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THE AGE OF ARIES 2170-14 BC
(A History of Rome claims the Bronze Age is c. 1800 - c. 1000/800 BC)
A crumbling colossus of King Amenophis III dominates the parched landscape at Thebes, dwarfing the modern village in the background. In the second millennium BC, when this statue was erected, the Egyptian Society had demonstrated an extraordinary recovery, but the price of preservation was petrifaction: the society was immobilized by an inflexible hierarchical structure that impeded new growth. For 2500 years Egypt lingered on in a static and empty life-in-death; the massive monuments left for posterity proclaim the stubborn tenacity of this longest-lived of all known civilizations.
By 2,000 BC, the Cretans had begun to establish colonies in other islands which eventually enabled them to dominate the islands of the eastern Mediterranean. The palace (at Knossos) shows no signed of battlements nor other defenses. It was not a fortress, but a religious and economic center, and it was here that the bull was worshipped. Bull images appear over and over again through the building... Earthquakes, which in this volcanic region are not infrequent, were attributed to the bull lying within the land shaking himself. Tidal waves that accompany volcanic eruptions were also manifestations of his power. The god-king himself, whose name was Minos, was believed to have had a bull as an ancestor and was therefore half-bull himself and the incarnation of the bull spirit in human form.
Ba' ali (ba a-li; my master). "Thou shalt call me Ishi; and shalt call me no more Baali." (Hos. 2:16). The meaning is that Israel will enter into right relation with God, in which she will toward him as her husband (Ishi), and not merely as owner, master. Calling or naming is a designation of the nature or the true relation of a person or thing. Israel calls God her husband when she stands in right relation to Him; when she acknowledges; reveres, and loves Him, as he has revealed himself, i.e. as the only true God. On the other hand, she calls him Baal when she places the true god on the level of the Baals, either worshipping other gods along with Jehovah, or by obliterating the essential distinction between Jehovah and the Baals.
The Will of God is expressed in the Bible as this was the product of the Age of Aries and the Sun (the Will) is exalted in Aries. The will is always best represented in the present. You must do it now, and continue to do it now, if the 'True Will' is to be fully achieved.
...Urnenfelder are large cemeteries where urns containing the ashes of the cremated dead are buried in the ground side by side, often numbering many hundreds. Wherever the practice may have started )Hungary-Transylvania?), it spread widely north of the Alps in the Rhineland, France and part of Spain, and into Italy. Date uncertain : 1200-800 BC ??
The Greeks also gave Italy its first lessons in scientific war-craft, in the fortification of towns with walls of dressed masonry, and the decision of set battles by the shock-tactics of armoured spearmen.
Unlike most of their adversaries, who regarded warfare half in nature of a sport, the Romans looked upon it as a business operation, requiring careful preparation and methodical execution.
Aries, as a fire sign, is a barren sign. Their straight ahead approach to life can be somewhat lacking in caution and prudence. "This attitude to life was reflected in the romans' view of the whole of the natural world. To them it seemed that nature could be ravished and plundered as men wished. Its products were self-renewing and inexhaustible. They saw no reason why men should not take what they wanted as often as they wanted it. The state gave legal title to undeveloped land to anyone who cleared it or forest. As the human population grew, so more and more of the forests that had once girdled it with green were destroyed. Wood was virtually the only fuel used in the classical world, and the vast proportion of the timber felled was burned. It was used for cooking and heating. Chariots, carts and ships were constructed from it. So, as the classical empires spread from east to west along the Mediterranean and north into Europe, the forests were demolished. The consequences were most severely felt on the southern and eastern shores, where the rainfall was low. Here the forests had been a key factor in maintaining the health of the land. Their removal was catastrophic. The provinces of North Africa were, originally, among the richest in all the Empire.
AGE OF: ARIES EPOCH: 2170 to 14 BC
The Duodecamoria
2185-1976 BC Aries of Aries
Stars crossing the vernal equinox: 1985 BC Xi Tauri 1985 BC Omicron Persei
EGYPT: 2200-1989 BC is the First Intermediate Period (The Middle Kingdom, or Dark Age of Egypt), Dynasties VII-XI*. Social and political chaos marks the First Intermediate Period; tombs are ransacked, cultural traditions disrupted. Provinces engage in petty warfare against each other. Herakleopolitans restore order in the north, then Theban princes of Dynasty XI (2040-1991 BC) reunite the country and initiate the Middle Kingdom. Thebes becomes the capital. Monumental building projects are revived, trade routes renewed. Egyptians begin to smelt bronze. By 2000 BC a class of powerful lords had grown up in Egypt, who owned vast tracts of land which had been granted to them by the Pharaoh in return for promises to aid him in various ways, especially when he wished to go to war.
MESOPOTAMIA: 2180 BC Gutian Period. 2161 BC The birth of Abraham. 2086 BC Abraham's entrance into Canaan (Genesis 14). 2075 BC Invasion of the Mesopotamian Kings. 2070-1960 BC Sumerian Renaissance under the Third Dynasty of Ur. 2050 BC The destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. 2000-1500 BC is known as the Middle Bronze Age. From the ashes of the Akadian empire, Gudea of Lagash revives southern Mesopotamia and sets the stage for the final resurgence of Sumer. Ur-Nammu becomes the king of Sumer and Akkad and issues the first known law code and erects magnificent buildings, including the storied ziggurat at Ur.
MEDITERRANEAN: By 2000 BC the Cretans had become a highly civilized people. At Knossus, there grew up a kingdom which finally included a large part of the island. Minoan civilization on Crete builds planned cities with royal palaces and develops a writing system. Migrant "beaker people," named for their pottery, introduce copper and bronze to western and northern Europe.
EUROPE: The wheel reaches the North Sea. The Scandinavians first use skis.
ASIA: In northern China, Hsia Dynasty is founded, based on slavery.
AMERICAS: Peruvians work designs in cotton textiles. Maize agriculture spreads through Middle America. Native peoples of the Great Lakes and the Mississippi Valley hammer out copper tools. Ancestors of Eskimos reach Greenland. (NG)
1976-1797 BC Taurus of Aries
Stars crossing the vernal equinox: 1955 BC Omicron Tauri 1830 BC Nu Persei
EGYPT: 1990-1775 BC The Great Middle Kingdom, Dynasty XII. Powerful monarchs undertake large irrigation projects, intensify trade, build fortresses in the south. Egypt controls Nubia by the time of Sesostris III (Dynasty XII according to National Geographic runs from 1991-1780 BC). He curbs nobles, helps rise of middle class based on trade, bureaucracy. Court and royal burials shift north to a site near Memphis, but Thebes remains a center of worship. Cultural splendor grows, pyramids at Dahshur, a shrine at Karnak, sculpture in the round.
MESOPOTAMIA: 1960 BC The Fall of Ur. * 1950 BC Issac. 1897 BC Joesph sold as a slave and eventually is put in charge of all the granaries of Egypt when he interprets Pharaohs dream of 7 fat cows and 7 skinny cows. 1850-1550 BC (into Cancer) is the 1st Dynasty of Babylon. 1817-1440 BC (the beginning of Leo) is the Egyptian sojourn of Israel and offspring. Summerian Epic of Gilgamesh, one of the world's oldest literary compositions, is compiled. Amorites of Arabia's desert and Elamites of Iran shatter Sumerian renaissance. Amorites rule from Babylon.
MEDITERRANEAN: Minoan civilization undergoes a meteoric rise of Crete. People of the Cyclades Islands in the Aegean make stylized statues and carvings of ivory. Their culture spans from 2600 to 1800 BC (until end of this duodecamoria). Mycenaeans advance into Greece from the north.
EUROPE: At Avebury in England, builders raise one of the largest megalithic centers in Europe.
