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Historical Figures

Vettius Valens

Also Known As Valens
Astrologers, Diviners & Fortune Tellers

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Second century Hellenistic astrologer from Antioch whose nine book Anthology is the longest and most detailed working astrological treatise to survive from antiquity, drawing on over a hundred sample charts from his own case files. His techniques for dividing planetary rulership over degrees and years, still used in the reconstruction of Hellenistic method, underlie much of the Egyptian term and Arabic part material recorded here.

Facts
Disputed
Lifespan or Floruit
from 120 1
Vettius Valens gives no direct statement of his own birth year; what survives is a set of dated horoscopes within his Anthology, mostly cast between 152 and 162 CE, from which historians of ancient astrology have worked back an approximate birth around 120 CE rather than reading it from any external record.
Lifespan or Floruit
to 175 1
No external record states when Vettius Valens died. His latest securely dated horoscope falls in the 170s CE, and historians of ancient astrology cite a death somewhere around 175 CE on that basis, an estimate drawn from the latest surviving dated material rather than from any independent record of his death.
Origins
Place of Origin
Antioch (Roman Syria) 1
Defining Moment
Records his own nativity, cast for 8 February 120 CE, within the Anthology as a worked example, one of the few precisely dated horoscopes to survive from antiquity. 1
Attestation
Historicity
Historically attested 1
Identity
Gender
Male 1
Publications
Notable Publication
Anthology (Anthologiarum Libri Novem), nine books, written c. 150 to 175 CE 1
Learn More
A Working Astrologer of Roman Antioch

Vettius Valens was born around 120 CE, most likely in Antioch, and was a slightly younger contemporary of Claudius Ptolemy, though the two astrologers show no sign of having known each other's work and represent two quite different traditions within Hellenistic astrology, Ptolemy the philosophically minded systematizer and Valens the practicing technician. Valens describes travelling widely through Egypt in search of specific astrological doctrines and teachers he judged worth learning from, gathering techniques into his own practice rather than working from a single inherited system.

He wrote his major work, conventionally called the Anthology, across roughly 150 to 175 CE, and it is generally judged to be substantially complete by his death around 175. Almost nothing else of his biography survives independently of what he says of himself in the text, which is itself unusually candid by the standards of ancient technical writing, including passages of personal reflection on the astrologer's craft and its difficulties. Nothing is known of any formal training he received, and unlike several later Hellenistic astrologers he claims no divine or legendary transmission for his method, presenting it instead as a working technician's accumulated craft, refined through practice and correction over a working lifetime rather than received from any authoritative source.

The Anthology and Hellenistic Technique

The Anthology, nine books in Greek, is the longest surviving astrological treatise from antiquity and the single richest source for how Hellenistic astrology was actually practiced rather than only theorized. Valens included more than a hundred sample nativities drawn from his own case files, complete with his working calculations, making the text an unusually direct window onto real professional method rather than an abstract exposition.

Modern reconstruction of Hellenistic technique, including the systems of Arabic Parts and Egyptian planetary terms that the atlas describes across its astrological content, draws heavily on Valens alongside Ptolemy and the fragmentary earlier sources both of them preserve. The standard critical edition is David Pingree's 1986 Teubner text; Valens has no ancient biography beyond his own book, so essentially everything known of him as a person, rather than as a technical author, is inferred from what he chose to say about his own training and travels within it. Where Ptolemy's Tetrabiblos aimed to give astrology a philosophical justification within a broader natural science, Valens made no such argument and simply assumed the discipline's validity, a difference in temperament that later historians of astrology have used to characterize the whole distinction between astrology's theoretical and its practical wings in the ancient world.

Cross-Tradition Connections

Associated With

Aquarius Fifth Term: Saturn, Egyptian Terms

This source names Vettius Valens directly: "planetary terms transmitted by Vettius Valens (Anthologies, 2nd century CE) and recorded by Claudius Ptolemy in the Tetrabiblos, Book I."

Source TetrabiblosClaudius Ptolemy
Aquarius First Term: Mercury, Egyptian Terms

This source names Vettius Valens directly: "planetary terms transmitted by Vettius Valens (Anthologies, 2nd century CE) and recorded by Claudius Ptolemy in the Tetrabiblos, Book I."

Source TetrabiblosClaudius Ptolemy
Aquarius Fourth Term: Mars, Egyptian Terms

This source names Vettius Valens directly: "planetary terms transmitted by Vettius Valens (Anthologies, 2nd century CE) and recorded by Claudius Ptolemy in the Tetrabiblos, Book I."

