A Jerusalem Christian Treatise on Astrology.

A Jerusalem Christian Treatise on Astrology is an English translation of the first part of an Arabic manuscript on astrology, the original title and author of which are unknown. The translation is by Gladys Dickson, a British orientalist and explorer of Ottoman Palestine. Dickson obtained access to the manuscript from its unnamed owner, "a certain Arab living in Jerusalem." She translated the original Arabic title of the manuscript as "The Book of Compilation." Some of the translation of the document is incomplete owing to her unfamiliarity with some signs, and the transliteration of some words is given throughout. The document provides an explanation of various astrological phenomena, such as how the positioning of the different planets may influence events on earth and how the dates and year of birth may affect a person. The weather on specific dates is seen as indicative of conditions for the year, and features such as rainbows are given significance. Lunar, solar, and celestial events are explained in relation to other astrological phenomena and their influence upon worldly events is outlined. The personalities of people born under each sign are given for both men and women. The treatise was published in London in 1909 for the Palestine Exploration Fund, an organization established in 1865 by a group of Biblical scholars and clergymen under the royal patronage of Queen Victoria. The fund was founded to "promote research into the archaeology and history, manners and customs and culture, topography, geology and natural sciences of biblical Palestine and the Levant."