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Reference Library
Notes on the Tables
Rulerships
This handy table shows the four modes of rulerships used in Hellenistic Astrology, along with the planetary rulers of the decanic Faces. For the Exaltation ruler, traditional degree of exaltation is shown in parentheses. The Bounds (called Terms in Medieval astrology) are irregular five-fold divisions of the signs. There are a number of different Bound systems surviving from Hellenistic times; this table shows the Egyptian Bounds, which were most generally used.
Monomoiria
A system for assigning a planetary ruler to each degree of the Zodiac described in Paulus Alexandrinus in Chapter Five of his Introductory Matters.
Klimata
Klimata correspond to our latitudes, figured on the basis of the longest day of the year rather than the elevation of the North Central Pole from the horizon. These tables follow the most common convention, which was to divide the world into seven bands of latitude. The latitude at the center of each klima is shown, along with the length in hours of the longest day. The latitude-klima relationship changes slowly over time due to the change in the obliquity of the ecliptic; the values in these tables are according to Neugebauer and Van Hoesen's Greek Horoscopes, computed on the basis of an obliquity of 23° 41' for about 150 C.E.
Ascensional Times
Due to the obliquity of the ecliptic to the equator, the signs of the zodial rise in different amounts of time, giving rise to signs of long and short ascension. The ascensional time of the signs are used widely in Hellenistic astrology in timing procedures. The times are given in terms of the number of degrees of right ascension (equatorial degrees) that pass over the meridian circle during the time that the 30 degrees of the sign rises at the horizon. There were five different systems for assigning ascensional times to the signs. System A presupposed a tropical zodiac with the vernal point at 10° Aries; System B located the vernal point at 8° Aries. Both systems had two versions, one using Babylon as the basis for computing the klimata, the other using Alexandria. All four systems are shown in the table of Hellenistic Ascensional Times.
The fifth system, Ptolemy's, was the most astronomically accurate. This table shows the ascensional times using Ptolemaic methods in a modern format using latitudes rather than klimata.