ASIA: Pictographic writing develops in China
AMERICAS: Pottery making and cultivation of maize take root in Peru. North America's earliest pottery appears on south Atlantic coast. Eskimo culture develops in Alaska.
1797-1618 BC Gemini of Aries
Stars crossing the vernal equinox: 1710 BC ? Delta Persei
EGYPT: Not later than 1800-1600 BC the western Semites near Egypt had devised an alphabet of 22 signs adapted from Egyptian hieroglyphics. This was the first system of writing that used letters exclusively. Not long after 1800 the power of the Pharaohs suddenly declined. Parade of the Pharaohs- some 50 in 150 years- marks Dynasty 13. At the same time western Delta secedes and 76 kings rule there as Dynasty 14. Nubia becomes independent. Decline of central government leads to the Second Intermediate period. Their final fall was due to an invasion of a foreign people called Hyksos, who entered Egypt from Asia. The Hyksos kings established themselves in the Delta and ruled Egypt from there. Hyksos- "chiefs of foreign lands"- arise in eastern Delta and set up Dynasties 15 and 16 (1674-1558 BC NG). They introduce the chariot and horse, and their influence spreads over all of Egypt. * 1720-1570 BC (runs into Cancer) Hyksos period of foreign domination in Egypt. (Other dates for this period have been listed as 1775-1546 BC.)
MESOPOTAMIA 1781 BC Israel's entrance into Egypt. 1728-1689 BC Hammurabi and his code of laws. 1700-1600 BC Indo-Iranian-Hurrian Invasion. (1700 BC see p. 636 CE v.2) Hammurabi, great ruler of the first Babylonian empire, sets down his law code. Babylonians make strides in mathematics and astronomy. Indo-Europeans settle in Iran, eventually to form Persian empire. Scholars date Abraham's Biblical trek to Canaan and Egypt in this period.
ASIA Natural disasters- floods, mud volcanoes, spur the collapse of Indus civilization while the less advanced cultures of the Aryan invaders are established in Bombay and the Ganges regions. Shang Dynasty rises in Hwang Ho Valley of China. Its warrior-landlord society is to last five centuries.
MEDITERRANEAN 1800-1500 BC Middle Minoan period (runs into late Cancer). Advances in architecture and plumbing stand among achievements of the Minoan civilization, now at its height. Multi-storied palace at Knossos dominates a city of 80,000. c. 1800 BC Apennine culture begins.
EUROPE The people of Europe become identifiable as Slavs, Teutons, Finns, and the ancestors of the Celts. (NG)
1618-1439 BC Cancer of Aries
Stars crossing the vernal equinox: 1610 BC ? Psi Persei 1570 BC ? Alpha Ceti Menkar, the nose 1480 BC Sigma ? Persei 1470 BC ? Lambda Ceti
EGYPT It wasn't until the 16th century BC that there arose a native ruler strong enough in Egypt to drive out the Hyksos. Theban princes expel the Hyksos, reunite Egypt. Dynasty XVIII begins the New Kingdom and Egypt's golden imperial age. Warrior pharaohs extend Egypt's boundaries, embrace Palestine, Syria, Nubia. Tomb of Thutmose I becomes the first to be cut in the cliffs of the Valley of the Kings. Book of the Dead recorded on papyri, and is placed in tombs. 1570-1319 BC *New Kingdom of Egypt 1580-1150 BC The Empire
MESOPOTAMIA 1600-1200 BC (into Virgo) Hittite Empire. About 1600 BC the early phase of Babylonian History comes to an end (p. 636, CE v.2). 1550 BC The destruction of Babylon by the Hittites. 1500-1200 BC Late Bronze Age (through Leo). 1485 BC *Final phase of Israelite oppression. 1441 BC Exodus from Egypt. 1440's represent the acme of Minoan Civilization. 1600-1400 BC (NG) The Mitanni form a new empire in northern Mesopotamia. The Hittites maintain a flourishing iron industry. Alphabetic use of pictographs by Semitic people in the Sinai is possible forerunner of the Phoenician alphabet.
MEDITERRANEAN 1600-1400 BC The Grand Age in Crete. 1600 BC *Palace of King Minos at Knossos. Warlike Mycenaeans, established in citadels in mainland Greece, move into Crete and overthrow the Minoans. Mycenaean rulers are interred with gold treasures in shaft graves. c. 1500 BC Apennine culture fully developed. c. 1500 BC Terremare culture begins.
EUROPE The Bronze Age expands into Europe. The new technology prompts improved designs n jewelry, tools, and weapons.
ASIA The Aryans spread Sanskrit language and many elements of Hindu religion in India. Shang Dynasty spurs Chinese civilization; cities emerge as trade centers, agrarian fiefdoms shape the countryside. High art develops in bronze.
AMERICAS Farm village cultures in Middle America grow more complex; and large communities develop in Peru.
1439-1260 BC Leo of Aries
Stars crossing the vernal equinox: 1400 BC Alpha Persei Mirphak or Algenib, the side 1280 BC Beta Persei Medusa, the evil eye 1260 BC Rho Persei One of the gorgon sisters
EGYPT Amunhotep III reaps splendor of Egypt's empire: court life at Thebes is luxurious, cosmopolitan. 1377-1360 BC Amenophis IV (Akhnaton). Solar Monotheism. he defies powerful priests of Amun and proclaims a worship of the sun's disk, the Aten. He changes his name to Akhenaten, builds a new capital at Aarna, ushers in realistic art. The dawn of a new religion brought a flowering of realism to ancient Egyptian art. Akhenten's artists, seeking to "humanize" the abstract Aten, discarded old conventions and adopted new ones. Right and left feet- and hands- became clearly differentiated for the first time. Children began to look, and act, like children, not small-scale adults. Members of the king's family now were portrayed in informal poses- as in the relief's of a princess dining on couch and one of the court ladies kissing a royal child. His successors, including Tutankhammun, restore the old ways. 1366-1357 BC King Tut. The first Ramesside dynasty (1303 BC NG) renews military activity abroad (the coming of Virgo).
MEDITERRANEAN c. 1400 BC Mycenaean traders in southern Italy
1260-1081 BC Virgo of Aries
Stars crossing the vernal equinox: 1260 BC Rho Persei One of the sister gorgons 1200 BC ? Gamma Ceti Kaffaljidhma 1170 BC ? Iota Ceti 1170 BC ? Mu Ceti
EGYPT 1230 BC First mention of Israel in stele. 1200-1000 BC *Early Iron Age (Hittites). 1200 BC *The Trojan War (Hypothetical). 1200-1085 BC *Dynasty XX in Egypt (1200-1069 to NG). Rames III was the last strong Pharaoh ruling for 32 years. He drove back the invading Libyans and Sea peoples, but Egypt sinks into a decline. Tomb robbery grows flagrant, workers strike for lack of rations, conspirators plot the kings assassination. 1148 BC Egyptian power in Palestine is practically nil.
MESOPOTAMIA & MEDITERRANEAN 1250 BC. Mycenaean pottery in Etruria (Luni). After the fall of the Egyptian Empire and the destruction of the Aegean towns and ships of both Egyptians and Aegeans, who had been the first traders in the Mediterranean, the Phoenicians took advantage and become the greatest merchants after c. 1200/1150 Late Bronze Age. Apennine and Terremare cultures draw closer. 1200 BC. From the alphabet which the Phoenicians brought to the Greeks, all the alphabets of the Western World have been derived, including our own. Along with the alphabet, the pen, ink, and paper came into Europe for the first time 1,000 BC. The Phoenicians adopted a system of using letters exclusively and in the 12th century began to write on Egyptian papyrus, from which comes our word for paper. The Greeks soon became familiar with Phoenician tradesmen's papyrus, used for bills and receipts, and at last they begin to write Greek words by using the Phoenician letters. In this way the alphabet reached Europe for the first time around 1000 BC- possibly as early as .
