Draft:Dustoria

Dustoria (Persian forms include دستوریت, dastūriyat, and دستوری, dastūrī) is a technical term in traditional judicial astrology for a favorable and strengthening planetary condition, determined primarily by the relationship of a planet to the Sun or Moon, and, in some definitions, by its position in the houses of a horoscope and its conformity with its hayz. The precise definition of dustoria is not uniform in the works of medieval Islamic astrologers. In the simplest definition, given by Muhammad ibn Ahmad al-Khwarizmi in the Mafatih al-'Ulum, dustoria occurs when a planet is "separate from the Sun".

Al-Biruni, however, preserves a more detailed Persian explanation of the term in his Book of Instruction in the Elements of the Art of Astrology (Kitāb al-tafhīm). He associates Persian dastūriyat with the completion of a planet's oriental emergence from the Sun, when the planet was considered to have regained full strength and to be capable of bestowing its benefits. In R. Ramsay Wright's English translation, al-Biruni says that the Persians called this condition the planet's "vazirate" and extended the designation to its position on the right-hand side of the Sun. The Persian text further explains the name through dastūr in the sense of a vizier or minister possessing authority to act.

In more elaborate definitions, dustoria is associated with a planet's being eastern or western in relation to one of the two luminaries, with the planet being in its own hayz, and with its placement in an angle. In the tradition associated with Al-Qabisi, a diurnal planet in the appropriate condition should be eastern of the Sun, while a nocturnal planet should be western of the Moon. Some versions of the definition also require the planet and its corresponding luminary to occupy angular positions and to bear an appropriate relationship to one another.

Definition in medieval Islamic sources

Muhammad ibn Ahmad al-Khwarizmi, in the section on astrological terminology in his Mafatih al-'Ulum, defines dustoria after discussing terms such as hayz, superiority, besiegement, easternness, and westernness:

«الدستورية: أن يكون الكوكب مبايناً للشمس.»

That is, "Dustoria is when the planet is separate from the Sun."

This brief definition is also preserved in modern Persian lexicography. The Dehkhoda Dictionary, citing the Mafatih al-'Ulum, defines dastūriyya as "the state of a planet being separate from the Sun (in judicial astrology)."

A separate entry in the Dehkhoda Dictionary for دستوریت (dastūriyat), quoting the Persian text of al-Biruni's al-Tafhim, provides a fuller explanation. Al-Biruni states that the completion of oriental emergence is a condition of full strength in which the planet can bestow its benefits, that the Persians called this condition dastūriyat, and that dastūr meant a vizier capable of exercising authority. He further states that the designation was applied to the planet's being "on the right of the Sun".

This passage clarifies several aspects of the term. First, al-Biruni associates dastūriyat with a stage of oriental emergence at which a planet was regarded as having recovered its full astrological strength after proximity to the Sun. Secondly, he explicitly explains the name through dastūr in the sense of a vizier or minister possessing authority: the metaphor therefore concerns the planet's capacity to exercise its power, rather than merely the later Persian sense of dastūrī as "permitted" or "authorized".

The final part of al-Biruni's explanation also makes the term spatial. Wright translates the passage as extending the designation to the entire position "right of the sun". According to this account, the favorable action begins to diminish at about 30 degrees from the Sun and the condition changes at 60 degrees. Thus, in this Iranian usage, separation from the Sun was connected with a broader sequence of planetary emergence, position, and recovery of strength.

The short statement of al-Khwarizmi and the fuller explanation of al-Biruni should not necessarily be treated as identical definitions, however, since other Islamic astrological sources preserve still more specialized uses of the term.

In al-Madkhal ilā ṣināʿat aḥkām al-nujūm ("Introduction to the Craft of the Judgments of the Stars") by Al-Qabisi, an important 10th-century introductory work on astrology, dustoria is considered in relation to the position of a planet with respect to the luminary appropriate to its diurnal or nocturnal sect. In one form of this tradition, diurnal planets are eastern of the Sun and nocturnal planets western of the Moon. In parts of the Latin transmission, being eastern of the Sun and situated in a strong position was counted among the conditions of dustoria for the superior planets, while for some other planets a western relationship to the Moon was required.

Some medieval commentaries even mention a separation of approximately 60 degrees between a planet and the Sun as one form or boundary of dustoria. This definition is not found in all sources and illustrates the diversity of medieval interpretations of the term. Al-Biruni's account independently assigns particular importance to the range extending to 60 degrees from the Sun, although his description belongs to a somewhat different explanatory framework.

Benjamin N. Dykes states that three kinds of dustoria were traditionally recognized, but that these were sometimes mixed together or simplified in medieval texts. This may help explain some of the differences between the definitions found in various sources.

Another medieval definition is preserved in Kushyar ibn Labban's Introduction to Astrology. In Michio Yano's edition and translation, dastūrīya is defined through a planet's position in one of its domiciles and a corresponding geometrical relationship with one of the luminaries; the text also records another form of dastūrīya involving domicile or exaltation and angularity. Yano identifies dastūrīya as a Persian word and notes Wright's explanation of it as a "position of authority".

Dustoria and hayz

In a number of later Islamic and Latin sources, dustoria is closely associated with the concept of hayz. Hayz refers to a planet's conformity with its diurnal or nocturnal nature, its position relative to the horizon, and, in some definitions, the gender of the sign it occupies. In this tradition, dustoria was regarded as a stronger and more complex condition than merely being in hayz.

According to one definition attributed to al-Qabisi, a planet is in dustoria when:

• it is in hayz, or in a condition analogous to hayz;
• it occupies one of the angular houses;
• in a diurnal chart, it has an appropriate eastern relationship to the Sun;
• in a nocturnal chart, it has an appropriate western relationship to the Moon;
• an appropriate relationship exists between the planet and the luminary corresponding to its sect.

Some modern reconstructions of traditional astrology interpret this relationship as a square between the planet and the luminary of the time: in a diurnal horoscope, the planet is placed in the tenth sign from the Sun, and in a nocturnal horoscope in the fourth sign from the Moon. This formulation is largely the result of comparing and reconstructing medieval texts and should not be treated as the sole historical definition of dustoria.

Al-Biruni's account of dastūriyat demonstrates that at least one Iranian form of the tradition placed particular emphasis on a planet's relationship to the Sun and on the strength it acquired during its oriental emergence. The later composite definition based on hayz, angularity, and a relationship with the relevant luminary therefore should not be projected onto every historical use of the term.

Use in natal astrology

Dustoria was particularly important in natal astrology in judgments concerning the rank, fame, and power of the native. In medieval texts, strong planets placed in dustoria, particularly when also angular or otherwise fortified, could indicate high status, rulership, or renown.

In Latin commentaries on works attributed to Ptolemy, dustoria appears in discussions of the "rank of the native" alongside eastern planets and angular positions and is treated as a favorable condition that strengthens a planet's significations.

In one medieval tradition transmitted into Spanish, dustoria was likewise explained as a condition in which diurnal planets are eastern of the Sun and nocturnal planets western of the Moon. This usage indicates that dustoria was not simply a matter of "distance from the Sun", but in some schools formed part of a broader system for assessing planetary strength and status.

Etymology

Dustoria is a term of Iranian and more specifically Persian origin that entered the scientific vocabulary of Arabic in the form al-dastūriyya or al-dustūriyya (الدستورية). Medieval and modern sources also record Persian forms such as دستوریت (dastūriyat) and دستوری (dastūrī). Historians of astronomy have associated the Arabicized form with Persian dastur.

Al-Biruni provides direct evidence for how the term was understood in Persian astrological terminology. In the Persian passage preserved by Dehkhoda, after saying that the Persians called the condition dastūriyat, he explains that a dastūr was a vizier who had the authority to act. Wright accordingly translated the astrological expression as the planet's "vazirate" and glossed dastūriyya as a "position of authority". On this interpretation, a planet in dastūriyat was metaphorically like an empowered minister: it had recovered sufficient strength to exercise its effects.

This explanation is compatible with the semantic field that some modern historians of astrology have associated with dustoria, including notions of rank, authority, skill, command, and a position of prestige. It also makes al-Biruni's explicit derivation from the ministerial sense of dastūr particularly important when considering the historical meaning of the astrological term.

The occurrence of the Arabic form in al-Khwarizmi's Mafatih al-'Ulum shows that the word was already in use in the technical vocabulary of Arabic astrology by the 10th century. Studies of Iranian astrological vocabulary in the Islamic period have likewise classified dastūriyya among technical terms of Persian or Iranian origin adopted into Arabic scientific usage.

The word was subsequently transmitted to Europe through Latin translations of Arabic astrological works. Medieval Latin forms included dustoria, dostoria, adusturia, and occasionally ductoria or duxtoria.

