Classical planet
In classical antiquity, the seven classical planets or seven sacred luminaires were the seven moving astronomical objects in the sky visible to the naked eye: the Moon, Mercury, Venus, the Sun, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn. The word planet comes from two related Greek words, πλάνης planēs and πλανήτης planētēs, both with the original meaning of "wanderer", expressing the fact that these objects move across the celestial sphere relative to the fixed stars. Greek astronomers such as Geminus and Ptolemy often divided the seven planets into the Sun, the Moon, and the five planets.
The term planet in modern terminology is only applied to natural satellites directly orbiting the Sun, so that of the seven classical planets, five are planets in the modern sense.
Babylonian astronomy
The Babylonians recognized seven planets. A bilingual list in the British Museum records the seven Babylonian planets in this order:Sumerian language | Akkadian language | Celestial object | Presiding deity |
Aku | Sin | Moon | Sin/Suen |
Bišebi | Šamaš | Sun | Šamaš |
Dapinu | Umun-sig-êa | Jupiter | Marduk/Amarutu |
Zib/Zig | Dele-bat | Venus | Ištar |
Lu-lim | Lu-bat-sag-uš | Saturn | Ninib/Nirig/Ninip |
Bibbu | Lubat-gud | Mercury | Nabu/Nebo |
Simutu | Muštabarru | Mars | Nergal |
Symbols
The astrological symbols for the classical planets appear in the medieval Byzantine codices in which many ancient horoscopes were preserved. In the original papyri of these Greek horoscopes, there are found a circle with one ray for the Sun and a crescent for the Moon.The written symbols for Mercury, Venus, Jupiter, and Saturn have been traced to forms found in late Greek papyri. The symbols for Jupiter and Saturn are identified as monograms of the initial letters of the corresponding Greek names, and the symbol for Mercury is a stylized caduceus.
A. S. D. Maunder finds antecedents of the planetary symbols in earlier sources, used to represent the gods associated with the classical planets. Bianchini's planisphere, produced in the 2nd century, shows Greek personifications of planetary gods charged with early versions of the planetary symbols: Mercury has a caduceus; Venus has, attached to her necklace, a cord connected to another necklace; Mars, a spear; Jupiter, a staff; Saturn, a scythe; the Sun, a circlet with rays radiating from it; and the Moon, a headdress with a crescent attached.
A diagram in Johannes Kamateros' 12th century Compendium of Astrology shows the Sun represented by the circle with a ray, Jupiter by the letter zeta, Mars by a shield crossed by a spear, and the remaining classical planets by symbols resembling the modern ones, without the cross-mark seen in modern versions of the symbols. The modern Sun symbol, pictured as a circle with a dot, first appeared in the Renaissance.
Planetary hours
The Ptolemaic system used in Greek astronomy placed the planets in order, closest to Earth to furthest, as the Moon, Mercury, Venus, Sun, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn. In addition the day was divided into 7 hour intervals, each ruled by one of the planets, although the order was staggered.The first hour of each day was named after the ruling planet, giving rise to the names and order of the Roman seven-day week. Modern Latin-based cultures, in general, directly inherited the days of the week from the Romans and they were named after the classical planets; for example, in Spanish Miércoles is Mercury, and in French Mardi is Mars-day.
The modern English days of the week were inherited from gods of the old Germanic Norse culture — Wednesday is Wōden’s-day, Thursday is Thor’s-day, Friday is Frige-day. It can be correlated that the Norse gods were attributed to each Roman planet and its god, probably due to Roman influence rather than coincidentally by the naming of the planets.
Alchemy
In alchemy, each classical planet was associated with one of the seven metals known to the classical world. As a result, the alchemical glyphs for the metal and associated planet coincide. Alchemists believed the other elemental metals were variants of these seven.Alchemy in the Western World and other locations where it was widely practiced was allied and intertwined with traditional Babylonian-Greek style astrology; in numerous ways they were built to complement each other in the search for hidden knowledge. Astrology has used the concept of classical elements from antiquity up until the present day today. Most modern astrologers use the four classical elements extensively, and indeed they are still viewed as a critical part of interpreting the astrological chart.