MESOPOTAMIA 1200-1000 BC (NG) *The Iron Age brings advances to the Aegean, Syria, and Palestine. The Hebrews establish monotheism in Canaan, and make Saul their first king. The Phoenicians become a force in Syria and Lebanon.
MEDITERRANEAN The Mycenaeans conquer Troy, then are overthrown by the Indo- European northerners swarming down the Peloponnesian Peninsula.
ASIA In India, rice farming develops, and the Hindu Rig Veda hymns are set down.
AMERICAS The Olmec civilization appears in Middle America. Tlatilco villagers in the area of present day Mexico City model elaborate figurines for use in burials.
1081-902 BC Libra of Aries
Stars crossing the vernal equinox: 1050 BC ? Gamma Persei 1030 BC ? Nu Ceti
EGYPT The Pharaonic capital moves to the Delta; Amun's high priest rules a theocratic state from Thebes. (? BC) 1085-1065 BC Samson is Judge. By the end of Dynasty XX (about 1069 BC), the Pharaoh, the high priest at Thebes, and the viceroy of Nubia share power. A procession of Ramesside rulers marks the close the New kingdom. Unrest of the Third Intermediate Period follows. 1050 BC *Egypt is divided as the New Kingdom collapses about a century after the invasion of the sea peoples.
MESOPOTAMIA 1050 BC *Battle of Ebenezer, Philistines take the Ark. 1020 BC Saul and the beginnings of monarchy. 1004 BC David is King of Judah, and in 998 BC, all of Israel. He makes Jerusalem his capital. This is the beginnings of the first Hebrew Kingdom. 965 BC Solomon becomes king and builds the Temple. 926 BC Division of the Monarchy.
MEDITERRANEAN c. 1000 (?), 900 (?), 800 (?) Iron Age begins. Around 1,000 BC arose a class of professional bards or singers, who recited tales of battle and adventure.
902-723 BC Scorpio of Aries
Stars crossing the vernal equinox: 890 BC Tau Persei 860 BC Xi 2 Ceti 810 BC Eta Persei Miran 750 BC ? Omicron Ceti Mira
EGYPT Dynasties XXII and XXIII (945-715 BC) see a joint reign by Libyan families that had become Egyptianized in the western Delta. The first Libyan pharaoh, Sheshonq I (the Shishak of the Bible), pillages Jerusalem. By the end of Dynasty XXIII the Delta is divided into city-states. Sculptures in this period produce exquisite statuettes in metal (NG).
MESOPOTAMIA 750-612 BC As Syrian Empire.
MEDITERRANEAN Around 800 BC Carthage is founded by Phoenician traders. Phoenicians build trading colonies such as Carthage and Cadiz, around the Mediterranean. Their script is adopted by the Greeks, in turn to find its way into our alphabet. 753 BC Rome founded. The governments of the city states of Greece entered upon a new stage of development about 750 BC *when the common people began to struggle to better their lot. By 750 BC *colonies were expanding into the Western Mediterranean and there was an increase in business and manufacture. Etruscans settle in Italy. Crete and Greece endure a period of darkness, accompanied by major migrations. c. 750 BC Iron Age huts on Palatine at Rome c. 750 BC Greek colonists at Ischia and Cumae c. 750-700 BC Advanced Villanovan or early Etruscan culture?
ASIA 1000-800 BC (NG con't) Ancestor worship, with elaborate ritual, reaches a peak in China. (Check this date.)
AMERICAS Platforms of earth or stone for use as ceremonial centers are built in Mexico and Peru. Adena culture, with elaborate burials, centers in Ohio Valley.
723-544 BC Sagittarius of Aries
EGYPT 800-600 BC (NG) Nubians from Kush, under King Piankhy, conquer Egypt (Dynasty XXV, 760-656 BC). Kusite rule ends with Assyrian conquest and the sack of Memphis and Thebes. The Saite Dynasty reunites Egypt and rebuilds its power and prestige, but Pharaoh Neko II's attempt to regain its empire is defeated by Nebuchadnezzar II. The Iron Age and camel reach Egypt in this period. Mentuemhat has a long tenure as a powerful governor of Upper Egypt. 600-500 BC (NG) Cities of the Delta thrive under the Saite restoration of Egypt. One of them, Bubastis, is the cult city of the goddess Bastet whose sacred animal is the cat. Neko II sanctions an attempt to build a canal from the Nile to the Red Sea, and sends an expedition to sail around Africa. (This sounds like Sagittarian energy.) Streams of immigrants- Greeks, Syrians, Hebrews- flow into Egypt.
MESOPOTAMIA 605 BC Daniel carried off to Babylon (p. 237, UBD). 605-563 BC Nebuchadnezzar II. Nebuchadnezzar II takes over the fertile crescent of the Near East. He rebuilds Babylon, razes Jerusalem, carries the Jews into captivity. 598 BC Jehoiachim & Ezekiel carried to Babylon. 587 BC The fall of Jerusalem, Daniel's career in Babylon. 587-400 BC Era of exile and return of the Jews. 556-539 BC (see p. 128 CE v. 19) 800-600 BC (NG) Assyria reaches its pinnacle; Nimrud, one of its capitals, is rebuilt. But the fall of the capital at Nineveh in 612 BC topples the nation. Mounted Scythians raid from their Black Sea home, join with Medes to bring down Assyria. Babylon climbs again in importance as an empire.
MEDITERRANEAN c. 753-716 BC Romulus Etruscan civilization flourishes. 753 BC Rome is founded. Greece rises. First Olympic games take place, Homer's Iliad and Odyssey are written down after 700 BC. In Greece, between 750-650 BC the office of the King disappeared. The oppressive rule of the nobles drove many Greek farmers to seek new hones and new lands. Before 600 BC Greek colonists girdled the Black Sea with towns and settlements reaching the broad grain fields around the Black Sea. 715-673 BC Numa Pompilius. Cult of Vesta, etc, established. c. 700 BC 'Orientalising' phase in Italy begins. c. 700 BC Etruscan civilisation begins to flourish. 721 BC Samaria falls, loss of the 10 tribes. c. 650 BC Etruscans begin to expand into Campania. c. 625/600 BC Last Forum burials. Etruscan influences begin to appear at Rome. 642-617 BC Ancus Marcius. Extension of Rome's power to coast. 650-500 BC Tyrants gave much attention to public monuments, art, music, and literature. Shipbuilding was improved, with Triremes in use by 500 BC.
EUROPE Celts emerge as a distinct people, spread ironworking through northern and central Europe, move into England.
ASIA Iron replaces bronze in China. Chou Dynasty struggles with rising challenge of rival warring states.
544-365 BC Capricorn of Aries
Stars crossing the vernal equinox: 400 BC ? Alpha Arietis Hamal 392 BC Alpha Piscium Al Rescha, The Knot
EGYPT 525 BC Egypt is conquered by King Cambyses II of Persia. 500-400 BC (NG) Persian rulers adopt the trappings of the Pharaohs and maintain Egyptian culture. Egypt's legal system is codified. But revolts break out, spurred by Greek victories against Persians such as that at Marathon. Finally in 404 BC *the Egyptians throw of the Persian yoke.
