Dodecaheteris
In ancient times , dodecaeteris refers to a period of 12 years, each of which is assigned one of the 12 signs of the zodiac .
The term goes back to Censorinus , who described such a cycle in de die natali , which he called the Chaldean :
“The next [period] in magnitude is the twelve year period called the dodecaeteris. This year it is called Chaldean. The horoscope authors did not set it up according to the course of the sun and moon, but according to different perceptions, because in this great year, as they say, storms and colds, good and sterile years, diseases and health return. "
Another such cycle supposedly going back to Zoroaster appears in the Geoponica , where the cycle is related to the twelve-year orbital period of the planet Jupiter . Another example from Augustan times probably comes from Syria. There are also fragments from the Orphic circle .
The main importance of these texts is that it is assumed that the 12-year cycles still common in East Asian calendars (e.g. the 12 branches of the earth in the Chinese calendar ) have their roots here. Scaliger already suspected this connection based on the reports from Marco Polo .
literature
- Franz Boll : Dodekaeteris. In: Paulys Realencyclopadie der classischen Antiquity Science (RE). Volume V, 1, Stuttgart 1903, Col. 1254 f.
- Adolf Krüger: On the Orphic Dodekaeteris. In: Hermes , Vol. 73, No. 1 (1938), pp. 127-129
- Bartel Leendert van der Waerden : The great year and the eternal return. In: Hermes , Vol. 80, No. 2 (1952), pp. 129-155