Source TetrabiblosClaudius Ptolemy
Aquarius Second Term: Venus, Egyptian Terms

This source names Vettius Valens directly: "planetary terms transmitted by Vettius Valens (Anthologies, 2nd century CE) and recorded by Claudius Ptolemy in the Tetrabiblos, Book I."

Source TetrabiblosClaudius Ptolemy
Aquarius Third Term: Jupiter, Egyptian Terms

This source names Vettius Valens directly: "planetary terms transmitted by Vettius Valens (Anthologies, 2nd century CE) and recorded by Claudius Ptolemy in the Tetrabiblos, Book I."

Source TetrabiblosClaudius Ptolemy
Aries Fifth Term: Saturn, Egyptian Terms

This source names Vettius Valens directly: "planetary terms transmitted by Vettius Valens (Anthologies, 2nd century CE) and recorded by Claudius Ptolemy in the Tetrabiblos, Book I."

Source TetrabiblosClaudius Ptolemy
Aries First Term: Jupiter, Egyptian Terms

This source names Vettius Valens directly: "planetary terms transmitted by Vettius Valens (Anthologies, 2nd century CE) and recorded by Claudius Ptolemy in the Tetrabiblos, Book I."

Source TetrabiblosClaudius Ptolemy
Aries Fourth Term: Mars, Egyptian Terms

This source names Vettius Valens directly: "planetary terms transmitted by Vettius Valens (Anthologies, 2nd century CE) and recorded by Claudius Ptolemy in the Tetrabiblos, Book I."

Source TetrabiblosClaudius Ptolemy
Aries Second Term: Venus, Egyptian Terms

This source names Vettius Valens directly: "planetary terms transmitted by Vettius Valens (Anthologies, 2nd century CE) and recorded by Claudius Ptolemy in the Tetrabiblos, Book I."

Source TetrabiblosClaudius Ptolemy
Aries Third Term: Mercury, Egyptian Terms

This source names Vettius Valens directly: "planetary terms transmitted by Vettius Valens (Anthologies, 2nd century CE) and recorded by Claudius Ptolemy in the Tetrabiblos, Book I."

Source TetrabiblosClaudius Ptolemy
Cancer Fifth Term: Saturn, Egyptian Terms

This source names Vettius Valens directly: "planetary terms transmitted by Vettius Valens (Anthologies, 2nd century CE) and recorded by Claudius Ptolemy in the Tetrabiblos, Book I."

Source TetrabiblosClaudius Ptolemy
Cancer First Term: Mars, Egyptian Terms

This source names Vettius Valens directly: "planetary terms transmitted by Vettius Valens (Anthologies, 2nd century CE) and recorded by Claudius Ptolemy in the Tetrabiblos, Book I."

Source TetrabiblosClaudius Ptolemy
Cancer Fourth Term: Jupiter, Egyptian Terms

This source names Vettius Valens directly: "planetary terms transmitted by Vettius Valens (Anthologies, 2nd century CE) and recorded by Claudius Ptolemy in the Tetrabiblos, Book I."

Source TetrabiblosClaudius Ptolemy
Cancer Second Term: Venus, Egyptian Terms

This source names Vettius Valens directly: "planetary terms transmitted by Vettius Valens (Anthologies, 2nd century CE) and recorded by Claudius Ptolemy in the Tetrabiblos, Book I."

Source TetrabiblosClaudius Ptolemy
Cancer Third Term: Mercury, Egyptian Terms

This source names Vettius Valens directly: "planetary terms transmitted by Vettius Valens (Anthologies, 2nd century CE) and recorded by Claudius Ptolemy in the Tetrabiblos, Book I."

Source TetrabiblosClaudius Ptolemy
Capricorn Fifth Term: Mars, Egyptian Terms

This source names Vettius Valens directly: "planetary terms transmitted by Vettius Valens (Anthologies, 2nd century CE) and recorded by Claudius Ptolemy in the Tetrabiblos, Book I."

Source TetrabiblosClaudius Ptolemy
Capricorn First Term: Mercury, Egyptian Terms

This source names Vettius Valens directly: "planetary terms transmitted by Vettius Valens (Anthologies, 2nd century CE) and recorded by Claudius Ptolemy in the Tetrabiblos, Book I."

Source TetrabiblosClaudius Ptolemy
Capricorn Fourth Term: Saturn, Egyptian Terms

This source names Vettius Valens directly: "planetary terms transmitted by Vettius Valens (Anthologies, 2nd century CE) and recorded by Claudius Ptolemy in the Tetrabiblos, Book I."

