Acts 2 and Zodiac Geography

[Solon]

I stumbled across this earlier and thought some might find it interesting.

May 27 is Pentecost – the fiftieth day after Easter when many Christians commemorate the gift of the Holy Spirit as recorded in Acts 2. Many different peoples heard their own language, as many of those present “spoke with other tongues” through the power of the Holy Spirit (v.4)

In 1948, Stefan Weinstock published an interesting note concerning the geographic catalog found in Acts 2.9-11. (The Journal of Roman Studies Vol. 38, parts 1 and 2 (1948), pp. 43-46.) In this article, Weinstock commented on the ancient astrological practice of assigning a Zodiac sign to a portion of the known world. The best known list that connects specific places with specific Zodiac signs was written by a 4th century CE Roman astrologist named Paulus Alexandrinus. Despite some differences, it is evident that the writer of Acts and Paulus Alexandrinus were working from the same basic paradigm.

Thus, the list of all these places in Acts 2 is another way of saying “the entire known world” through the associations of places with the Zodiac signs.

Here are the geographic lists of Acts and Paulus Alexandrinus and their correspondence to the signs of the Zodiac.

Zodiac.............................Paulus Alexandrinus.............................Acts 2

Aries................................Persians..... .......................Parthians, Medes, Elamites
Taurus.............................Babylon........ .....................Mesopotamia
Gemini.............................Cappadocia, Judaea.............Cappadocia
Cancer.............................Armenia........ .....................Pontus
Leo................................*Asia.......... .......................*Asia
Virgo................................Greece, Ionia.....................Phrygia, Pamphylia
.................................................. ........................**Egypt
Libra...............................Libya, Cyrene......................Libya, Cyrene
Scorpio............................Italy.......... ........................Romans
Saggitarius.......................Cilicia, Crete........................Cretans
Capricorn..........................Syria
Aquarius...........................Egypt
Pisces..............................Red Sea, India....................Arabs

*Asia was a Roman province in modern day Turkey - not an entire continent.

**The Acts version places Egypt earlier in the order than Paulus Alexandrinus’.

A related implication:

As Weinstock notes, the metonymical use of the Zodiac names to describe specific geographic locations pertains to Daniel’s vision in Daniel 8.20-21. The ram (Aries) of Persia is defeated by the goat (Capricorn) of Greece. But wait!, you say. . . the Capricorn is the sign of Syria. Since most scholars (but few evangelicals) consider Daniel to have been written in the 2nd century BCE, the writer of Daniel clearly understood the Seleucid dynasty in Syria to be heirs to the Greek legacy of Alexander the Great. The Seleucids were descended from Seleucus, one of Alexander’s generals who seized Syria after Alexander’s death in 323.

Here's a map, for your viewing pleasure.

[pelagius]

Thanks, Solon. This is mostly tangential to your post but I think the role of astrologers in the Bible is quite interesting. Gentile astrologers are sometimes viewed positively, neutrally, and negatively. Both Balaam and the gentile wise man are portrayed positively at least in terms of their ability to receive divine information. In Daniel, the astrologers are sometimes benignly portrayed and sometimes negatively portrayed. Pharaohs astrologers are definitely negative portrayed. Also, Simon Magus in Acts is portrayed very negatively.

Matthew's account is particularly interesting. The magi are able to determine the truth, That Jesus is the King of the Jews, even when the scribes and Jewish leadership do not. Also, Matthew gives the story such a Balaam vibe: coming from the east, foiling the wicked king, and the imagery of Number 24:17.

[Solon]

Originally Posted by pelagius

Thanks, Solon. This is mostly tangential to your post but I think the role of astrologers in the Bible is quite interesting. Gentile astrologers are sometimes viewed positively, neutrally, and negatively. Both Balaam and the gentile wise man are portrayed positively at least in terms of their ability to receive divine information. In Daniel, the astrologers are sometimes benignly portrayed and sometimes negatively portrayed. Pharaohs astrologers are definitely negative portrayed. Also, Simon Magus in Acts is portrayed very negatively.

Matthew's account is particularly interesting. The magi are able to determine the truth, That Jesus is the King of the Jews, even when the scribes and Jewish leadership do not. Also, Matthew gives the story such a Balaam vibe: coming from the east, foiling the wicked king, and the imagery of Number 24:17.

Good points. I wonder how much of the negativity towards astrology springs from redactionists. There's more astrology and magic in the Bible than meets the eye.

If you get a chance, check out Weinstock's little article. He talks about Mesopotamian roots for it all. This stuff is old.

[Mormon Red Death]

I am missing the whole thing here. Care to explain a little more about what you think this means?

I am a simpleton what can I say?

[Solon]

Originally Posted by Mormon Red Death

I am missing the whole thing here. Care to explain a little more about what you think this means?

I am a simpleton what can I say?

Basically, it's just an explanation for how that list in Acts 2.9-11 is organized. It follows an ancient (older than Luke) tradition of assigning specific places to specific zodiac signs. The idea is that, just as the Zodiac covers the entire sky, the places cover the entire world.

All it demonstrates is that the writer of Acts was aware of this convention for describing the entire world. While he didn't list the zodiac signs, he was clearly working from a version of this list.

I think it's an interesting insight into the ancient world view of thinking of geography in terms of astrology.

And, as Weinstock noted, it sheds some light on the book of Daniel, including when it was written.

I suspect that there's often a lot going on in Biblical texts that we don't grasp because we've lost the context and the texts have been revised to correspond with later world views / theology. This is just one little example in which we can get the context, and it shows the influence of hundreds of years of Mesopotamian influence. As Pelagius noted, there's a lot of astrology in the Bible. Reading between the lines, it becomes clear that those who wrote the New (and Old) Testaments were dealing with certain baseline religious conceptions and vocabulary that were far removed from our own.

Thus, you get a lot of episodes described in what we would call magical/astrological language (e.g. Simon Magus in Acts 8, Elymas the magician in Acts 13; the Jewish exorcists in Acts 19.11-20). There was a lot of magic in the ancient world, and many (including me) would say that Christianity was often described in the NT in "magical" terms, something some fundamentalists would have trouble accepting.

It's also akin to Quinn's thesis on early Mormons and their magic world-views, but that's fodder for another thread.

[Archaea]

Originally Posted by Solon

It's also akin to Quinn's thesis on early Mormons and their magic world-views, but that's fodder for another thread.

Bushman relied in part upon Quinn's thesis, so why don't you expound upon it.