David W Pankenier
Biographic Data
| ID | 698787 |
|---|---|
| NAME | David W Pankenier |
| GIVEN NAMES | David W |
| FAMILY NAME | Pankenier |
| SIGNATURE | PANKENIER D W |
| AFFILIATIONS | Lehigh University |
| ORCID | 0000-0001-6209-5365 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 22 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 5 |
| WORKS AS AUTHOR | 22 |
| WORKS AS EDITOR | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1981 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2025 |
| H-INDEX | 1 |
The Astronomical Origin of China’s “Weaving Maid and Oxherd” Fable
One of the most celebrated festivals in traditional China was called ‘Seventh Night’, observed on the seventh day of the seventh lunar month (8 August 2024). The celebration was especially popular among young girls whose responsibility it was to weave cloth for the family. On that date, girls would implore the Weaving Maid, the celestial princess who weaves the varicolored tapestries of the dawn and twilight skies, to grant them exceptional skill…
Maître de Huainan
The climate downturns in China caused by volcanic eruptions in 535–40 CE and by Thera (Santorini) at the founding of the Shang dynasty (1562 BCE)
It is well known that ancient Chinese written records are an invaluable source of historical information on astronomy, technology, economy, and climate, dating back in some cases to the second millennium BCE. Numerous studies have established that the climatic consequences of the ejection of volcanic aerosols into the atmosphere can have a major impact on the climate worldwide. Here, the Chinese evidence of such a severe climatic anomaly during t…
Italic>Chinese Astrology and Astronomy
Giulio Magli, Heavens and Earth in Ancient China
Giulio Magli, Heavens and Earth in Ancient China: Sacred Landscapes of Imperial China Cham, Switzerland: Springer Nature, 2020. Hardback, i–vii, 179 pp., illus. ISBN 978-3-030-49323-3. £27.99
Parallel Planetary Astrologies in Medieval China and Inner Asia
Portentous clusters of the five visible planets are repeatedly implicated in historical sources in connection with dynastic transitions in early China. In the medieval period, which is the focus of this investigation, the History of the Three Kingdoms records how timely planetary portents during the decline of the Later Han dynasty (184–220 CE ) were exploited as the celestial signs justifying usurpation and the founding of the (Cao-)Wei 曹魏 dynas…
Shang Oracle Bones
Weaving Metaphors and Cosmo-political Thought in Early China
The deployment of weaving/netting metaphors in ancient Chinese socio-political thought has been noted, but the degree to which those metaphors may have prefigured cosmo-political thought in the earliest period has not been explored. This essay traces the crucial role of weaving technology in providing a fertile source for the constitutive image schema nearly ubiquitous in early cosmo-political discourse. Le déploiement des métaphores faisant inte…
Did Babylonian Astrology Influence Early Chinese Astral Prognostication Xing Zhan Shu 星占術
This article examines the question whether aspects of Babylonian astral divination were transmitted to East Asia in the ancient period. An often-cited study by the Assyriologist Carl Bezold claimed to discern significant Mesopotamian influence on early Chinese astronomy and astrology. This study has been cited as authoritative ever since, including by Joseph Needham, although it has never been subjected to careful scrutiny. The present article ex…
Astrology and Cosmology in Early China
The ancient Chinese were profoundly influenced by the Sun, Moon and stars, making persistent efforts to mirror astral phenomena in shaping their civilization. In this pioneering text, David W. Pankenier introduces readers to a seriously understudied field, illustrating how astronomy shaped the culture of China from the very beginning and how it influenced areas as disparate as art, architecture, calendrical science, myth, technology, and politica…
A Brief History of Beiji (Northern Culmen)
In ancient Chinese astral lore, the imperial nomenclature associated with the circumpolar stars in the Palace of Purple Tenuity points to the crucial importance of the north-pole in astrological, calendrical, and spiritual contexts. But preoccupation with this numinous region has a history far longer than the Chinese empire, founded in 221 BCE. This paper briefly surveys what is known about the pre-imperial history of the region of the 'Northern …
A Brief History of Beiji Beiji (Northern Culmen), with an Excursus on the Origin of the Character di di
