The Sphaera barbarica was a summary created by the Babylonian astrologer Teukros of a pre-Christian doctrine, which suggested that the position of celestial bodies could reveal something about future destinies. Over the centuries, this doctrine lost its significance, but some writings have been preserved. The philologist Franz Boll (1867-1924) undertook the task of examining and reconstructing these texts, focusing on Greek traditions. He produced an extensive work that traces the history of constellations up to the Middle Ages. This is a reprint of the long-out-of-print original edition from 1903.