Source TetrabiblosClaudius Ptolemy
Capricorn Second Term: Jupiter, Egyptian Terms

This source names Vettius Valens directly: "planetary terms transmitted by Vettius Valens (Anthologies, 2nd century CE) and recorded by Claudius Ptolemy in the Tetrabiblos, Book I."

Source TetrabiblosClaudius Ptolemy
Capricorn Third Term: Venus, Egyptian Terms

This source names Vettius Valens directly: "planetary terms transmitted by Vettius Valens (Anthologies, 2nd century CE) and recorded by Claudius Ptolemy in the Tetrabiblos, Book I."

Source TetrabiblosClaudius Ptolemy
Gemini Fifth Term: Saturn, Egyptian Terms

This source names Vettius Valens directly: "planetary terms transmitted by Vettius Valens (Anthologies, 2nd century CE) and recorded by Claudius Ptolemy in the Tetrabiblos, Book I."

Source TetrabiblosClaudius Ptolemy
Gemini First Term: Mercury, Egyptian Terms

This source names Vettius Valens directly: "planetary terms transmitted by Vettius Valens (Anthologies, 2nd century CE) and recorded by Claudius Ptolemy in the Tetrabiblos, Book I."

Source TetrabiblosClaudius Ptolemy
Gemini Fourth Term: Mars, Egyptian Terms

This source names Vettius Valens directly: "planetary terms transmitted by Vettius Valens (Anthologies, 2nd century CE) and recorded by Claudius Ptolemy in the Tetrabiblos, Book I."

Source TetrabiblosClaudius Ptolemy
Gemini Second Term: Jupiter, Egyptian Terms

This source names Vettius Valens directly: "planetary terms transmitted by Vettius Valens (Anthologies, 2nd century CE) and recorded by Claudius Ptolemy in the Tetrabiblos, Book I."

Source TetrabiblosClaudius Ptolemy
Gemini Third Term: Venus, Egyptian Terms

This source names Vettius Valens directly: "planetary terms transmitted by Vettius Valens (Anthologies, 2nd century CE) and recorded by Claudius Ptolemy in the Tetrabiblos, Book I."

Source TetrabiblosClaudius Ptolemy
Leo Fifth Term: Mars, Egyptian Terms

This source names Vettius Valens directly: "planetary terms transmitted by Vettius Valens (Anthologies, 2nd century CE) and recorded by Claudius Ptolemy in the Tetrabiblos, Book I."

Source TetrabiblosClaudius Ptolemy
Leo First Term: Jupiter, Egyptian Terms

This source names Vettius Valens directly: "planetary terms transmitted by Vettius Valens (Anthologies, 2nd century CE) and recorded by Claudius Ptolemy in the Tetrabiblos, Book I."

Source TetrabiblosClaudius Ptolemy
Leo Fourth Term: Mercury, Egyptian Terms

This source names Vettius Valens directly: "planetary terms transmitted by Vettius Valens (Anthologies, 2nd century CE) and recorded by Claudius Ptolemy in the Tetrabiblos, Book I."

Source TetrabiblosClaudius Ptolemy
Leo Second Term: Venus, Egyptian Terms

This source names Vettius Valens directly: "planetary terms transmitted by Vettius Valens (Anthologies, 2nd century CE) and recorded by Claudius Ptolemy in the Tetrabiblos, Book I."

Source TetrabiblosClaudius Ptolemy
Leo Third Term: Saturn, Egyptian Terms

This source names Vettius Valens directly: "planetary terms transmitted by Vettius Valens (Anthologies, 2nd century CE) and recorded by Claudius Ptolemy in the Tetrabiblos, Book I."

Source TetrabiblosClaudius Ptolemy
Libra Fifth Term: Mars, Egyptian Terms

This source names Vettius Valens directly: "planetary terms transmitted by Vettius Valens (Anthologies, 2nd century CE) and recorded by Claudius Ptolemy in the Tetrabiblos, Book I."

Source TetrabiblosClaudius Ptolemy
Libra First Term: Saturn, Egyptian Terms

This source names Vettius Valens directly: "planetary terms transmitted by Vettius Valens (Anthologies, 2nd century CE) and recorded by Claudius Ptolemy in the Tetrabiblos, Book I."

Source TetrabiblosClaudius Ptolemy
Libra Fourth Term: Venus, Egyptian Terms

This source names Vettius Valens directly: "planetary terms transmitted by Vettius Valens (Anthologies, 2nd century CE) and recorded by Claudius Ptolemy in the Tetrabiblos, Book I."

