|
Great, Mac! That was what I was hoping for all the time! Some real evidence! So it looks like astrology indeed existed in M-E!
Not sure whether we should put Saruman's observing of stars as astrology. We know he did, as I quoted even in my first post, Orthanc was a place where all Men "watched the stars" and Saruman continued in this tradition. I see your points, but I think the fact whether Saruman performed astrology or astronomy depends largely on whether it really worked in M-E or not. The question is, if astrology did not work, why would Saruman, originally a Maia, bother with it? On the other hand, even the Ainur, the more the incarnated ones, did not know everything, and when one could reveal a way how to make super Rings of Power out of some silly metal, why could not someone reveal a way (or be persuaded by a liar that there is a way) to learn something from the stars?
__________________
"Should the story say 'he ate bread,' the dramatic producer can only show 'a piece of bread' according to his taste or fancy, but the hearer of the story will think of bread in general and picture it in some form of his own." -On Fairy-Stories
|