Chaldean theory of the sky (2)

Text
Diodorus Siculus 2.31.4-6:
Beyond the circle of the zodiac they designate twenty-four other stars, ofwhich one half, they say, are situated in the northern parts and one half in the southern, and of these those which are invisible they regard as being adjacent to the dead, and so they call them “Judges of the Universe.” And under all the stars hitherto mentioned the moon, according to them, takes her way, being nearest the earth because of her weight and completing her course in a very brief period of time, not by reason of her great velocity, but because her orbit is so short. They also agree with the Greeks in saying that her light is reflected and that her eclipses are due to the shadow of the earth. Regarding the eclipse of the sun, however, they offer the weakest kind of explanation, and do not presume to predict it or to define the times of its occurrence with any precision.

Source (list of abbreviations)
Diodorus Siculus 2.31.4-6

Bibliography

Amar Annus

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