Dorotheus of Sidon, who appears to have lived in Alexandria, flourished in the first century AD. He wrote his Pentateuch (five books) on astrology in Greek, in verse. This translation, from 1976 by David Pingree, is from a fourth century Pahlavi (Persian) source. The first book is on the judgement of nativities. Book two concerns marriage and children. Book three is on the length of life. Book four is on the transfer of years, i.e., forecasting. Book five is on interrogations, i.e., electional astrology. In this book are the earliest known astrological charts. Dorotheus bases much of his interpretative methods on the triplicity rulers, by day and by night. All fire signs have the same rulers. All earth signs have their rulers, as do air and water signs. He uses Egyptian terms. He, like the Greeks of his day, also uses the Dodecatemoria, which are the twelfths of a sign. And many, many lots, all defined. For the first time in this edition: Pingree's Preface newly translated. An appendix with charts in modern format. A complete table of terms and triplicity rulers. A table to calculate Dodecatemoria. Newly reset to match Pingree's original 1976 edition. Written a century before Ptolemy, here is the mainstream of Greek astrology. It will handsomely repay study.

This is a Latin translation made in the mid-12th century of a lost Arabic astrological text on nativities and anniversaries, probably by Masha'allah (762-c.815). The Latin text, the work of Hugo of Santalla, who was in the entourage of Michael, Bishop of Tarazona, in 1145, sheds light on the early stage of Arabic astrology in Baghdad, which was based on Greek and Middle Persian sources, and it includes a bibliography of these sources. This work provides English translations of the parallel passages based on Masha'allah's text - the "Book of Nativities" of Sahl b. Bishr. The book concludes with an index of the sources mentioned and a comprehensive word index.