’s The Last Will and Testament, 1670 ce.
Traditionally, each of the seven "planets" in the solar system as known to the ancients was associated with, held dominion over, and "ruled" a certain metal.
The list of rulership is as follows:
- The Sun rules Gold
- The Moon, Silver
- Mercury, Quicksilver/Mercury
- Venus, Copper
- Mars, Iron
- Jupiter, Tin
- Saturn, Lead
Planet | Organ |
Sun | Heart |
Moon | Brain |
Mercury | Lungs |
Venus | Kidneys |
Mars | Gall bladder |
Jupiter | Liver |
Saturn | Spleen |
Contemporary astrology
Western astrology
Planet | Domicile sign | Detriment sign | Exaltation sign | Fall sign | Joy sign |
Sun | Leo | Aquarius | Aries | Libra | Sagittarius |
Moon | Cancer | Capricorn | Taurus | Scorpio | Pisces, Libra |
Mercury | Gemini and Virgo | Sagittarius and Pisces | Virgo | Pisces | Aries, Scorpio, Capricorn and Aquarius |
Venus | Libra and Taurus | Aries and Scorpio | Pisces | Virgo | Gemini, Cancer and Aquarius |
Mars | Aries and Scorpio | Libra and Taurus | Capricorn | Cancer | Gemini, Leo, Virgo and Sagittarius |
Jupiter | Sagittarius and Pisces | Gemini and Virgo | Cancer | Capricorn | Taurus, Leo and Libra |
Saturn | Aquarius and Capricorn | Leo and Cancer | Libra | Aries | Gemini, Virgo and Scorpio |
Indian astrology
Indian astronomy and astrology recognises seven visible planets and two additional invisible planets.Sanskrit Name | Tamil name | English Name | Guna | Represents | Day |
Surya | ஞாயிறு | Sun | Sattva | Soul, king, highly placed persons, father, ego | Sunday |
Chandra | திங்கள்,மதி, நிலவு | Moon | Sattva | Emotional Mind, queen, mother. | Monday |
Mangala | செவ்வாய், செம்மீன் | Mars | Tamas | energy, action, confidence | Tuesday |
Budha | புதன் | Mercury | Rajas | Communication and analysis, mind | Wednesday |
Brihaspati | வியாழன், பொன்மீன் | Jupiter | Sattva | the great teacher, wealth, Expansion, progeny | Thursday |
Shukra | வெள்ளி, வெண்மீன் | Venus | Rajas | Feminine, pleasure and reproduction, Luxury, Love, Spouse | Friday |
Shani | சனி, மைம்மீன் | Saturn | Tamas | learning the hard way. Career and Longevity, Contraction | Saturday |
Rahu | கரும்பாம்பு | Ascending/North Lunar Node | Tamas | an Asura who does his best to plunge any area of one's life he controls into chaos, works on the subconscious level | none |
Ketu | செம்பாம்பு | Descending/South Lunar Node | Tamas | supernatural influences, works on the subconscious level | none |
Chinese astronomy
The cycles of the Chinese calendar are linked to the orbit of Jupiter, there being 12 sacred beasts in the Chinese dodecannualar geomantic and astrological cycle, and 12 years in the orbit of Jupiter.English Name | Associated element | Chinese/Japanese/Korean Hanja Characters | Chinese pinyin | Japanese hiragana/romaji | Korean Hangul | Vietnamese | Old astronomical names |
Mercury | water | 水星 | Shuǐxīng | すいせい/Suisei | 수성 | Sao Thủy | Chénxīng |
Venus | metal/gold | 金星 | Jīnxīng | きんせい/Kinsei | 금성 | Sao Kim, also "Sao Mai" as "morning star" and "Sao Hôm" as "evening star" | Tàibái |
Mars | fire | 火星 | Huǒxīng | かせい/Kasei | 화성 | Sao Hỏa | Yínghuò |
Jupiter | wood | 木星 | Mùxīng | もくせい/Mokusei | 목성 | Sao Mộc | Suì |
Saturn | earth | 土星 | Tǔxīng | どせい/Dosei | 토성 | Sao Thổ | Zhènxīng |