Late Classical Astrology:
Paulus Alexandrius and Olympiodorus
Translated by Dorian Giesler Greenbaum, M.A.
Get this book if you already have a foundation in ancient, western Astrology.
In my hand, it feels like a good, spiral bound workbook. Inside is a major work of Astrology, translated by Doris Greenbaum from the original Greek.
The author, Paulus, is writing to "my dear boy Kronamon". After a greeting then apology, Paulus jumps into a description of the zoidion (images of the zodiac). He describes the sign, the division into 3 decans and their nature. Then he continues with a list of rulerships, exaltations, geographic regions and more.
Once you have read through the numbered paragraphs, you find the commentaries of Olympiodorus. To confuse matters, this scholia can be longer than the original work by Paulus.
Both writers are from a time of formal writing, long sentences and a philosophical approach. This is not a book you breeze through while giggling at how mysterious and sexy Scorpios and Pisces are.
If I didn't already know the basic tools of medieval Astrology, I would have trouble wading through this.
Another blessing and cursing of this book is that R. Hand (Editor) and Greenbaum use ancient words, such as "zoidon," instead of its modern equivelant of "zodiac sign". They are trying to force us to think like the ancients. Instead of just a sign, we have a zoidon, which is a living image.
The most interesting section to me was the works on Profection. Though the calculation for the Profected Year and Profected Month are what I am familiar with, the manner in which the book teaches to profect to a day and hour is different than I was taught. I was taught medieval Astrology (Arabic and Latin) while this work is from an earlier, transitional period (Greek and Arabic).
This book will be interesting and useful to traditional Astrologers who don't mind thinking words that don't translate into modern English easily.
All in all, the book makes for scholarly, but plodding reading. I applaud the translator for her major work.