MESOPOTAMIA 539 BC The fall of Babylon, conquered by Persia. The Persians led by Cyrus the Great (King from 539-530 BC) conquer Babylonia and the Jews gain their freedom. Darius I founds the Persian capital of Persepolis, and extends the Persian empire to the Indus. 536 BC Rebuilding of the temple in Jerusalem begun. In 525 BC King Cambyses II of Persia adds Egypt to his empire. 509 BC Rome gets its start as an independent republic (p. 51, CE). 490 BC Defeat of the Persians at Marathon. 460-424 BC Periclean Age in Greece; Herodotus, Socrates, Plato. 458 BC Revival of the Law.
MEDITERRANEAN c. 535 BC Etruscans and Carthaginians defeat Phocaeans off Alalia. Etruscans expand in Italy, but in 509 BC rebelling Romans found the Roman republic. The Greek city-state of Athens expels a tyrant, Hipparchus, and creates a democracy. Fall of Tarquinius and monarchcy. Treaty between Rome and Carthage. 501 BC First dictator appointed. c. 500 BC Etruscan expansion into northern Italy. 494 BC First secession: plebeians assert their rights 492 BC Corn imported from Cumae. Latin colony at Norba. 482-474 BC War with Veii. 479 BC Battle of the Cremera 474 BC Etruscans defeated off Cumae by Hiero of Syracuse. 451-450 BC The decemvirates. Publication of the Twelve Tables of law. 439 BC Minucius sees to corn-supply of Rome. 433 BC Temple of Apollo. 396 BC Military pay introduced. Fall of Veii after long (ten years?) siege. 390 BC Battle of Allia. Gauls sack Rome (387 according to Polybius). 500-400 BC *Greeks, under leadership of Sparta, defeat Persian armies. Persians also gradually lose dominions in the Near East and India. Their liberal and brilliant civilization wanes. Athens rises as a power. This is the Golden Age of Pericles, named for the Athenian statesman, and sees great works of literature, philosophy, and art and such immortals as Socrates, Hippocrates, Herodotus, and Sophocles. Envy and hostility of other Greek states leads to Peloponnesian Wars. Etruscan power ebbs. Rome, now mistress of the Italian peninsula, builds on traditions of the Etruscans- a sophisticated, exuberant, and civilized folk. Rampaging Celts, whom the Romans call Gauls, sack Rome in 387 BC *but are driven back; the city is soon rebuilt. Rome firms independence, sets laws guaranteeing liberty, property and due process.
ASIA 600-500 BC (NG) Mahavira Jina rebels against India's ritualistic religion, and sets out the ascetic philosophy of Jainism. The teachings of Gautama Buddha begin Buddism. China undergoes upheaval in a change from a slave to a feudal system. Lao Tzu forges Taoism; Confucius preaches his concepts. China slips into anarchy, a time of constantly warring states.
AMERICAS The Olmec civilization in Middle America begins to decline.
365-186 BC Aquarius of Aries
Stars crossing the vernal equinox: 220 BC Xi Piscium Second seal, southern stream 200 BC ? Gamma Andromedae 200 BC ? Chi Ceti
EGYPT Political turmoil and uncertainty mark rule of Egypt's last native kings. Persians again briefly gain control in 341 BC. Their defeat in Asia by Alexander the Great leads to his whirlwind conquest of Egypt and the establishment of dynasties under Macedonians and the Greek Ptolemies. 323-180 BC The Ptolemy's 323-265 BC Ptolemy I Scholarship and trade flourish in Alexandria, their capital. It would boast a luxurious court, a university, and a library housing 400,000 scrolls. Under Ptolemies, Greek influence pervades Egyptian art and culture. Ptolemy III introduces the leap year into Egypt's calendar. Manetho, an Egyptian priest, groups the pharaohs into dynastic divisions. In Alexandria, Eratosthenes calculates the earth's circumference, and Euclid formulates the fundamentals of plane geometry, while Archimedes makes basic discoveries in science. 203-180 BC Ptolemy V (?) Rome defeats Philip V
MESOPOTAMIA 331 BC End of Darius III's reign in Persia. In the 3rd century BC Parthians weld a kingdom in Iran. 312-129 BC Selucid Dynasty. 198 BC *Palestine is under strong Egyptian power. 197 BC *Syria gains the ascendancy.
MEDITERRANEAN
366 BC First plebeian consul. Creation of praetorship. Curule aedileship to alternate every year between patricians and plebeians. 351 BC First plebeian censor. 350-258 BC Zeno's Stoic School. 343 BC The year in which the Romans consented to go to the aid of Copua against the powerful Samnite tribes that were threatening her. This marks the beginning of a new period in Roman history of territorial expansion (p. 54, Sec I). 343-341 BC This is the First Samnite War. 340-270 BC Epicurus 339 BC Plebeian assembly in Rome recognized as a low making body with full power (ibid.). Greek city-states jockey for supremacy, In 338 BC Philip II of Macedon subdues the quarreling Hellenes and adds Greece to the Macedonian empire. Latin League dissolved. Many cities are granted full of half Roman citizenship. 337 BC First plebeian praetor. 336 BC Philip II of Macedon is assassinated and his son Alexander comes to the throne. After his assassination, his son Alexander consolidates the inherited realm, sweeps on to defeat Persia, Syria, and Egypt, and marches as far as the Indus Valley. Hellenistic culture washes over Asia Minor. 333-63 BC (into Pisces) The Greek Era. 328-302 BC Second Samnite War. 298-290 BC Third Samnite War. 280-275 BC War with Pyrrhus. 287-212 BC Archimedes. 264-242 BC First Punic War. 219 BC Hannibal besieges and captures (November) Saguntum. 218-201 BC *Second Punic War. In the Punic Wars, Carthage loses Sicily and Spain to Rome despite Hannibal's thrust across the Alps. Roman fleets sail the Mediterranean. 218 BC Hannibal arrives in northern Italy. Battles of Ticinus and Trebia. 217 BC Battle of Lake Trasimene. 216 BC Roman defeat at Cannei. Revolts in central Italy, including Capua. 214-205 BC First Macedonian War. 211 BC Hannibal's march on Rome. Fall of Capua and Syracuse. Defeat of the Scipios in Spain. 200 BC *Rome begins to write history. 200-196 BC Second Macedonian War. 191 BC Antiochus gains ascendancy. (Verify this). Rome could not so easily have absorbed the ancient civilizations which clustered around the eastern Mediterranean had they not already been fused into a common cosmopolitan civilization by the Hellenistic influence of Alexander and his successors. 183/182 BC Death of Hannibal.
EUROPE Scythian culture reaches a peak in the Ukraine. Warrior-horsemen from the steppes drive Scythians into the Crimea.
ASIA Chandragupta founds the first Indian empire. It spreads over India and parts of central Asia. The epic poems Mahabharata and Ramayana are set down. Internal strife and attacks by nomads plague China, but rival rulers foster trade. The "Golden Age" of Chinese philosophy blossoms. Huns, nomadic warriors, grow powerful in Mongolia. Ch'in Shih Huany Ti unifies China, builds the Great Wall, standardizes weights and writing- and is buried with a life size army of 6,000.
AMERICAS Farm settlements begin in North America. Pottery appears in the southwest; coastal tribes of the northwest build plank houses. Forebears set stage for rise of Maya civilization in Middle America.
186-14 BC Pisces of Aries
Stars crossing the vernal equinox: 42 BC Omicron Piscium northern stream 26 AD Nu Piscium Third Seal, southern stream
EGYPT 200-100 BC Ptolemaic Dynasty begins to fade. Egyptians riot over the living costs, heavy taxes, and there is even a tax on tax receipts! Trouble breaks out in Alexandria among the Egyptians, Greeks, and the Jews. Threatened by Syrian and Macedonian invaders, Ptolemies place Egypt under the protection of Rome. The Rosetta Stone is inscribed to honor Ptolemy V. Tax revolts, animosities between ethnic stocks and classes continue. Under Rome's protection, Egypt's independent status slips, and the Ptolemies' hold weakens. Cleopatra VII, last of the dynasty, works her wiles on Julius Caesar and Mark Anthony, but Egypt still falls to Rome in 30 BC. Emperor Augustus assumes attributes of the pharaohs. Rome builds temples in Egyptian style. Exquisite temple at Dendra, begun by Ptolemies, is finished by the Romans.
