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Basil’s Knowledge of Astronomy
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Colten Cheuk-Yin Yam
Published/Copyright:
July 9, 2022
Abstract
This paper explores Basil’s knowledge of astronomy. It shows that Basil must have learnt astronomy already from his youth. It also demonstrates why and how Basil holds a complex attitude towards astronomy (as shown in Homily in hexaemeron 1 and 6). Finally, by comparing Basil’s knowledge of this science with the astronomical handbook of his time, it argues that Basil has made use of Origen but not lavishly copied him, and the level of his astronomical knowledge did not go beyond Cleomedes’ Caelestia, which is the most elementary astronomical handbook in ancient times.
Keywords: Basil of Caesarea; Origen; Cleomedes; Genesis; astronomy; astrology; rhetoric; exegesis; Homiliae in hexaemeron; Caelestia
Published Online: 2022-07-09
Published in Print: 2022-07-26
© 2022 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston
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Keywords for this article
Basil of Caesarea;
Origen;
Cleomedes;
Genesis;
astronomy;
astrology;
rhetoric;
exegesis;
Homiliae in hexaemeron;
Caelestia
Articles in the same Issue
- Titelseiten
- Aufsätze
- Editorial
- Preface
- Genesis 1 in theBook of Jubilees
- Genesis 1 and the Beginnings of Gnosticism
- The Unknown Gnostic Text of Deir el-Balaizah
- Origen’s Understanding of Genesis 1:1–5
- Eusebius on “Double Creation” (Praeparatio evangelica 11,23–25)
- Basil: Philosophical Literacy Meets Biblical Literalism?
- The Influence of Plotinus on Basil of Caesarea’s Homiliae in hexaemeron
- Basil’s Knowledge of Astronomy
- Creation of the Universe and Creation of Man in Cyril of Alexandria’s Early Works on the Pentateuch
- Rezensionen
- Nienke M. Vos and Albert C. Geljon, eds.:Rituals in Early Christianity. New Perspectives on Tradition and Transformation, Supplements to Vigiliae Christianae 164, Leiden (Brill) 2021, XII + 363 pp. + 16 illustrations, ISBN 978-90-04-44097-5, € 25,–; $ 25,– (hardback).
- David G. Hunter: Marriage and Sexuality in Early Christianity, Ad Fontes: Sources of Early Christian Thought 5, Minneapolis (Fortress Press) 2018, ISBN 978-1-5064 - 4593-9; xiii + 272 S., $ 24.00
- Piet Hein Hupsch:The Glory of the Spirit in Gregory of Nyssa’s Adversus Macedonianos. Commentary and Systematic-Theological Synthesis, Supplements to Vigiliae Christianae 163, Leiden (Brill) 2020, 408 pp., ISBN 978-90-04-42227-8, € 138,–.
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- Gina Derhard: Dynamiken der Briefform bei Hieronymus, Orbis antiquus 56, Münster (Aschendorff) 2021, 375 S., ISBN 978-3-402-14467-1, € 53,–.
- Aaron M. Butts/Kristian S. Heal/Robert A. Kitchen, eds.:Narsai. Rethinking his Work and his World, Studien und Texte zu Antike und Christentum 121, Tübingen (Mohr Siebeck) 2020, 290 S., ISBN 978-3-16-159349-9/eISBN 978-3-16-159808-1, € 89,–.
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