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Berossus

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Berossus (also Berossos or Berosus) Greek: Βεροσσος was a Babylonian writer who wrote in Greek and was active at the beginning of the 3rd century BC. Although he is mainly known for a work that he wrote on Babylonian history, at some point in his life he is said to have moved west to the island of Kos where he set up an astrological school which may have played a major role in the development and transmission of astrology in the ancient world.

Life and work

Berossus published the Babyloniaca (hereafter, History of Babylonia) some time around 290-278 B.C.E. for the Macedonian/Seleucid king, Antiochus I. Certain astrological fragments recorded in Pliny the Elder, Censorinus, Flavius Josephus, and Marcus Vitruvius Pollio are also attributed to him, but their nature and influence on later astrologers is largely unknown. Vitruvius credits him with the invention of the semi-circular sundial. A statue of him was erected in Athens, perhaps attesting to his fame and scholarship as historian and astronomer-astrologer. A separate work, Procreatio, is attributed to him in the Latin work, Commentariorium in Aratum Reliquiae, but there is no proof of this connection. However, a direct citation (name and title) is exceedingly rare in antiquity, and it may have referred to Book 1 of his History.

He was born during or before Alexander the Great's reign over Babylon (330-323 B.C.E.), with the earliest date suggested as 340 B.C.E. It is suggested that his native Akkadian name was Bel-re-ušu, which means, "Bel is my shepherd." "Berossos" is one of several Greek transliterations of his name. According to Vitruvius' work de Architectura, he eventually moved to the island of Kos off the coast of Asia Minor and set up a school of astrology there, under the patronage of the king of Egypt. However, scholars have questioned whether it would have been possible to work under the Seleucids and then move on to a region under Ptolemaic control late in life. It is not known when he died.