MESOPOTAMIA 167 BC Maccabean revolt against Greek paganizing civilization. Maccabean revolt frees the Jews from Syrian rule, independent Jewish state is formed in 142 BC. Parthians rule from Euphrates to the Indus. Birth of Jesus ushers in Christian era.
MEDITERRANEAN 186 BC The Roman Senate stamped out secret cult of Bacchus (p. 198, HOR). 186 BC Carthage falls. 181-179 BC First Celtiberian War. 173 BC Two Epicurean philosophers expelled. 172 BC Two plebeian consuls in office for first time. 172-167 BC Third Macedonian War. 161 BC Expulsion of Greek philosophers. Treaty with Jews. 153-151 BC Second Celtiberian War. 149-146 BC Third Punic War. 146 BC Destruction of Carthage. Africa becomes a province. 146 BC Destruction of Cornith ends Greek resistance vs. Rome. Roman legions engulf the eastern Mediterranean, Greece and Asia Minor. The Romans adopt Greek forms in art, literature and buildings. 135-132 BC Slave war in Sicily. 133 BC Tribunate of Tiberius Gracchus, land-law. Tiberius killed. 121 BC First use of senatus consultum ultimum, Civil disorder: Gracchus killed; his followers executed by Opimius. 120 BC Trial and acquittal of Opimius. 112 BC Jugurtha sacks Cirta. War declared on Jugurtha. 105 BC Cimbri and Teutones destroy Roman armies at Arausio. 104-100 BC Second Sicilian Slave War. 100 BC Marius's co-operation with Saturninus and Glaucia ends: rioting in Rome. Senatus consultum ultimum. Marius restores order; deaths of Saturninus and Glaucia. 91 BC Outbreak of Social War. 90 BC Roman setback in Social War. 88 BC Sulla seizes Rome. Marius escapes. Mithridates massacres all the Italian residents of Asia, possibly some 80,000 residents or more, in the Asiatic Vespers. 87 BC Cinna and Marius in control of Rome; massacre of Sulla's supporters. 83 BC Sulla lands in Italy; supported by Pompey. 88-84 BC The evident disintegration of republican government in the 1st century BC was closely connected with the economic and social development in Italy (p. 58, sec I). Political unrest and violence rack the Roman republic. 82 BC Civil war in Italy, in which Sulla is victorious; proscriptions. Pompey crushes Sulla's opponents in Sicily. 81 BC Sulla dictator. Reforms in criminal law. 73 BC Rising of Spartacus at Capua. 72 BC Successes of Spartacus. 71 BC Crassus degeats Spartacus. 60 BC Caesar, with Pompey and Crassus, form the First Triumvirate. 58 BC Corn law. 57 BC Clodius and Milo riot in Rome. Pompey sees to food supply. 54 BC Rioting in Rome. 53 BC Rioting in Rome. No consuls elected before July. 52 BC Revolt of Vercingetorix in Gaul, surrender of Vercingetorix. 50 BC Caesar, after organising Gaul, crosses Rubicon into Italy: beginning of Civil War. 50-44 BC Caesar's campaigns around the Mediterranean, including the defeat of Pompey. 44 BC *Caesar assassinated. Rivalry among successors ends with Octavian (Augustus) becoming the first Roman emperor. 44 BC Antony receives command in Cisapline and Transalpine Gaul. 43 BC Murder of Cicero. 42 BC Brutus and Cassius defeated at Philippi. 40 BC Agreement at Brundisium divides the Roman world (October). 31 BC Octavian consul III (and successively to 23). He defeats Antony at Actium and winters in Asia. 30 BC Tribunician power granted to Octavian. Suicide of Antony. Octavian enters Alexandria. Suicide of Cleoppatra. 29 BC Dedication of temple of Divus Iulius. 28 BC Dedication of temple of Apollo on Palatine. 27 BC *Octavian, now Augustus, receives Principate. 27 BC *Greece organized as separate Roman province. Augustan Age witnesses the peak of Roman art, the literature of Cicero, Ovid, Virgil, and Horace. The waterwheel comes into use in Greece and the Near East. The Golden Age of Latin literature began amidst the political tumult, the wars of conquest and the civil strife of the dying republic, but it reached its full development in the tranquillity of the Augustian Age. Vergil (70-19 BC) and Horace (65-8 BC) are primarily the Piscean duodecamoria of the Age of Aries products, and their works stand out in Latin.
ASIA The Chinese invent paper. Emperor Wu Ti of the Han Dynasty develops the Silk Route to the West, and revives art and literature.
AMERICAS In North America, the people of the Hopewell culture raise huge burial mounds, and tap a vast trade network. Architects in Mexico engineer the massive Pyramid of the Sun. Peruvian Indians weave some of the finest textiles of the New World.
THE AGE OF PISCES 14 BC-2138 AD
The gradual loss of hope and confidence was accompanied by the decay of the old official religions, which had emphasized the duties of the citizen to the state, and by the spread of mystical religions originating in the Middle East, which offered personal comfort in this world and the hope of a happier life after death. Even before the end of the republic, the old pagan religion was losing its hold upon the educated classes. For the majority of the people of the empire, the vacuum left by the decay of the classical paganism was filled by mystery religions, which had spread through the Hellenistic East during the three centuries before Christ and which began to penetrate the West in the last years of the Roman Republic. Thereafter, aided by the unification of the Mediterranean world under the empire, they spread rapidly through the western provinces, following the lines of trade and the march of the legions. By the third century, they were dominant religious force in the West as well as in the East. The most important of the mystery religions were those of the Great Mother (Magna Mater) from Asia Minor, of Isis from Egypt, and of Mithra from Persia. Of these, Magna Mater was the oldest. It was in essence a nature myth, its ceremonies, celebrating the annual death and rebirth of vegetation, but also by extension promising its initiates a second birth. Isis, too, was a mother goddess who typified the life force and held forth a hope of immortality to her devotees. Her but, served by shaven and tonsured priests, and characterized by colorful ritual, solemn processions, and sacramental ceremonies, was especially popular among women. Mithraisn, on the other hand, appealed more strongly to men, and temples of Mithra were to be found in every army camp. Its teachings, based on a dualistic conception of the universe and the soul of a man as torn by perpetual strife between light and darkness, good and evil, stressed the masculine virtues and a rigorous mortality. AS the god of light or the sun, Mithra fought against the powers of darkness and evil and aided men in their struggle to avoid the temptations of the flesh and to pursue a virtuous life, which would be rewarded by a happy existence after death. The cult of Mithra included a baptismal rite, the eating of a sacred meal of bread and wine which identified the devotee with the savior god, and the celebration of the birthday of Mithra on the 25th of December, the date on which the lengthening day announced the rebirth of the sun. Despite great variety of ceremony and belief, the mystery religions had many characteristics in common, and all satisfied much the same human needs. Each cult centered upon a divine savior, but all recognized the existence of a supreme divine force, which might be worshipped through the medium of other deities as well. Their primary appeal was that they satisfied the universal desire for individual salvation. They offered purification from sin and freedom from the sense of guilt, and they promised immortality to those who had been initiated into the mystery. Through participation in their sacred rites, the initiate was brought into mystic union with the divine being and thereby exalted above the miseries of mortal life. The ceremonies themselves, performed by a professional priesthood, made a strong appeal to men and women wearied with a drab and hopeless existence. Since they placed their major emphasis on immortality rather than on life in this world, they did little to encourage the vigorous performance of worldly tasks, through in this respect Mithraism is a partial exception. Some historians have, therefore, regarded the spread of the mystery religions as one of the causes for the decay of the ancient civilization. The adherence of the more highly educated classes to the eastern cults was gained through the support given them by the dominant philosophical system of the 3rd century, Neoplatonism. This was a late revival of the philosophy of Plato, though in a debased form and intermixed with oriental ideas and superstitions. To the Neoplatonist, the chief aim of all thought and aspiration was to bring the individual soul into closer communication or harmony with the great spiritual force which rules the universe, whatever man may call it. And he recognized the gods of the various religions as partial and imperfect manifestations of that divine force. Neoplatonism, then, was a kind of vague monotheism, or belief in one god, who, however, might be worshipped under many forms and in many ways. As this philosophy became popular, the devotees of the various mystery religions came to accept their gods as personifications of one divine power, and many, if not most of them, joined more than one cult, seeking in each a different aspect of the one truth. The belief in one god, as fostered by Neoplatonism, in a measure prepared the way for Christianity, as did the ceremonies, the teachings, and the emotional atmosphere of the mystery cults. ON the other hand, the acceptance of all gods made Neoplationism the most dangerous enemy to the exclusive monotheism of Christianity, which branded the worship of all other gods as idolatry and a deadly sin.
