Jeffrey Kotyk

Winds blow and waves crash - how would you interpret the signs? https://cudl.lib.cam.ac.uk/view/MS-FH-00020-00038/13

Strange beasts run across the sky: https://cudl.lib.cam.ac.uk/view/MS-FH-00020-00043/95

Blow me down with a shooting star! 💫 ✨ 🌟 🤩
A rare manuscript copy of 天元玉曆祥異賦 (The Tianyuan Jade Calendar in Verse Prose on the Auspicious and Unusual Signs). 10 vols with oodles of stunning hand coloured illustrations on this work of Chinese #astrology to explore!
cudl.lib.cam.ac.uk/view/MS-FH-0...

"In this paper I want to point out that the concept of predetermined sexuality is observed in horoscopic literature in China from the ninth century."
www.cultureandcosmos.org/pdfs/28/28_K...

Spending the winter break at Dharma Drum Mountain 法鼓山 in Taiwan.

Did Sasanians Remember the Achaemenids… or Should They Have? (Any unauthorised quotations, copying, or use of the following is strictly prohibited) The scholarly debate on whether the Sasanians, particularly the early Sasanians like Ardashir I, had any memor…

The memory, or forgetting, of the Achaemenids in Sasanian late antiquity and the medieval period is a robust debate. I wrote a rather longish blog about it here:

iranologie.com/2025/11/29/d...

Back to Buddhism. At American Academy of Religion 2025, speaking on Maitreya in the Āgamas, Mahāyāna, and early Vajrayāna. Thanks to my panel members!

History of Science Society (HSS), 2025 Annual Meeting. De Gruyter Brill book table.

Heading to New Orleans today for the History of Science Society (HSS) 2025 Annual Meeting.

Examining an astrological scroll (III 520) from Turfan, 9th century. Museum für Asiatische Kunst, Humboldt Forum. Several researchers are taking an interest in this object!

Registered for the AAS Annual Conference in Vancouver, Canada from March 12-15, 2026.

Late Antiquity Podmore Book Prize Late Antiquity Book Prize in memory of Bill Podmore (1933-2016), awarded by the VCLA.

Honored that my book has been shortlisted for the Late Antiquity Book Prize in Memory of Bill Podmore (1933-2016).
vcla.org.uk/bookprize/

Visiting the Yale University Art Gallery.

The generals in the Beinecke edition of the omenology manuscript (天元玉曆祥異賦). The qi 氣 of the general will manifest in the sky in various ways.

Rain this morning but still warm. High of 27'c tomorrow.

At the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library at Yale, examining a copy of a Ming-era omenology manual (天元玉曆祥異賦) from 1425, but I think this manuscript dates to the early Qing.

At Yale University. Checking out the used bookstores.

Important forthcoming volume. Astrologers at Work: Essays on the Practices and Techniques of Astrology in Memory of Helena Avelar.
brill.com/display/titl...

We had a joint summer school program at Beijing between University of Chinese Academy of Sciences (UCAS) and the Max Planck Institute for the History of Science (MPIWG). I had a lot of fun in Beijing.

Astrologers at Work "Astrologers at Work" published on 30 Oct 2025 by Brill.

Coming soon: "Astrologers at Work brings together fourteen scholars to explore the history of astrological practice, focusing on techniques, doctrines, and methods of interpretation across cultures and centuries."
brill.com/display/titl...

Too many centipedes in the house. 天稚彦物語絵巻. Humboldt Forum.

Thank you and 감사합니다 to Sooyeun Yang for sending me photos from the panel I chaired at the Meeting of ‪ @bshsnews.bsky.social at @cam.ac.uk. Po-Hung Liu, @jeffreykotyk.bsky.social, @busradede.bsky.social and Majideh Qazizadeh gave spectacular presentations. conference.bshs.org.uk/wp-content/u...

I'm in Cambridge for the annual meeting of the British Society for the History of Science.

British Society for the History of Science: Annual Conference, from July 8 to 10, 2025, in Cambridge. I'll be presenting on "Scientific Astronomy and Horoscopes in Medieval Japan."
conference.bshs.org.uk/programme/#6g

Jeffrey Kotyk. Sino-Iranian and Sino-Arabian Relations in Late Antiquity: China and the Parthians, Sasanians, and Arabs in the First Millennium İran Çalışmaları Dergisi | Cilt: 9 Sayı: 1

A positive review of my book (in Turkish) by Muammer İskenderoğlu.
dergipark.org.tr/tr/pub/irani...

I would like to add to my expression of gratitude to @samhistsci.bsky.social by thanking him for allowing me to chair a panel at the conference of @bshsnews.bsky.social with Po-Hung Liu, @jeffreykotyk.bsky.social, @busradede.bsky.social and Majideh Qazizadeh. conference.bshs.org.uk/wp-content/u...

MANTRATANTRAM_VID_TantricBorderlands_Paris_30_05_2025_Kotyk YouTube video by Andrea Acri

My recent presentation in Paris: "Astral Icons in the Taizō Maṇḍala 胎藏曼荼羅 versus Textual Descriptions." MANTRATANTRAM project, 30 May 2025.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=0lcz...

I'll be at the British Society for the History of Science Annual Conference, July 8 to 10, in Cambridge. I'll speak on "Scientific Astronomy and Horoscopes in Medieval Japan."
conference.bshs.org.uk/programme/

Première visite au Campus Condorcet. 🇫🇷

Depictions of signs of the zodiac from Brauweiler Abbey, before 1141. Shell limestone, recycled Roman architectural pieces.Dauerleihgabe des Museum Schnütgen, Köln.

Many thanks to Prof. Ralph Kauz and Bonn University for the opportunity to present my book.