Chinese preoccupation with astronomical orientation has a very long history. Archaeological evidence from the fifth millennium B.C. Neolithic cultures of North China shows that burials and dwellings were already being oriented with particular attention to the diurnal and seasonal variations in the sun's position. With the beginning of the Bronze Age in the early second millennium B.C. and the inception of early state formation, such concepts had …
Seeing Stars in the Han Sky
An abstract is not available for this content so a preview has been provided. Please use the Get access link above for information on how to access this content
Applied Field-Allocation Astrology in Zhou China
This article offers an account of the ancient Chinese system of judicial astrology known as field-allocation (fenye) astrology. This form of prognostication, premised on archaic cosmological conceptions about the correspondence between the celestial and terrestrial realms, is best known in the highly systematized and regular form preserved in sources of the Warring States and Han periods. This mature form was achieved after a long process of evol…
The Cosmo-political Background of Heaven's Mandate
A preoccupation with cosmology and the correlation of celestial events with terrestrial activity dates back to the very beginnings of Chinese civilization. The existence of such a mindset is shown by archeo-logical discoveries from the Neolithic as well as the early Bronze Age. The belief in heaven-dwelling high gods like Shang Di and Tian also had antecedents in the pre-Shang period. In addition, analysis of scientifically verifiable accounts of…
Reflections of the Lunar Aspect On Western Chou Chronology
Study of ancient Chinese thinking about the moon's changing aspect inevitably leads to consideration of a curious development in the history of ideas in China: the process whereby the meaning of the word p'o Ot, which originally referred to the moon's illuminated aspect, became transformed into its exact opposite-the face of the moon in obscurity. In Metempsychosis in the Moon,' I attempted to show that this transformation was a direct consequenc…
The Bamboo Annals revisited
The account given of the Bamboo Annals pre-Conquest chronology in Part 1 of this paper bears comparison with the internally consistent chronological sequence found in Yi Zhou shu , whose coherence has not been fully appreciated by those attempting to reconstruct the chronology. As we saw in the discussion of King Wu's reign in Part 1, Yi Zhou shu ‘Da kuang’ and ‘Wen zheng’ chapters are correct in dating the appointment of King Wu' s siblings as v…
The Bamboo Annals revisited
The challenge of establishing the chronology of the early Zhou dynasty, especially the date of the Zhou Conquest of Shang, periodically arouses the intense interest of scholars. Down the centuries interest in the general problem has revived whenever advances in calendrical, astronomical, or textual knowledge seemed to offer the promise of a breakthrough. Extraordinary efforts have repeatedly been brought to bear, but until quite recently little p…
Forum
An abstract is not available for this content so a preview has been provided. Please use the Get access link above for information on how to access this content
"The Scholar's Frustration" Reconsidered
Mozi and the Dates of Xia, Shang, and Zhou
In a previous article in these pages ( EC 7.1981-82:2-37) I reported on the discovery in the jinben version of the Bamboo Annals of verifiable records of the planetary conjunctions of 1576 and 1059 B.C. I argued that literary and chronological evidence drawn from a variety of Zhou and Han sources indicates that the two celestial events were taken at the time to signal Heaven's conferral of legitimate right to rule on the new dynasty, first Shang …
Astronomical Dates in Shang and Western Zhou
This article reports the discovery in the Bamboo Annals of verifiable accounts of the general conjunctions of planets witnessed by Shang and Zhou dynasty observers, which occurred in 1576 and 1059 B.C. Besides exploring the connections between the planetary phenomena and mythologized accounts of the same events in Zhou and Han texts, the significance of these astronomical dates is discussed in reference to the events surrounding the Zhou Conquest…
A Brief History of Beiji Beiji (Northern Culmen), with an Excursus on the Origin of the Character di di
Chinese preoccupation with astronomical orientation has a very long history. Archaeological evidence from the fifth millennium B.C. Neolithic cultures of North China shows that burials and dwellings were already being oriented with particular attention to the diurnal and seasonal variations in the sun's position. With the beginning of the Bronze Age in the early second millennium B.C. and the inception of early state formation, such concepts had …
Applied Field-Allocation Astrology in Zhou China
