The Astrology Podcast
The Astrology Podcast
Chris Brennan
Heliodora and the Early History of Women Astrologers
2 hour 12 minutes Posted May 22, 2023 at 8:10 pm.
Intro
Why there were few ancient female astrologers
Horoscopes for ancient women
Hypatia in the 5th century and Queen Buran in the 9th century
Heliodora article
Heliodora as a "mathematike" or mathematician
Urania, Greek goddess of astrology
Enheduanna, poet and priestess
Egyptian goddess Seshat, scribe and astronomer
Aglaonice, predictor of eclipses
Were women practicing astrology prior to Hellenistic astrology?
Oracle of Delphi and divination
Heliodora's tombstone
Heliodora's time period and location
Blending of Egyptian and Greek cultures with Helidora
Images and inscription on the tombstone
Heliodora remained unmarried to pursue astrology
How Helidora learned astrology
Family lines of astrologers: Balbilla, Thrasyllus, Commagene
Julia Balbilla, poet
Women astronomers in Sumerian-Babylonian history
Death of Ellen Black and her role in starting Project Hindsight
Rise of women astrologers in the 20th century
New discoveries being made of notable Islamic and Indian women astrologers
Lost text of Ptolemy discovered
Demetra's background
Demetra's course on hand-calculating a chart
Asteroid retreat and lectures
Patrons and sponsors
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Show notes
In episode 402 Demetra George joins the podcast to talk about the recent discovery of the earliest named astrologer from the Hellenistic tradition who was a woman, Heliodora, and the early history of women practitioners of astrology.
Heliodora was an astrologer who lived in the city of Terenuthis in Egypt around the 2nd or 3rd century CE.
Her tombstone was recently discovered by archeologists, who published a paper in 2021 which noted that she is the earliest known woman in the Greco-Roman tradition that is known by name to have been a practicing astrologer.
During the course of the episode we talk about what is known about Heliodora and the location and time period in which she lived, and we also discuss other historical women that may have had some connection with astrology and astronomy.
For more information about Demetra see her website:
DemetraGeorge.com
This episode is available in both audio and video versions below.
Bibliography
 
Roger S. Bagnall, Cathy L. Callaway, and Alexander Jones,  “The Funerary Stele of Heliodora, Astrologer,” Muse: Annual of the Museum of Art and Archaeology, University of Missouri, 53/54, 2019-2020 (published 2021), pp. 28–45. [Link to PDF]
Nadia Anderson, Drawing Down the Moon & Aglaonice of Thessaly [Link to PDF]
Earlier Episodes
Previous episodes of The Astrology Podcast mentioned in this episode:
Episode 86: Saturn as Feminine, and the Earliest Female Astrologer
Episode 137: Elsbeth Ebertin and the Rise of Women in Astrology
Episode 295: Queen Buran, Astrologer in 9th Century Baghdad
 
Timestamps
Watch the Video Version of This Episode
Watch the video version of this episode on YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9M1ILOwNd68
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Transcript
A full transcript of this episode is available: Episode 402 transcript
Listen to the Audio Version of This Episode
Listen to the audio version of this episode or download it as an MP3: