Astrology & myths · Hellenistic astrology · Ptolemy, Tetrabiblos I.19 (exaltation)
The Sun exalted in Aries
Besides its house, each planet has an exaltation, a sign where it is thought especially strong. For the Sun it is Aries.
Ptolemy's reason
In Aries, Ptolemy writes, the Sun is making his transition to the northern and higher semicircle, the days lengthening; in Libra it passes into the southern and lower one. So Aries is its exaltation and Libra its depression, or fall.
Astronomy underneath
The start of tropical Aries is the March equinox, the moment the Sun crosses the celestial equator heading north. The site works out that moment for any year, and checks it against USNO.
The next equinox or solstice →
Astrology and myth are presented here as symbolic and historical traditions, not as predictions. The sky's positions and times on this site are calculated the same way in every lens.
Sources
- LacusCurtius (Bill Thayer) Ptolemy, Tetrabiblos, Book I, ch. 4–24 (trans. F. E. Robbins, Loeb 1940) (opens in a new tab) for the Sun heats and somewhat dries (I.4); diurnal (I.7); house Leo (I.17); exalted in Aries, depressed in Libra (I.19) · checked 2 October 2026
- US Naval Observatory Astronomical Applications API (opens in a new tab) for independent sunrise, sunset, civil twilight, transit and seasons for the engine's tests · checked 2 October 2026