This article offers an account of the ancient Chinese system of judicial astrology known as field-allocation (fenye) astrology. This form of prognostication, premised on archaic cosmological conceptions about the correspondence between the celestial and terrestrial realms, is best known in the highly systematized and regular form preserved in sources of the Warring States and Han periods. This mature form was achieved after a long process of evol…
The Bamboo Annals revisited
The challenge of establishing the chronology of the early Zhou dynasty, especially the date of the Zhou Conquest of Shang, periodically arouses the intense interest of scholars. Down the centuries interest in the general problem has revived whenever advances in calendrical, astronomical, or textual knowledge seemed to offer the promise of a breakthrough. Extraordinary efforts have repeatedly been brought to bear, but until quite recently little p…
Astronomical Dates in Shang and Western Zhou
This article reports the discovery in the Bamboo Annals of verifiable accounts of the general conjunctions of planets witnessed by Shang and Zhou dynasty observers, which occurred in 1576 and 1059 B.C. Besides exploring the connections between the planetary phenomena and mythologized accounts of the same events in Zhou and Han texts, the significance of these astronomical dates is discussed in reference to the events surrounding the Zhou Conquest…
Mozi and the Dates of Xia, Shang, and Zhou
In a previous article in these pages ( EC 7.1981-82:2-37) I reported on the discovery in the jinben version of the Bamboo Annals of verifiable records of the planetary conjunctions of 1576 and 1059 B.C. I argued that literary and chronological evidence drawn from a variety of Zhou and Han sources indicates that the two celestial events were taken at the time to signal Heaven's conferral of legitimate right to rule on the new dynasty, first Shang …
Forum
An abstract is not available for this content so a preview has been provided. Please use the Get access link above for information on how to access this content
"The Scholar's Frustration" Reconsidered
Reflections of the Lunar Aspect On Western Chou Chronology
Study of ancient Chinese thinking about the moon's changing aspect inevitably leads to consideration of a curious development in the history of ideas in China: the process whereby the meaning of the word p'o Ot, which originally referred to the moon's illuminated aspect, became transformed into its exact opposite-the face of the moon in obscurity. In Metempsychosis in the Moon,' I attempted to show that this transformation was a direct consequenc…
The Bamboo Annals revisited
The account given of the Bamboo Annals pre-Conquest chronology in Part 1 of this paper bears comparison with the internally consistent chronological sequence found in Yi Zhou shu , whose coherence has not been fully appreciated by those attempting to reconstruct the chronology. As we saw in the discussion of King Wu's reign in Part 1, Yi Zhou shu ‘Da kuang’ and ‘Wen zheng’ chapters are correct in dating the appointment of King Wu' s siblings as v…
The Bamboo Annals revisited
The challenge of establishing the chronology of the early Zhou dynasty, especially the date of the Zhou Conquest of Shang, periodically arouses the intense interest of scholars. Down the centuries interest in the general problem has revived whenever advances in calendrical, astronomical, or textual knowledge seemed to offer the promise of a breakthrough. Extraordinary efforts have repeatedly been brought to bear, but until quite recently little p…
The Cosmo-political Background of Heaven's Mandate
A preoccupation with cosmology and the correlation of celestial events with terrestrial activity dates back to the very beginnings of Chinese civilization. The existence of such a mindset is shown by archeo-logical discoveries from the Neolithic as well as the early Bronze Age. The belief in heaven-dwelling high gods like Shang Di and Tian also had antecedents in the pre-Shang period. In addition, analysis of scientifically verifiable accounts of…
Applied Field-Allocation Astrology in Zhou China
This article offers an account of the ancient Chinese system of judicial astrology known as field-allocation (fenye) astrology. This form of prognostication, premised on archaic cosmological conceptions about the correspondence between the celestial and terrestrial realms, is best known in the highly systematized and regular form preserved in sources of the Warring States and Han periods. This mature form was achieved after a long process of evol…
Seeing Stars in the Han Sky
An abstract is not available for this content so a preview has been provided. Please use the Get access link above for information on how to access this content
A Brief History of Beiji (Northern Culmen)
