Ptolemaic system of history:

In astronomy the Ptolemaic model is a universe with Earth at the centre, the Sun, Moon, stars, and planets all circled Earth; this model was the predominant description of the cosmos in many ancient civilizations.  Spengler is making the analogy, suggesting that the current “world history” scheme, with its Eurocentric bias, Ancient-Medieval-Modern periodization and foreshortening of distant epochs, is Ptolemaic.

 

Copernican system of history:

In astronomy, the Copernican model departed from the Ptolemaic system as it positioned the Sun and not the Earth at the centre of the universe, around which the planets rotated.  Spengler is making an analogy, suggesting his “world history” will replace the older Ptolemaic “world history” and will no longer place Western civilization at the centre.

 

Magian: * see Endnote 34

Spengler’s name for the culture & civilization (also known as Arabian) which emerges in the 1st Century AD, in the region bounded by the Nile on the west, the Tigris on the east, the Black Sea on the north and southern Arabia in the south.  It is a polyglot culture including a host of different Semitic peoples.

 

Persian & Jewish religions:

Two separate branches of Magian culture.  From Persia came a slew of religious expressions & texts, the most famous being Zoroastrianism, but also Mandaeaism (gnostic monotheism), Mithraism, Manichaeism.  Judaism was based on the Talmud, the Torah & other sacred scriptures.  Far from being the unified sect we know today, early in its development and through to the first century BC it was fragmented into a number of different sub sects & groups.

 

Cyrus:

(600– 530 BC) the founder of the Achaemenid Empire; under his rule, the empire embraced all the previous civilized states of the ancient Near East, from the Mediterranean Sea and Hellespont in the west to the Indus River in the east, the largest empire the world had yet seen.  Although Cyrus was a warrior king and went on many campaigns he also respected the customs and religions of the conquered lands and his rule become a successful model for centralized administration, with a government working to the advantage and profit of its subjects.

 

Book of Daniel:

an Old Testament, biblical apocalypse, combining a prophecy of history with a the study of last things, which is both cosmic in scope and political in its focus; it is an account of the activities and visions of Daniel, a noble Jew exiled at Babylon; the stories of the first half legendary in origin, and the visions of the second the product of anonymous authors in the Maccabean period (2nd century BC).

 

Gnostic systems:

a religious sect related to both Christian and Jewish religions & texts; its origin is closely related to Jewish sectarianism and early Christian sects; originated in Alexandria and coexisted with the early Christians until the 4th century AD; many heads of gnostic schools were identified as Jewish Christians; as there was no fixed church authority, syncretism with pre-existing belief systems as well as new religions was often embraced.  It became a coherent movement in the 2nd century