Christianity
The eventual emergence of Christianity as the predominant religion in the Roman Empire was due not least to a variety of advantages which it held over rival worships. The Christians gradually provided themselves with an organization surpassing that of all other private religions. this quickly became a necessity for the infant Church because, when the early Christian congregation broke away from the parent Jewish Church, it lost all the advantages of membership of a well-regulated society. The first Christian communities were isolated cells under a rudimentary administration of elder members. But in the first century of their existence, after a period of experimenting with apostles, prophets, teachers, bishops, presbyters, deacons and the like, they established a well-organized body of clergy possessing wide powers of discipline over the laity. Equally important was the creation of a unique system of intercommunication between the several Christian communities. The spread of Christianity was also assisted by a special literature, such as was produced by no other ancient Church except that of the Jews. No other ancient religion was as fortunate as Christianity in the manner of its presentation. Lastly, the Christian faith was more enduringly attractive than rival worships. Its ritual was simple as yet, and made no such appeal to eyes and ears as the official pagan cults. There were of course no churches, but meetings were held in private houses. In addition, Christianity ignored the distinction between rich and poor, man and woman, bond and free. Significant testimony in favor of the Christians was given by the pagan comment, recorded by Tertullian, 'See how the Christians love one another', while much later one of their most determined opponents, the emperor Julian (361-363), exhorted the pagans to imitate their practical helpfulness in such matters as tending the sick and relieveing the poor. In fact Christian charity was one of the strongest factores in promoting the success of their cause.
Mithraism
The Romans, when they succeeded the Greeks as master of the Mediterranean, readily acknowledged local gods whenever they encountered them in their gigantic and expanding empire. So the practice of animal sacrifice, in the cause of maintaining the fertility of the natural world, not only continued but spread. Mithraism, another bull-cult which had its origins in Persia, became particularly popular among the Empire's soldiery. By the third century AD, it was at its height and rivaling Christianity in popularity. Its hero was the god Mithras. He was born, it was said, in a cave. In the forests outside it, he encountered a great wild bull which he took back to his cave and there slew it. Its blood, gushing onto the ground, spawned all the creatures of the earth. Mithraic temples were usually underground, reproducing the cave in which their creation battle took place.
Islam
Around Mecca in the sixth century BC, a new religious leader, Muhammad, began to preach. He proclaimed that there was only one God, Allah, and that the multitudes of spirits and idols worshipped by other Arabian tribes were false. He urged his listeners to submit themselves to the will of Allah. Both the name of this new faith, Islam, and that of someone who follows it, Muslin, come from an Arabic word that means "to submit."
According to Muhammad, true believers who were killed while carrying the word of God in a holy war, a jihad, would be taken directly to Paradise. Other arabic people - pagans in the eyes of Islam - were required to adopt the new religion on pain of death. Christians and Jews, who like Muslims believed in a single all-powerful God, were allowed for the most part to continue to practice their own faith, though the lands in which they lived had to submit to the rule of Islamic law.
The builders of this great Islamic empire were followed by settlers who brought with them skills and scholarship from all over the Arab world, and under the new Islamic rule, ancient European cities blossomed into societies of dazzling sophistication. The Moors established their Spanish capital at Cordoba, and here built a beautiful mosque, installed street lighting, constructed a sanitation system for the city and built three hundred public baths. They founded a university where, as well as theology, the Arabic sciences of astronomy, medicine and chemistry were taught. Their mathematicians introduced the concept of zero, which they had acquired from Indian scholars, and worked with Arab numerals, displacing Roman numerals. Arabic words like algebra, azimuth, and amalgam were used, with all the bodies of knowledge that they imply.
The Arabs also cherished plants. Their gardens were protected by high walls and inside them they planted fruit trees, had running water, the perfume and color of flowers, the songs of birds and plants that were new to Europe. Trees from China of oranges, lemons and peaches, vegetables from Afghanistan in the purple carrot, spinach from Persia, and aubergines. Even birds such as the pigeon were kept not only as messengers, but as a fresh source of meat through the winter. It was the Arabs who experimented with and codified the use of plants fro drugs, and they wrote the earliest medieval manual of veterinary science.
AGE OF: PISCES
The Duodecamoria
I will speak to you in parables and expound things hidden since the foundation of the world
Matthew 13:35
During the first five centuries of our era, the Roman Empire supplied the framework of our civilization.
14 BC-166 AD Aries of Pisces
Stars crossing the vernal equinox: 26 AD Nu Piscium Third seal, southern stream
MEDITERRANEAN
For two glorious centuries, from 31 BC to 180 AD, the ancient world enjoyed peace and prosperity such as it had never known. Augustus avoided all unnecessary offense to republican sentiments. Claiming for himself only the military title of Imperator and the rather meaningless civil title of Princeps, or first citizen, he exercised his authority through the old offices and institutions of the republic. His reign marked the essential steps from republic to empire. What remained for his successors was to transform his practical absolutism into an openly constitutional absolutism and to complete the evolution of Rome from a city state to a world state with universal citizenship and political unity. It was a very gradual evolution and was scarcely completed before the empire began to decline. But imperial patriotism had to replace, or be superimposed upon, local civic patriotism. This result was accomplished in part through the institution of emperor worship. When Augustus ushered in the two centuries of Roman peace, he introduced also an era of unprecedented prosperity to Italy and the provinces. The civilized world had been united in a single state, under a government strong enough to guarantee peace and security. During the first two centuries the emperors allowed full freedom to commerce, barring slight interprovincial duties, and abstained form government interference in industry. By the second century, the Roman Empire had become a vast commonwealth of self- governing municipalities, whose local freedom was protected, rather than disturbed by the imperial administration. In the prosperous years of the first two centuries the urban upper classes possessed great wealth, and they spent it freely in adding to the beauty and dignity of their native cities. The slaves, of whom there were the greatest number, were the lowest social class. They were the property of their masters, without social or civil rights, through a growing humanitarian spirit was mitigating the brutality with which many were treated in the early days of Rome's conquests. Realism and individuality continued to characterize Roman sculpture through the first two centuries of the empire, as in those of Augustus and Claudius, a new emphasis on the imperial dignity lends a touch of idealization. The emperor had become the symbol of empire. 26-36 AD* Pontius Pilate, procurator of Judaea. 26 AD* Tiberius retires to Capri, governs in absence 27 AD* Baptism of Jesus by John the Baptist The Roman army played an important art in the dissemination of Roman citizenship. The number thus honored was greatly increased by the military reforms of Vespasian (AD 69-79), who barred Italians from service in the legions. Many of the legions camps became permanent centers of Roman influence and formed the nucleus of new provincial towns. Some of these towns, formed around the castra or camp of the legions, still exist, as is shown by the English names, Chester, Lancaster, Manchester, etc. By the second century, however, the West was fully developed and the last economic frontier had vanished. Thereafter further expansion would have to come largely within the existing limits of a stable society. An increasingly large proportion of the wealth of the state was being concentrated in a relatively small aristocratic class, who most often invested their wealth in large landed estates rather and in commerce or industry (starting to shift into the Taurus duodecamoria of the Age of Pisces). As a result, the commerce of the ancient world lost the stimulus of expansion, and a capitalist economy that has ceased to grow is in imminent danger of decline. Throughout the second century the emperors had become steadily more autocratic. Until the death of Marcus Aurelius in 180 AD, however, they had mostly been men of unusual ability, capable of discharging their enormous duties. The Roman Empire reached its farthest expansion around 180 AD with the death of Marcus Aurelius.
