of the various parts of the universe."[339] The oldest deities are those which bore no individual names.  They were simply “Fates” or groups called “Sevenfold”.  The crude giant gods of Scotland are “Fomhairean” (Fomorians), and do not have individual names as in Ireland.  Families and tribes were controlled by the Fates or nameless gods, which might appear as beasts or birds, or be heard knocking or screaming.

In the Babylonian astral hymns, the star spirits are associated with the gods, and are revealers of the decrees of Fate.  “Ye brilliant stars... ye bright ones... to destroy evil did Anu create you....  At thy command mankind was named (created)!  Give thou the Word, and with thee let the great gods stand!  Give thou my judgment, make my decision!"[340]

The Indian evidence shows that the constellations, and especially the bright stars, were identified before the planets.  Indeed, in Vedic literature there is no certain reference to a single planet, although constellations are named.  It seems highly probable that before the Babylonian gods were associated with the astral bodies, the belief obtained that the stars exercised an influence over human lives.  In one of the Indian “Forest Books”, for instance, reference is made to a man who was “born under the Nakshatra Rohini “.[341] “Nakshatras” are stars in the Rigveda and later, and “lunar mansions” in Brahmanical compositions.[342] “Rohini, ‘ruddy’, is the name of a conspicuously reddish star, [Greek:  alpha] Tauri or Aldebaran, and denotes the group of the Hyades."[343] This reference may be dated before 600 B.C., perhaps 800 B.C.

From Greece comes the evidence of Plutarch regarding the principles of Babylonian astrology.  “Respecting the planets, which they call the birth-ruling divinities, the Chaldeans”, he wrote, “lay down that two (Venus and Jupiter) are propitious, and two (Mars and Saturn) malign, and three (Sun, Moon, and Mercury) of a middle nature, and one common.”  “That is,” Mr. Brown comments, “an astrologer would say, these three are propitious with the good, and may be malign with the bad."[344]

Jastrow’s views in this connection seem highly controversial.  He holds that Babylonian astrology dealt simply with national affairs, and had no concern with “the conditions under which the individual was born”; it did not predict “the fate in store for him”.  He believes that the Greeks transformed Babylonian astrology and infused it with the spirit of individualism which is a characteristic of their religion, and that they were the first to give astrology a personal significance.