My ignorance of Eastern languages is gradually being remedied, if only slightly. Seemingly Pahlavi is a kind of ancient Persian language, rooted in Aramaic, and is distinct from Classical Arabic. This text (the Carmen Astrologicum) by Dorotheus of Sidon had an afterlife in apparently both these languages (Pingree, 2005, pp.xii-xiii). David Pingree is certain that Dorotheus was from Sidon, not Egypt, citing the authorities of Julius Firmicus Maternus and Michael Italicus (p.vii see also p.xiv n.5). I am uncertain whether this may be the case or not, because right at the very start of the work the author (writing in the third person) states that Dorotheus is an Egyptian (Prologue 1-2), and that quotes Dorotheus saying that, "I have travelled... in many cities, and I have seen the wondrous things which are in Egypt and in Babylon, which is in the direction of the Euphrates." (Prologue 4 trans. Pingree, 2005, p.1). Therefore it may be the case that Dorotheus was perhaps born in Egypt, but settled in Sidon at some point in his life.
In any case, despite my lack of knowledge of obscure Persian dialects (though I happen to have a good Persian-English dictionary gracing my shelves and indeed a few good books on how to learn Arabic), reading this only in translation, it is still a fascinating little book. I should like to see the surviving ancient Greek fragments, as this translation is in mere prose (the language of mere mortals) whereas the title is Carmen ('poem, song, spell') of Astrology (Astrologicum). Dorotheus probably wrote in ancient Greek hexameter verse (p.vii), so this work is most certainly only really appreciated by those with a keen knowledge of a wide variety of ancient languages. Reading Lucan, for example, in English prose (by the late great Robert Graves), is a completely different experience to reading him in Latin, and the same goes for Manilius (the late G.P. Goold, in this case, having done a fine yet prosaic translation of his Astronomica). Besides, many Latin words, especially verbs have between a half a dozen and two dozen different meanings, some similar, some vastly different.
Even so, this 'song' is very readable, even dumbed down into the prosaic vernacular.
There are some other aspects (not the specific astrological term, but applied more generally in this case) of this little publication which will undoubtably affect my own work. For example, illustrations. I dislike illustrations in books, because they can display improperly over various different devices. However, there are ways around this (according to the book on eBook formatting I recently bought), and in a book on astrology it is important to actually have examples of natal charts and other tables, which are much more clearly displayed in an image than wading through lots of text. It is not essential, at all, but will enhance the book's value (I am speaking of worth, not mere pecuniary considerations, but dignitas).
I picked up a couple of other books in town today. One book on how to play the bodhrán (for I intend to start a Bardcore career on the Tube), another book I used to own, which I already do own a concise version of (The Oxford Dictionary of Quotations). This is a newer edition, sadly, so the Latin section at the end is missing (I used to own the proper full on edition). Still, it may yet provide a little inspiration, and has a useful index. I also bought one other book today, which is an absolutely fascinating little read World of Strange Powers by Arthur C. Clarke, John Fairley and Simon Welfare (it is non-fiction).
Oh, and I did also order £100 worth of ancient Greek primary sources, out of print university level translation commentaries (Euripides and Aristophanes). I think curbing my book addiction, capping it at £113 a month is just about good enough. Besides, I'm running out of space. I need to put some more shelves up.
Max.
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