Source TetrabiblosClaudius Ptolemy
Libra Second Term: Mercury, Egyptian Terms

This source names Vettius Valens directly: "planetary terms transmitted by Vettius Valens (Anthologies, 2nd century CE) and recorded by Claudius Ptolemy in the Tetrabiblos, Book I."

Source TetrabiblosClaudius Ptolemy
Libra Third Term: Jupiter, Egyptian Terms

This source names Vettius Valens directly: "planetary terms transmitted by Vettius Valens (Anthologies, 2nd century CE) and recorded by Claudius Ptolemy in the Tetrabiblos, Book I."

Source TetrabiblosClaudius Ptolemy
Paulus Alexandrinus, Historical Figures

Paulus drew directly on Vettius Valens's second century Anthologiai, two centuries earlier, alongside other Hellenistic authorities, in compiling his own teaching handbook.

Source Introduction to Astrology (Eisagogika)Paulus Alexandrinus
Pisces Fifth Term: Saturn, Egyptian Terms

This source names Vettius Valens directly: "planetary terms transmitted by Vettius Valens (Anthologies, 2nd century CE) and recorded by Claudius Ptolemy in the Tetrabiblos, Book I."

Source TetrabiblosClaudius Ptolemy
Pisces First Term: Venus, Egyptian Terms

This source names Vettius Valens directly: "planetary terms transmitted by Vettius Valens (Anthologies, 2nd century CE) and recorded by Claudius Ptolemy in the Tetrabiblos, Book I."

Source TetrabiblosClaudius Ptolemy
Pisces Fourth Term: Mars, Egyptian Terms

This source names Vettius Valens directly: "planetary terms transmitted by Vettius Valens (Anthologies, 2nd century CE) and recorded by Claudius Ptolemy in the Tetrabiblos, Book I."

Source TetrabiblosClaudius Ptolemy
Pisces Second Term: Jupiter, Egyptian Terms

This source names Vettius Valens directly: "planetary terms transmitted by Vettius Valens (Anthologies, 2nd century CE) and recorded by Claudius Ptolemy in the Tetrabiblos, Book I."

Source TetrabiblosClaudius Ptolemy
Pisces Third Term: Mercury, Egyptian Terms

This source names Vettius Valens directly: "planetary terms transmitted by Vettius Valens (Anthologies, 2nd century CE) and recorded by Claudius Ptolemy in the Tetrabiblos, Book I."

Source TetrabiblosClaudius Ptolemy
Sagittarius Fifth Term: Mars, Egyptian Terms

This source names Vettius Valens directly: "planetary terms transmitted by Vettius Valens (Anthologies, 2nd century CE) and recorded by Claudius Ptolemy in the Tetrabiblos, Book I."

Source TetrabiblosClaudius Ptolemy
Sagittarius First Term: Jupiter, Egyptian Terms

This source names Vettius Valens directly: "planetary terms transmitted by Vettius Valens (Anthologies, 2nd century CE) and recorded by Claudius Ptolemy in the Tetrabiblos, Book I."

Source TetrabiblosClaudius Ptolemy
Sagittarius Fourth Term: Saturn, Egyptian Terms

This source names Vettius Valens directly: "planetary terms transmitted by Vettius Valens (Anthologies, 2nd century CE) and recorded by Claudius Ptolemy in the Tetrabiblos, Book I."

Source TetrabiblosClaudius Ptolemy
Sagittarius Second Term: Venus, Egyptian Terms

This source names Vettius Valens directly: "planetary terms transmitted by Vettius Valens (Anthologies, 2nd century CE) and recorded by Claudius Ptolemy in the Tetrabiblos, Book I."

Source TetrabiblosClaudius Ptolemy
Sagittarius Third Term: Mercury, Egyptian Terms

This source names Vettius Valens directly: "planetary terms transmitted by Vettius Valens (Anthologies, 2nd century CE) and recorded by Claudius Ptolemy in the Tetrabiblos, Book I."

Source TetrabiblosClaudius Ptolemy
Scorpio Fifth Term: Saturn, Egyptian Terms

This source names Vettius Valens directly: "planetary terms transmitted by Vettius Valens (Anthologies, 2nd century CE) and recorded by Claudius Ptolemy in the Tetrabiblos, Book I."

Source TetrabiblosClaudius Ptolemy
Scorpio First Term: Mars, Egyptian Terms

This source names Vettius Valens directly: "planetary terms transmitted by Vettius Valens (Anthologies, 2nd century CE) and recorded by Claudius Ptolemy in the Tetrabiblos, Book I."

