindus, Chinese, and the Maya—developed elaborate systems for predicting terrestrial events from celestial observations. Western astrology, one of the oldest astrological systems still in use, can trace its roots to 19th–17th century BCE Mesopotamia, from where it spread to Ancient Greece, Rome, the Islamic world, and eventually Central and Western Europe. Contemporary Western astrology is often associated with systems of horoscopes that purport to explain aspects of a person's personality and predict significant events in their lives based on the positions of celestial objects; the majority of professional astrologers rely on such systems.
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A horoscope is an astrological chart or diagram representing the positions of the Sun, Moon, planets, astrological aspects and sensitive angles at the time of an event, such as the moment of a person's birth. The word horoscope is derived from the Greek words ōra and scopos meaning "time" and "observer". It is claimed by proponents of astrology that a horoscope can be used as a method of divination regarding events relating to the point in time it represents, and it forms the basis of the horoscopic traditions of astrology, although practices surrounding astrology have been recognized as pseudoscientific since the 18th century. Horoscope columns are often featured in print and online newspapers.
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Astrological belief in correspondences between celestial observations and terrestrial events have influenced various aspects of human history, including world-views, language and many elements of social culture.
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Abu Ma‘shar al-Balkhi, Latinized as Albumasar, was an early Persian Muslim astrologer, thought to be the greatest astrologer of the Abbasid court in Baghdad. While he was not a major innovator, his practical manuals for training astrologers profoundly influenced Muslim intellectual history and, through translations, that of western Europe and Byzantium.
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Māshāʾallāh ibn Atharī, known as Mashallah, was an 8th century Persian Jewish astrologer, astronomer, and mathematician. Originally from Khorasan, he lived in Basra during the reigns of the Abbasid caliphs al-Manṣūr and al-Ma’mūn, and was among those who introduced astrology and astronomy to Baghdad. The bibliographer ibn al-Nadim described Mashallah "as virtuous and in his time a leader in the science of jurisprudence, i.e. the science of judgments of the stars". Mashallah served as a court astrologer for the Abbasid caliphate and wrote works on astrology in Arabic. Some Latin translations survive.
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Tetrabiblos, also known as Apotelesmatiká and in Latin as Quadripartitum, is a text on the philosophy and practice of astrology, written by the Alexandrian scholar Claudius Ptolemy in Koine Greek during the 2nd century AD.
Picatrix is the Latin name used today for a 400-page book of magic and astrology originally written in Arabic under the title Ghāyat al-Ḥakīm, which most scholars assume was originally written in the middle of the 11th century, though an argument for composition in the first half of the 10th century has been made. The Arabic title translates as The Aim of the Sage or The Goal of The Wise. The Arabic work was translated into Spanish and then into Latin during the 13th century, at which time it got the Latin title Picatrix. The book's title Picatrix is also sometimes used to refer to the book's author.
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