Just as many people today believe in how the movement and the positions of the stars and planets can influence our behaviour, our moods and determine our fate so did the people from ancient times. Astrology dates back many thousands of years even predating written records. Astronomy too also dates back to ancient times. Examples of this can clearly be seen in creation myths that tell us about the creation of the planets and the role they had in creating the human race.
The ancients named the planets often giving them the names of their relevant deities. We can also read that the substance used to create the planets was also the substance used to create the human race. It is undeniable that the ancients view was that the human race was in one way or another linked to the planets, stars and the universe. This link was so strong to these people that these early astronomers had no doubt that what they viewed when they looked up to the heavens had a direct influence on their everyday life.
To show this link I have chosen three examples. The first example is from the Sumerian/ Mesopotamian era and shows the names of the relevant deities associated with the planets and names the seven who decreed fate who the Sumerians/ Mesopotamians believed determined their fate. The second example is from the Mandaean belief which dates back at least two thousand years and is an outline of the baptism when a new born receives his/ her secret name. The third example is taken from the dead sea scrolls found at Qumran and has a likely date of around the end of the first century BCE. This example shows fragmented text that deals with what a person will become given the time of his birth along with a particular celestial alignments.
