Reference About Agriculture in the Manuals on Stars, Such as in the Vrontologia, Sismologia, Nomocanons of the 17th–18th Centuries — Abusive Derogations of the Rural World

Stelios A. Mouzakis

(Researcher of Modern Greek Culture, Greece)

Abstract: In this study we will briefly refer to what has to do with behaviors in general, of the rural world between the 17th and 18th centuries, as they appear through the records in the Selenodromia (astrological books that wrote things about the future of humans, since the course of the moon, for those who believe in the zodiac signs, affects the future), in Vrontologia (special book based on which the interested parties watched from which point of the horizon thunders were heard, how loud they were, etc. and they interpreted them by months, days and zodiac signs), in Sismologia (manuals on divination by earthquakes), the exploitation of the characteristics of popular meteorology as well as the corresponding Customary Law as mentioned and attributed to the Nomocanons (compilation of secular laws and ecclesiastical regulations) and in particular as regards its abusive derogations in their management. Through these texts it is possible to watch, on the one hand, the linguistic continuity in terms of the formation of the same text, but mainly the corresponding ruptures in rural societies as they appear over the years. 

Key words: Vrontologia, Sismologia, Selenodromia, Nomocanons, customary law, agriculture, popular meteorology, 17th and 18th centuries