The Arabic parts, or lots, are points calculated from the positions of other chart factors: most familiarly the Part of Fortune, taken from the Ascendant, Sun and Moon. Despite the name they are Hellenistic in origin, transmitted and greatly expanded by medieval Arabic astrologers before returning to Latin Europe. Hundreds were catalogued, each a formula addressing a particular subject, from marriage and children to illness and inheritance.
Facts
Overview
- Entries in the Atlas
- 16
Origins
- Origin Period
- Hellenistic: the lots are in use by the first century CE 1
- Place of Origin
- The Greek-speaking Hellenistic Mediterranean, where they are the kleroi or "lots" 1
- Place of Origin
- Greatly expanded by astrologers writing in Arabic, and carried to the Latin West by the twelfth-century translators 2
- Origin of the Name
- "Arabic parts" is a Latin-Western name recording who transmitted them, not who devised them; the older and more accurate term is the Greek kleroi, "lots". 1
Structure
- Structure
- Each lot is a point found by a formula from three chart factors, so many degrees from one as another is from a third. The medieval lists run to several hundred and there is no fixed canon. 1
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The Lots of the Chart
The Arabic parts, or lots, are points calculated from the positions of other factors in a chart: most familiarly the Part of Fortune, derived from the positions of the Ascendant, Sun and Moon. Despite the name they are Hellenistic in origin; the Arabic astrologers received them from the Greek tradition, greatly expanded the list, and it is through Arabic and then Latin transmission that they reached the later West.
Each part is defined by a formula, so many degrees from one point as another is from a third, and marks a sensitive place in the chart said to concentrate the affairs it is named for: fortune, spirit, marriage, children, death and hundreds more.
A large and technical set
The medieval lists run to many hundreds of parts, one for almost every conceivable topic, and the tradition varies on how some are calculated, notably whether the Part of Fortune is reversed for a night birth. The atlas gives each part its formula, the affairs it governs, and its place in the tradition, noting where the calculation is disputed.
The parts are a calculated overlay on the chart, read alongside the planets, houses and signs, and belong to the finer technical apparatus of Hellenistic and medieval astrology.
Enter a year to compare these entries as the atlas records them at that moment. Leave it empty for the present. A year before the common era is entered with a minus sign, so 44 BCE is minus 44.