, the term 'Chaldean' was synonymous with
'magician.' While astronomy was pursued by the Egyptians with great
success, whereby they made a notable construction of the calendar, they
seem not to have cultivated astrology, though they associated certain
stars with certain gods and with lucky or unlucky days.[1620]

+915+. Of all divinatory methods astrology has played the greatest role
in human history, and is still believed in and studied by not a few
persons. It derived its prominence originally, no doubt, from the
splendor and mystery of the sidereal heavens; the identification (by the
Babylonians) of certain planets with certain deities gave it more
definite shape. It was necessarily a learned pursuit, and, falling
naturally into the hands of priestly bodies, was developed by them in
accordance with the needs of the situation. Rules of interpretation were
established that became more and more specific. In the early period of
astrology it was concerning matters of public interest that information
was sought--crops, wars, and the fortunes of the king as the head of the
nation.[1621] At a later time, but before the beginning of our era, in
accordance with the growth of ethical individualism, the stars were
interrogated for the destinies of private individuals;[1622] the aspect
of the heavens at the moment of birth, the horoscope, announced the fate
of the nascent man.[1623]

In the hands of the Chaldeans astrology remained exclusively or largely
a science of omens. An advance toward a higher conception, however, was
made by their identification of certain planets with certain
gods,[1624] whereby the regularity and certainty of movement of the
astral world were carried over to the world of divine Powers. When, in
the centuries just preceding and following the beginning of our era,
Chaldean astrology was adopted by the Greeks and Romans, it was
organized by them in accordance with their philosophy, and it entered
into alliance with all the higher religious tendencies of the period. In
the unchangeableness of stellar movements the Stoics saw a principle
substantially identical with their doctrine of fate. Along various lines
(in Judaism and Christianity, and in the mysteries of Mithra and Isis)
men were moving toward the conception of a single supreme ruler of the
world, and astrology fell into line with this movement. The starry
universe was held to be the controller of human life, worthy of worship,
and able to call fort