4 BC Death of Herod the Great.
BC --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- AD
9 AD Varius in Germany. Loss of three legions. 14 AD Death of Augustus.Accession of Tiberius. 17 AD Earthquake in Asia Minor. 19 AD Jews banished from Rome. 26 AD Pontius Pilate appointed prefect of Judaea. 30-33 AD Crucifixion of Jesus (?) 37 AD Death of Tiberius. 38 AD Jewish disturbances in Alexandria. 40 AD Jewish embassy from Alexandria to Rome. 41 AD Gaius murdered (24 January). Claudius made emperor. Claudius settles Alexandrine trouble. 64 AD Great fire in Rome. Persecution of the Christians. 67 AD Vespasian in command in Judaea. Josephus surrenders to him. 68 AD Vespasian begins attack on Jerusalem. 69 AD Vespasian declared emperor in the East. His forces under Antonius sack Cremona and capture Rome; death of Vitellius (December), Vespasian emperor. 70 AD Fall of Jerusalem. 71 AD Astrologi and philosophi expelled from Rome. 79 AD Eruption of Vesuvius (24 August). 80 AD Fire at Rome. Destruction of Capitoline temple. 89 AD Edict against astrologi and philosophi. 95 AD Expulsion of philosophers from Italy. 115 AD Jewish revolt in Cyrene. 116 AD Revolt in the East. Jewish revolt spreads. 122 AD Moorish revolt. 131 AD Jewish revolt under Bar Cocheba. 135 AD Jews finally defeated. Temple of Venus and Rome dedicated. 148 AD Nine-hundreth anniversary of the foundation of Rome. 152-153 AD Revolt in Egypt. 165 AD Plague spreads from East to Italy and the West. 167 AD Plague in Rome.
The period from the death of Augustus to the death of Marcus Aurelius in 180 AD is generally referred to in histories of Latin literature as the Silver Age. Compared with the creative vigor of the Golden Age, the literature of this period seems thin and self-conscious, artificial and pedantic. The sculpture of the later republican period was clearly an importation from the Hellenistic East, but the portraits busts and statues which are the most characteristic form of the Roman sculpture have a realism that reflects the Roman interest in individual personality rather than in idealized representation of human types.
CHRISTIANITY
It is characteristic of the increasing cosmopolitanism of Christianity that these Christian Scriptures were written in Greek, the international language of the Hellenistic world. The first four gospels were probably written between the years 60 and 110 AD, and they were evidently founded upon a well-established oral tradition. Christianity spread at first most rapidly among the underprivileged classes, including the slaves, and was regarded as socially disreputable. Where the pagan looked back with nostalgic longing to a mythical golden age, the Christian, especially in these first centuries, looked forward with confident expectation to a future golden age, when the second coming of Christ would herald the establishment of the Kingdom of God on earth. About the year 111 AD, the Emperor Trajan issued a rescript to provincial governors instructing them to prosecute those openly charged with adherence to the new religion, but not to seek them out nor continue the prosecution if they were willing to take part in the ceremonies of the official cult. Christianity was opposed to the whole spirit of Roman civilization and of imperial government. The most serious specific charges brought against the Christians were that they were stubborn and consistent law-breakers, that they refused to discharge the duties of citizen toward the state, and that they were organized in illegal, seditious societies. The Christian, strict monotheist as he was, was forbidden to take part in the emperor-worship which was the patriotic duty of all citizens. He could not accept public office or serve in the army without violating his principles, as both demanded participation in certain official and, to the Christian, idolatrous ceremonies. His attitude toward the whole governmental system, so closely bound up in paganism, was one of suspicion if not of actual hatred, and in any case he felt that he owed his first loyalty to a higher fatherland than the worldly empire.
166-345 AD Taurus of Pisces
Stars crossing the vernal equinox: 244 AD Eta Piscium northern stream 246 AD Mu Piscium Fourth Seal, southern stream
Bad government began with the reign of Commodus (180-192). There followed a century of chaos and anarchy, in which the army took government into its own hands. Now the army assumed control of the emperors, creating and destroying them at will. Between 192 and 284 AD* there were 33 emperors, most of whom died by violence. To make matters worse, the emperors, in order to satisfy the demands of the mutinous soldiers who had created them, were forced to impose crushing taxes on the well-to-do classes, thus striking a direct blow at trade by sapping the buying power of the most prosperous citizens. They also adopted the ruinous policy of raising money be debasing the coinage. In 212 the Constitutio Antoniana made all freeborn citizens of the municipalities throughout the empire Roman citizens. It was during the third century that it first became painfully clear that the Roman Empire was decaying in every root and branch of its being. The people of the Roman world were losing their vigor (loss of Aries energy). The upper classes were becoming apathetic through long enjoyment of easy prosperity, while the oppressed lower classes were becoming more discontented. There was a notable decrease in the population, accounted for partly by a series of widespread epidemics, but to a greater degree by the decrease of the birth rate, due to the unwillingness of the luxurious upper classes to raise large families and to the increasing poverty of the lower classes. The general decline in vitality was reflected clearly in the falling off of creative energy in every field of culture save religion. Already the golden age of Roman civilization had passed, and imitation was taking the place of originality. The economic development of the western provinces, while adding to the wealth of the empire during the first two centuries, ultimately caused a decrease in inter-regional trade as these provinces became self-supporting and met their needs by local production. There is evidence, too, that agricultural production in many parts of the empire was declining. Large landowners began to rent out to small tenants, who lacked the capital, equipment, and skill to farm in the most productive way. Moreover, a combination of economic factors and imperial laws bound these tenants to the land so that they lost their freedom and much of their incentive to vigorous enterprise. Diocletian reformed the Empire by giving himself sole authority, and reorganizing the Empire. These changes immediately strengthened the imperial authority. But the elaborate imperial courts, the numerous administrative officials, and the large mercenary army were very expensive. The emperors needed money and still more money, while at the same time the waning economic prosperity of the empire made the collection of taxes more difficult. The principal tax was on the land. Merchants and artisans who had no land paid a special and very heavy tax. The success of Diocletian's reform of the administration and the army depended on the collection of sufficient taxes to pay for their upkeep. The most important tax was on the land and on the agricultural workers. This was paid, not by the great landowners, but by the tenants who actually worked the land. Many of these, unable to pay the taxes from profits that were steadily decreasing for other reasons, were forced to abandon their land and to evade the taxes by moving to another locality or by changing occupation. At the same time, the population was decreasing. As a result, a good deal of the land was deserted and fell out of cultivation, thus lessening the amount of taxable property. To check this development, which would prove disastrous to the imperial income, Constantine issued laws bringing the agricultural worker, and the children after him., to the land he worked. The tax on the land and that on the worker were now united and became an hereditary obligation. No matter who owned land, the workers remained as hereditary tenants, still legally free men except that they could not leave the land. They were called coloni. Slaves couldn't be sold off the land, and they were given the partial freedom of the coloni. All farm workers, then, were leveled to same condition of servitude. Great numbers of the population were thus forced to give up all hope of changing their economic or social status. In the same way, tradesmen were bound to their trade, so that the workers formed a hereditary caste. The well-to-do and upper middle classes were called the curialies. In 336 Constantine made the curial position hereditary. Wealth was concentrated in a privileged few. The senatorial aristocracy was the most fortunate class, a wealthy, privileged group, riding securely on the surface of a sea of destruction. Its members no longer had any connection with the Senate, and their numbers had greatly increased since the empire. Their wealth was invested in the land, since they were barred by law from engaging in commerce, and most of them were owners of great estates that were steadily crowding out the small landowner. With the decline of industry and commerce, the economic center of gravity was shifting from the city to the country, where the great estates worked by semi-servile coloni were becoming increasingly isolated and self-sufficient communities.
