Stars Posters

Volunteers Shakeah Callucie and Trevor Layman at the Stars table.

The most detailed sources for Iranian astrology are the records produced by the court scholars from Ancient Iran. However, astrology appears in other contexts as well: religious works, which describe the movements of the stars and the divine, and political declarations, which use the power of the stars as a means to undergird the authority of the shah. The exhibit featured samples of all of these texts, and the volunteers offered to tell horoscopes based on an Iranian rather than Western star chart.

All posters are free to download and use.

1. Ahura Mazda Controls the Celestial Realm.jpg

People in Ancient Iran closely watched the movement of the sun, moon, and stars. Zoroastrian tradition held that Ahura Mazda, the supreme divinity, created the celestial bodies and set them in motion.

Zoroastrian thought ascribed a wide range of attributes to specific stars and planets. Zoroastrians regarded the bright star Tishtrya - known to us today as Sirius - as the supervisor over all other stars.

The arts of Ancient Iran often depict the celestial bodies in human or animal form. This Sasanian silver plate features Mah, the Moon Goddess, conveyed in her chariot pulled by four zebus.

4. King Shapur, Brother of the Sun and the Moon.jpg

Iranian monarchs often drew upon astral imagery to signal their elevation above ordinary humans. In a rare passage, the Sasanian king Shapur II even presents himself as the brother of the sun and the moon.

5. A Parthian King Seek Guidance from his Court Astrologers.jpg

Court astrologers used their readings of the stars to guide decision-making in times of uncertainty. In this Sasanian-era story, the last of the Parthian kings consults the stars and is confronted with the imminent end of his reign.

Mithra was the god of the sun in Indo-Iranian tradition. His popularity extended beyond Iran to gain a foothold in the Roman Empire. Here, a Greek ritual text praises Mithra's power and seeks his divine aid.

Sasanian imperial art routinely deployed astral imagery as part of the king's self-presentation. Byzantine accounts of the court of Khusro II attest to elaborate mechanisms, now lost, that framed the king as a celestial ruler.

Iranian astrology sometimes incorporated Greco-Roman imagery and mythology. This Sasanian-era silver plate seems to combine Zoroastrian and Greco-Roman elements in its interpretation of the Gemini constellation.

Zoroastrian doctrine regarded the sun as a purifying force. The corpses of believers - deemed ritually unclean - were exposed to the sun's cleansing power for a year before remains were interred.