In ancient Chinese astral lore, the imperial nomenclature associated with the circumpolar stars in the Palace of Purple Tenuity points to the crucial importance of the north-pole in astrological, calendrical, and spiritual contexts. But preoccupation with this numinous region has a history far longer than the Chinese empire, founded in 221 BCE. This paper briefly surveys what is known about the pre-imperial history of the region of the 'Northern …
A Brief History of Beiji Beiji (Northern Culmen), with an Excursus on the Origin of the Character di di
Chinese preoccupation with astronomical orientation has a very long history. Archaeological evidence from the fifth millennium B.C. Neolithic cultures of North China shows that burials and dwellings were already being oriented with particular attention to the diurnal and seasonal variations in the sun's position. With the beginning of the Bronze Age in the early second millennium B.C. and the inception of early state formation, such concepts had …
Astrology and Cosmology in Early China
The ancient Chinese were profoundly influenced by the Sun, Moon and stars, making persistent efforts to mirror astral phenomena in shaping their civilization. In this pioneering text, David W. Pankenier introduces readers to a seriously understudied field, illustrating how astronomy shaped the culture of China from the very beginning and how it influenced areas as disparate as art, architecture, calendrical science, myth, technology, and politica…
Did Babylonian Astrology Influence Early Chinese Astral Prognostication Xing Zhan Shu 星占術
This article examines the question whether aspects of Babylonian astral divination were transmitted to East Asia in the ancient period. An often-cited study by the Assyriologist Carl Bezold claimed to discern significant Mesopotamian influence on early Chinese astronomy and astrology. This study has been cited as authoritative ever since, including by Joseph Needham, although it has never been subjected to careful scrutiny. The present article ex…
Shang Oracle Bones
Weaving Metaphors and Cosmo-political Thought in Early China
The deployment of weaving/netting metaphors in ancient Chinese socio-political thought has been noted, but the degree to which those metaphors may have prefigured cosmo-political thought in the earliest period has not been explored. This essay traces the crucial role of weaving technology in providing a fertile source for the constitutive image schema nearly ubiquitous in early cosmo-political discourse. Le déploiement des métaphores faisant inte…
Parallel Planetary Astrologies in Medieval China and Inner Asia
Portentous clusters of the five visible planets are repeatedly implicated in historical sources in connection with dynastic transitions in early China. In the medieval period, which is the focus of this investigation, the History of the Three Kingdoms records how timely planetary portents during the decline of the Later Han dynasty (184–220 CE ) were exploited as the celestial signs justifying usurpation and the founding of the (Cao-)Wei 曹魏 dynas…
Italic>Chinese Astrology and Astronomy
Giulio Magli, Heavens and Earth in Ancient China
Giulio Magli, Heavens and Earth in Ancient China: Sacred Landscapes of Imperial China Cham, Switzerland: Springer Nature, 2020. Hardback, i–vii, 179 pp., illus. ISBN 978-3-030-49323-3. £27.99
The climate downturns in China caused by volcanic eruptions in 535–40 CE and by Thera (Santorini) at the founding of the Shang dynasty (1562 BCE)
It is well known that ancient Chinese written records are an invaluable source of historical information on astronomy, technology, economy, and climate, dating back in some cases to the second millennium BCE. Numerous studies have established that the climatic consequences of the ejection of volcanic aerosols into the atmosphere can have a major impact on the climate worldwide. Here, the Chinese evidence of such a severe climatic anomaly during t…
Maître de Huainan
The Astronomical Origin of China’s “Weaving Maid and Oxherd” Fable
One of the most celebrated festivals in traditional China was called ‘Seventh Night’, observed on the seventh day of the seventh lunar month (8 August 2024). The celebration was especially popular among young girls whose responsibility it was to weave cloth for the family. On that date, girls would implore the Weaving Maid, the celestial princess who weaves the varicolored tapestries of the dawn and twilight skies, to grant them exceptional skill…
History (18 works) · Ancient history (13 works) · Chinese history and philosophy (13 works) · Archaeology (12 works) · Art (10 works) · China (10 works) · Classics (9 works) · Literature (8 works) · Philosophy (8 works) · Diverse Historical and Scientific Studies (6 works)