CHRISTIANITY
Slow as its progress was at first, however, it gained ground steadily, and by the middle of the third century there were well-organized Christian communities in every city of the empire. As their numbers increased, especially after the beginning of the third century, when they were joined by many members of the upper classes, the Christians became an ever greater menace to the state. In the year 250*, the Emperor Dacius undertook a vigorous program of reform to check the alarming decline, and as part of that reform instituted the first thorough attempt to crush Christianity in all parts of the empire. The persecution raged for about a year, until it was cut short by the death of the emperor. The last and most thorough attempt to stamp it out was begun in 303 by Diocletian, the great reformer and reorganizer of the empire, and was continued by his successors till 311. The fourth century was a period of astounding growth in the Christian Church. The century opened with the persecution of the Christians, still a small minority of the population, and protected by a Christian emperor who issued persecuting laws against pagans and all who departed in any way form the accepted doctrines of the state church. But this rapid growth was not all pure gain to the church. The influx of great numbers of the indifferent or self-seeking inevitably lowered the general average of morality and religious zeal in the church, while at the same time introducing non-Christian elements into its doctrine and practice. Before the Edict of Milan (313), the Christians had been a picked group of earnest believers who were prepared to sacrifice a good deal, even if not all were prepared to face death, for their faith. A major problem arose in an acute form in the decade following the Edict of Milan as the result of a controversy, the so-called Arian heresy, which for some sixty years threatened to break up the unity of the Christian body. The doctrine was brought forward by Arius, a priest of Alexandria, about the year 318 and was a denial of both the absolute divinity and the complete humanity of Christ. His argument was logical in a literal-minded way, but it would have robbed Christianity of its essential meaning. As a means of reaching an authoritative decision, the emperor called the first general or ecumenical council of the church to meet at Nicaea in 325. The council condemned the Arians and drew up the Nicene Creed, which asserted the full divinity and humanity of Christ. The next emperor in the East, Constantius (337-361; from the Taurus into Gemini of Pisces), became a convinced Arian and entered the struggle with partisan enthusiasm. The Arian bishops were recalled while the orthodox were disposed.
346 to 527 AD Gemini of Pisces
Stars crossing the vernal equinox: 498 AD Upsilon Piscium northern stream
The strongest characteristic of the mental attitude of the 4th and 5th century Romans was apathetic resignation. The great majority of the population had lost all individual liberty and all hope of improving conditions, men came to accept them passively. Such a state of mind was fatal to originality or creative energy. In all branches of art the same sterility, the same lowering of standards of taste, was very evident.
CHRISTIANITY
(After the Edict of Milan in 313)... the cult of a host of saints and martyrs sprang p to take the place of the many local gods of pagan mythology. Christian celebrations were created to replace the feasts and holidays of the older religions. The assimilation by Christianity of so much of popular belief and practice was in no small degree responsible for its almost universal acceptance during this period, but at the sacrifice of its early purity and simplicity. In 361 Julian came to the throne, and with the reunited empire under his rule, Julian disowned the Christianity he had been forced to profess, and spent his brief reign in a vain attempt to revive all that was best in paganism and to make it the state religion. He was in many ways one of the noblest spirits of his age, but he was running counter to the current of the times. The year 378 was a momentous year for the Roman Empire. Valens fell in battle against the Goths, the first of a long series of successful invaders of the empire, and with him perished the last hope of Arainism. Meanwhile, Gratian was taking steps to stamp out paganism, and in 391 and 392 Theodosius issued stringent laws against idolatry. Sacrifice to pagan gods, whether inn public or private, was to be regarded as treason, and paganism gradually died out during the following century. In the West, on the other hand, where the imperial power was being weakened and finally destroyed under the shock of successive barbarian invasions, the Latin Church was growing rapidly in organization, independence, and authority. The church at Rome and in the West generally during the first two centuries after its foundation was predominantly Greek, Christianity having spread first among the Greek-speaking commercial classes. After the death of Theodosius in 395, under whom the empire had been briefly reunited, the division into two empires was final and complete. And this division in the state was strengthened by a similar split in the church, though it, too, maintained its theoretical unity. At the same time there grew up, in the last years of the fourth century and in the fifth, a school of Latin theology and church policy, quite different from the Greek, and destined to shape the thought of Western Christendom for more than a thousand years. St. Jerome translated the Bible from the original Hebrew and Greek into forceful and eloquent Latin. It was completed in 405 AD, taking him some 20 years from start to finish. St. Augustine (354-430) was the real founder of Latin theology and the most powerful mind in the history of the Western Church. His longest work, The City of God, was undertaken after the sack of Rome in 410 AD to demonstrate that the calamities which had overtaken the empire were not due to its desertion of the ancient gods, but were merely signs that the old worldly empire was passing, to be replaced by a new spiritual empire, the Christian Church. Typically Latin, Augustine was not vitally interested in the metaphysical speculations that so attracted the Greeks. On the contrary, his thought revolved about the more human problem of how the individual Christian obtains salvation. And this problem he resolved into a logical and almost legal system of divine justice, in which he pictured all men as damned by the original sin inherited from the fall of Adam.
527 -707 AD Cancer of Pisces
Stars crossing the vernal equinox: 572 AD Zeta Piscium Fifth seal, southern stream 598 AD Phi Piscium northern stream 634 AD Chi Piscium northern stream 646 AD Tau Piscium northern stream
About the year 520 AD, St. Benedict founded the famous monastery of Monte Cassino, and some time later wrote for the guidance of his monks the rule which was to regulate monastic life for centuries. Wherever the rule was adopted, it checked the restless wandering and the dangerously irregular asceticism of the monks (during the mutable duodecamoria of Gemini). It provided that the monk, after a probationary period of a year during which he had time to determine whether he was suited to the monastic life, should take the three fundamental vows of perpetual poverty, chastity, and obedience; thereafter he was bound to remain in the same monastery for life, to obey his superior with humility in all things, to give up all private property, and to cut himself off from all relations with people, even his own family, outside the monastery. Each Benedictine monastery was a small self-contained community. Its members all lived under the same roof and shared the same food at a common table. Great Cancerian stuff, you betcha! Food, though not of the luxurious sort, was to be provided insufficient quantities to maintain health. As a result of the provisions for labor in the fields and copying manuscripts, the monasteries became centers of civilizations everywhere throughout the dark ages, and played an important part in cultivating waste land, improving agricultural methods, and preserving literature and learning. to be continued... | |
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