Skip to content
Astral Atlas
Wiki concept · Timing & comparison

Chronocrator

Also called Time lord

In Valens's Anthology, a star that rules a period of time. In the decennials Valens names a chronocrator for the years, one for the months and one for the days, each receiving from the lord of the level above; the owner of the 129-day cycle is the chronocrator of the days.

In this entry

Word origin · etymology

Greek chronokrator, from chronos, time, and kratos, rule; the English chronocrator is a borrowing used in translations of the Hellenistic astrologers.

The Skyscript glossary entry, read here only through a search summary, gives the Greek chronokrator as meaning a time ruler, from chronos, time, and kratos, rule. Mark Riley's translation of Valens uses the English word, as in the chronocrator of the days.

Skyscript, Glossary of astrological terms: chronocrator (read here only through a search summary) ↗Vettius Valens, Anthologies, translated by Mark Riley: Book III chapter 1 (the control and the apheta), Book VI chapters 5K;6P to 7 (the decennials) and the Book IX fifth-century addition ↗

How we know · epistemology

Ancient technical term used across several techniques

Valens uses the word throughout the Anthology for periods of rule in different techniques. In his decennials example he names the three chronocrators and calls the owner of the cycle the chronocrator of the days. That a ruling star shapes the period it rules is the tradition's own premise; Valens gives cases from nativities, not a test that could be repeated.

Vettius Valens, Anthologies, translated by Mark Riley: Book III chapter 1 (the control and the apheta), Book VI chapters 5K;6P to 7 (the decennials) and the Book IX fifth-century addition ↗

Connected concepts

Read alongside this entry

Sources & provenance

Use the citations beside each section to distinguish a calculation convention, a historical teaching and an editorial example.

Find these sources across the wiki →

  1. Vettius Valens, Anthologies, translated by Mark Riley: Book III chapter 1 (the control and the apheta), Book VI chapters 5K;6P to 7 (the decennials) and the Book IX fifth-century addition ↗
  2. Skyscript, Glossary of astrological terms: chronocrator (read here only through a search summary) ↗