Clarifications and Corrections

In this presentation, I talk a bit about the history of astrology and its earliest origins, and not everything that I say is strictly accurate. Keep in mind that there is quite a lot of speculation about the origins of astrology because there is so little surviving written evidence of any of it. But I've done some additional research, and I can clarify a few things.

First, the earliest known evidence of astrological observations comes from a clay tablet — which is actually an astrolabe — that originated from the Sumer civilization in Mesopotamia in the year 3123 B.C. In fact, it originated sometime before June 29, 3123 B.C. (Julian calendar) because the tablet observes the trajectory of an asteroid that would hit the Köfels area of Austria on that date. 

The earliest known astrological predictions come from the Babylonian civilization around 1800 B.C. The most extensive surviving examples are the Enuma Anu Elil, a collection of 70 clay tablets written in cuneiform that include 7,000 celestial omens relating to the king and the state. 

The origins of the system of astrology that we know today are unclear, but this system emerged in the 2nd Century BC in Alexandria. It seems to be a combination of the Chaldean astrology (Babylon, circa 600 BC) and the prevailing Greek natual philosphy (which is where the elements came into play). 

Technically, there is no direct line between the Sumerian interpretations and the Hellenistic interpretations, so my claim that the interpretations in astrology are based on more than 3500 years of statistical obsevation is, at best, misleading. But even if we only go back to Hellenistic astrology, we're still looking at about 2,000 years of what has to be viewed as statistical analysis. If the interpretations and techniques did not produce accurate forecasts, they would not have survived.