Arabic Parts - History

History

The lots are a very ancient astrological technique which can be traced back to pre-Hellenistic sources. Their origin is obscure; they could originally be Babylonian, Ancient Egyptian, Magian, Persian or Hermetic, but by the time of Dorotheus of Sidon in the first century A.D. (and probably earlier) they had become an established tenet of Hellenistic astrological practice.

One of the best informational sources for the lots is the Introduction to astrology by fourth-century astrologer Paulus Alexandrinus and the Commentary on this work by sixth-century philosopher Olympiodorus the Younger. Paulus used a dozen or so major lots for almost every aspect of his analysis. The most important of these were the Lot of Fortune (or Part of Fortune) and its complement, the Lot of Spirit.

After the fall of the Roman Empire, all of the classical legacy, including astrology, fell to the Abbasid Arabs and Persians. Islamic astrologers translated sources from Greek and produced many of their own astrologers who wrote a considerable amount in Arabic on astrology. Although it is not clear whether the number of lots began to proliferate in late Antiquity or whether it was purely the product of the fascination the Arabs had for them, Arabic manuscripts show an explosion in the number of lots that were used over the next several centuries. The inordinate increase is noted by the Arab commentators themselves. In The Abbreviation of the Introduction to Astrology, Persian astrologer Abu Ma'Shar (787-886) describes no less than 55 lots, although it's clear that these are only the ones he considers significant. This count does not even include all of the lots of Paulus.

Beginning in the tenth century, many Arab manuscripts were translated into Latin, becoming the means by which Classical astrology found its way back to Europe. Medieval astrologers, most notably the major 13th-century Italian, Guido Bonatti, a contemporary of Dante, assumed it was the Arabs who originated the concept of the lots, and hence they came eventually to be called the "Arabic parts".

By the time of William Lilly, only the Lot of Fortune continued to be used by astrologers, although in a manner that would be considered strange by ancient practitioners. Lilly's methods with what he called "Fortuna" have continued in modern astrology, although rarely used and usually misunderstood. The Lot of Fortune mainly appears today in horary practice.