The 12th-century Latin translation of al-Qabisi's work was one of the principal channels through which the term entered Western European astrology. Al-Qabisi's al-Madkhal ilā ṣināʿat aḥkām al-nujūm survives in at least 25 Arabic manuscripts, while its Latin translation is known from more than 200 manuscripts.

Relationship to doryphory

Some historians of astrology have associated dustoria with the Greek concept of doryphory, literally "spear-bearing" or the attendance of bodyguards. In Hellenistic astrology, doryphory referred to a configuration in which one or more planets, by occupying particular positions relative to the Sun or Moon, acted figuratively as "spear-bearers" or bodyguards of the luminary. Such configurations were especially important in judgments concerning the native's rank, power, and fame.

Benjamin N. Dykes relates dustūriyya to an Iranian or Pahlavi astrological term associated with the Greek concept of doryphory. He glosses doryphory as "spear-bearing" or "bodyguarding" and states that three kinds of dustoria were traditionally recognized, although these were sometimes mixed together or simplified in medieval texts.

In this interpretation, the semantic field of dustoria is connected with rank, authority, skill, command, and prestigious position, while the underlying image is comparable to bodyguards or attendants standing beside or in front of the person whom they protect. Just as planets in the Hellenistic tradition could act symbolically as spear-bearers attending a luminary, some medieval forms of dustoria became associated with protection, strength, and prominence.

Dustoria in Islamic astrological texts, however, cannot in every case be treated as an exact equivalent of doryphory. Medieval astrologers differed substantially in their definitions of the conditions required for dustoria. In the tradition associated with Al-Qabisi, for example, dustoria is connected with a planet being in its own hayz, occupying an angle, and having an appropriate relationship to the luminary governing the diurnal or nocturnal sect of the horoscope. Kushyar ibn Labban preserves still another technical formulation based on domicile and geometrical relationships with the luminaries.

Al-Biruni's testimony provides a further reason for caution in treating the two concepts as completely identical. In the al-Tafhim, Persian dastūriyat is explained directly in terms of a planet's oriental emergence, restored strength, its position relative to the Sun, and the metaphor of the dastūr as an empowered vizier. His report therefore documents a specifically Iranian explanation and usage of the term within the Islamic astrological tradition.

Doryphory may accordingly be regarded as an important historical and conceptual background to some forms of dustoria, but the two terms should not be assumed to have been exact equivalents in every medieval source.

Differences in definition

One of the principal difficulties in studying dustoria is the substantial variation in its definition among historical sources. At least four broad forms or levels of definition can be distinguished:

Al-Khwarizmi's simple definition: the planet is separate or distant from the Sun.

Al-Biruni's Iranian explanation: dastūriyat is associated with the completion of a planet's oriental emergence and the recovery of sufficient strength to bestow its full benefits. The designation is also applied to the planet's position on the right-hand side of the Sun and is explained through dastūr in the sense of an empowered vizier.

Sect-based definition: diurnal planets are eastern of the Sun and nocturnal planets western of the Moon.

Composite definition: in addition to its position relative to the Sun or Moon, the planet is in hayz and occupies an angular house, while an appropriate geometrical relationship exists between it and the corresponding luminary.

Other variations include the approximately 60-degree limit found in some medieval discussions, the domicile-based definition preserved by Kushyar ibn Labban, and later reconstructions in which a planet occupies the tenth sign from the Sun by day or the fourth sign from the Moon by night.

These differences probably reflect the transmission, expansion, and reinterpretation of an older complex of concepts in different schools of medieval astrology. Al-Biruni's evidence in particular suggests that the very brief formula "separate from the Sun" may stand against a broader conceptual background involving oriental emergence, distance from the Sun, and the recovery of planetary strength. The meaning of dustoria in a historical text should therefore be determined according to the definition employed by the relevant author and tradition rather than by assuming a single fixed definition.

See also

• Sect (astrology)
• Heliacal rising
• Cazimi
• Angular house
• Natal astrology
• Al-Qabisi

References

• al-Khwarizmi, Muhammad ibn Ahmad. Mafatih al-'Ulum (in Arabic).
• Burnett, Charles; Yamamoto, Keiji; Yano, Michio (2004). Al-Qabīṣī (Alcabitius): The Introduction to Astrology. The Warburg Institute. ISBN 0-85481-132-X.
• Oliver, Dolores. "Los arabismos del Libro Conplido y otras obras alfonsíes". Anuario de Lingüística (in Spanish).

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Categories:

• Technical factors of astrology
• Persian astrology
• History of astrology