Franz Boll (1 July 1867 – 3 July 1924) was a German scholar and contemporary of Cumont. He became Professor of Classical Philology at the

University of Heidelberg Heidelberg University, officially the Ruprecht Karl University of Heidelberg (; ), is a public university, public research university in Heidelberg, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. Founded in 1386 on instruction of Pope Urban VI, Heidelberg is List ...

. He is known for his editorial and biographical work on

Claudius Ptolemy Claudius Ptolemy (; , ; ; – 160s/170s AD) was a Greco-Roman mathematician, astronomer, astrologer, geographer, and music theorist who wrote about a dozen scientific treatises, three of which were important to later Byzantine, Islamic, and ...

. He also wrote on astrology. He is quoted as saying "Astrology wants to be religion and science at the same time; that marks its essence", and "Mankind measures time using the stars. Lay people, whose knowledge is based on belief, rather than science, say: "The course of the stars determines Time," and from this, religious people drifts the saying that "Heaven guides everything on Earth." Another quote of his is "Kronos and Helios were originally one and the same" Boll is also known for his claim that the

Book of Revelation The Book of Revelation, also known as the Book of the Apocalypse or the Apocalypse of John, is the final book of the New Testament, and therefore the final book of the Bible#Christian Bible, Christian Bible. Written in Greek language, Greek, ...

includes an allegorical depiction of the changes of

astrological age An astrological age is a time period which, according to astrology, parallels major changes in the development of human society, culture, history, and politics. There are twelve astrological ages corresponding to the twelve zodiacal signs in wes ...

s from the Age of Pisces to the

Age of Aquarius The Age of Aquarius, in astrology, is either the current or forthcoming astrological age, depending on the method of calculation. Astrologers maintain that an astrological age is a product of the Earth's slow precessional rotation and lasts f ...

where instead of the end of the world, the

Apocalypse Apocalypse () is a literary genre originating in Judaism in the centuries following the Babylonian exile (597–587 BCE) but persisting in Christianity and Islam. In apocalypse, a supernatural being reveals cosmic mysteries or the future to a ...

is really the end of an aeon. He also wrote many astrological articles and with Gundel and Bezold produced one of the best introduction to the history of astrology.

Works

* ''Studien über Claudius Ptolemaeus: Ein Beitrag zur Geschichte der griechischen Philosophie und Astrologie'', in: ''Neue Jahrbücher für Philologie und Pädagogik'', Supplementband 21,2 (1894), pp. 49–244. * ''Sphaera: Neue griechische Texte und Untersuchungen zur Geschichte der Sternbilder'' (Leipzig: Teubner, 1903) – reprinted in 1967 by Georg Olms, Hildesheim.
''Erinnerungen an Ludwig Traube''
That is

Ludwig Traube (palaeographer) Ludwig Traube (June 19, 1861 – May 19, 1907) was a German paleographer and held the first chair of Medieval Latin in Germany while at the University of Munich. He was a son of the physician Ludwig Traube (1818–1876), and the brother of the ch ...

1907 * ''Catalogus codicum astrologorum Graecorum: Band 7, Codices Germanicos descripsit Franciscus Boll'' (Brussels: Lamertin, 1908). * ith August Kopff and Carl Bezold">August_Kopff.html" ;"title="ith August Kopff">ith August Kopff and Carl Bezold] ''Zenit- und Aequartorialgestirne am babylonischen Fixsternhimmel'' (1913). * ''Aus der Offenbarung Johannis: Hellenistische Studien zum Weltbild der Apokalypse'' (Leipzig: Teubner, 1914) – reprinted in 1967 by Hakkert, Amsterdam. * ''Antike Beobachtungen farbiger Sterne'', (Munich: Akademie der Wissenschaften, 1916). * ith Carl Bezold">Carl_Bezold.html" ;"title="ith Carl Bezold">ith Carl Bezold''Sternglaube und Sterndeutung: Die Geschichte und das Wesen der Astrologie'' (Leipzig: Teubner, 1917) – 7th ed. published in 1977 by Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft, Darmstadt (also translated into Hungarian and into Italian). * ''Kleine Schriften zur Sternkunde des Altertums'' (Leipzig: Koehler & Amelang, 1950) – edited by Viktor Stegemann.

Notes

External links

Historians of Astrology - by Lester Ness (Changchun University of Technology)
at cura.free.fr

at members.optusnet.com.au

at members.optusnet.com.au 1867 births 1924 deaths German classical philologists Historians of astronomy Academic staff of Heidelberg University Members of the Göttingen Academy of Sciences and Humanities {{Germany-linguist-stub