"In Western Astrology from the Greek period forward through the Arabic period and the Latin astrology of the Middle Ages we find frequent references to planetary periods. In another article on this webpage. I have given an extensive discussion on alfridaries or firdar a system of periods apparently derived from the Persians. In this discussion I concentrate solely on the system of small, mean, and great periods."

"The first of the names given above is the original Persian, more or less. The second is the Latin version which is derived from adding the Arabic article 'al' to 'firdar'. The last version of the word is the Anglicized form. There are many variants of all of the above forms of the word. These are a system of planetary periods which appear to be of Persian origin. They are first described as far as we know by Abu Mashar in various works and have their origin in a system of mundane cycles intended for the long term prediction of historical events.

"From astrology’s beginnings, it is evident from virtually all sources (e.g. Persian, Greek, Hindu and Egyptian) that quantum-like divisions of time and space were given to the planets and signs. Since time is nothing more than a counting system, why can we not use arc allotments or the years allotted to signs and planets to count time or vice versa? What could be more natural than to create some kind of scheme for relating them?