Source TetrabiblosClaudius Ptolemy
Scorpio Fourth Term: Jupiter, Egyptian Terms

This source names Vettius Valens directly: "planetary terms transmitted by Vettius Valens (Anthologies, 2nd century CE) and recorded by Claudius Ptolemy in the Tetrabiblos, Book I."

Source TetrabiblosClaudius Ptolemy
Scorpio Second Term: Venus, Egyptian Terms

This source names Vettius Valens directly: "planetary terms transmitted by Vettius Valens (Anthologies, 2nd century CE) and recorded by Claudius Ptolemy in the Tetrabiblos, Book I."

Source TetrabiblosClaudius Ptolemy
Scorpio Third Term: Mercury, Egyptian Terms

This source names Vettius Valens directly: "planetary terms transmitted by Vettius Valens (Anthologies, 2nd century CE) and recorded by Claudius Ptolemy in the Tetrabiblos, Book I."

Source TetrabiblosClaudius Ptolemy
Taurus Fifth Term: Mars, Egyptian Terms

This source names Vettius Valens directly: "planetary terms transmitted by Vettius Valens (Anthologies, 2nd century CE) and recorded by Claudius Ptolemy in the Tetrabiblos, Book I."

Source TetrabiblosClaudius Ptolemy
Taurus First Term: Venus, Egyptian Terms

This source names Vettius Valens directly: "planetary terms transmitted by Vettius Valens (Anthologies, 2nd century CE) and recorded by Claudius Ptolemy in the Tetrabiblos, Book I."

Source TetrabiblosClaudius Ptolemy
Taurus Fourth Term: Saturn, Egyptian Terms

This source names Vettius Valens directly: "planetary terms transmitted by Vettius Valens (Anthologies, 2nd century CE) and recorded by Claudius Ptolemy in the Tetrabiblos, Book I."

Source TetrabiblosClaudius Ptolemy
Taurus Second Term: Mercury, Egyptian Terms

This source names Vettius Valens directly: "planetary terms transmitted by Vettius Valens (Anthologies, 2nd century CE) and recorded by Claudius Ptolemy in the Tetrabiblos, Book I."

Source TetrabiblosClaudius Ptolemy
Taurus Third Term: Jupiter, Egyptian Terms

This source names Vettius Valens directly: "planetary terms transmitted by Vettius Valens (Anthologies, 2nd century CE) and recorded by Claudius Ptolemy in the Tetrabiblos, Book I."

Source TetrabiblosClaudius Ptolemy
Virgo Fifth Term: Saturn, Egyptian Terms

This source names Vettius Valens directly: "planetary terms transmitted by Vettius Valens (Anthologies, 2nd century CE) and recorded by Claudius Ptolemy in the Tetrabiblos, Book I."

Source TetrabiblosClaudius Ptolemy
Virgo First Term: Mercury, Egyptian Terms

This source names Vettius Valens directly: "planetary terms transmitted by Vettius Valens (Anthologies, 2nd century CE) and recorded by Claudius Ptolemy in the Tetrabiblos, Book I."

Source TetrabiblosClaudius Ptolemy
Virgo Fourth Term: Mars, Egyptian Terms

This source names Vettius Valens directly: "planetary terms transmitted by Vettius Valens (Anthologies, 2nd century CE) and recorded by Claudius Ptolemy in the Tetrabiblos, Book I."

Source TetrabiblosClaudius Ptolemy
Virgo Second Term: Venus, Egyptian Terms

This source names Vettius Valens directly: "planetary terms transmitted by Vettius Valens (Anthologies, 2nd century CE) and recorded by Claudius Ptolemy in the Tetrabiblos, Book I."

Source TetrabiblosClaudius Ptolemy
Virgo Third Term: Jupiter, Egyptian Terms

This source names Vettius Valens directly: "planetary terms transmitted by Vettius Valens (Anthologies, 2nd century CE) and recorded by Claudius Ptolemy in the Tetrabiblos, Book I."

Source TetrabiblosClaudius Ptolemy
Western Astrology, Disciplines

His Anthology is the fullest surviving record of Hellenistic astrological practice and underlies much of the Egyptian term and Arabic part material recorded here.

Source Anthology (Anthologiarum Libri Novem)Vettius Valens

Attributed Works

Anthologiae, Esoteric Texts
Sources
1. Anthology (Anthologiarum Libri Novem)
Vettius Valens, B.G. Teubner, 175View the Source
Introduction to Astrology (Eisagogika)
Paulus Alexandrinus, 378
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