Van Cliburn: Astrological Article and Chart

Horoscope and chart of Van Cliburn

^* A planet less than 1° from the next House cusp is considered to be posited in the said House. 2° when the AS and the MC are involved

Astrological portrait of Van Cliburn (excerpt)

Disclaimer: these short excerpts of astrological charts are computer processed. They are, by no means, of a personal nature. This principle is valid for the celebrities included in our database. These texts provide the meanings of planets, or combination of planets, in signs and in houses, as well as the interpretations of planetary dominants in line with modern Western astrology rules. Moreover, since Astrotheme is not a polemic website, no negative aspect which may damage the good reputation of a celebrity is posted here, unlike in the comprehensive astrological portrait.

Introduction

Here are some character traits from Van Cliburn's birth chart. This description is far from being comprehensive but it can shed light on his/her personality, which is still interesting for professional astrologers or astrology lovers.

The dominant planets of Van Cliburn

When interpreting a natal chart, the best method is to start gradually from general features to specific ones. Thus, there is usually a plan to be followed, from the overall analysis of the chart and its structure, to the description of its different character traits.

In the first part, an overall analysis of the chart enables us to figure out the personality's main features and to emphasize several points that are confirmed or not in the detailed analysis: in any case, those general traits are taken into account. Human personality is an infinitely intricate entity and describing it is a complex task. Claiming to rapidly summarize it is illusory, although it does not mean that it is an impossible challenge. It is essential to read a natal chart several times in order to absorb all its different meanings and to grasp all this complexity. But the exercise is worthwhile.

In brief, a natal chart is composed of ten planets: two luminaries, the Sun and the Moon, three fast-moving or individual planets, Mercury, Venus and Mars, two slow-moving planets, Jupiter and Saturn, and three very slow-moving planets, Uranus, Neptune and Pluto. Additional secondary elements are: the Lunar Nodes, the Dark Moon or Lilith, Chiron and other minor objects. They are all posited on the Zodiac wheel consisting of twelve signs, from Aries to Pisces, and divided into twelve astrological houses.

The first step is to evaluate the importance of each planet. This is what we call identifying the dominant planets. This process obeys rules that depend on the astrologer's sensitivity and experience but it also has precise and steady bases: thus, we can take into account the parameters of a planet's activity (the number of active aspects a planet forms, the importance of each aspect according to its nature and its exactness), angularity parameters; (proximity to the four angles, Ascendant, Midheaven, Descendant and Imum Coeli or Nadir, all of them being evaluated numerically, according to the kind of angle and the planet-angle distance) and quality parameters (rulership, exaltation, exile and fall). Finally, other criteria such as the rulership of the Ascendant and the Midheaven etc. are important.

These different criteria allow a planet to be highlighted and lead to useful conclusions when interpreting the chart.

The overall chart analysis begins with the observation of three sorts of planetary distributions in the chart: Eastern or Western hemisphere, Northern or Southern hemisphere, and quadrants (North-eastern, North-western, South-eastern and South-western). These three distributions give a general tone in terms of introversion and extraversion, willpower, sociability, and behavioural predispositions.

Then, there are three additional distributions: elements (called triplicity since there are three groups of signs for each one) - Fire, Air, Earth and Water - corresponding to a character typology, modality (or quadruplicity with four groups of signs for each one) - Cardinal, Fixed and Mutable - and polarity (Yin and Yang).

There are three types of dominants: dominant planets, dominant signs and dominant houses. The novice thinks astrology means only "to be Aries" or sometimes, for example, "to be Aries Ascendant Virgo". It is actually far more complex. Although the Sun and the Ascendant alone may reveal a large part of the character - approximately a third or a half of your psychological signature, a person is neither "just the Sun" (called the sign) nor just "the first house" (the Ascendant). Thus, a particular planet's influence may be significantly increased; a particular sign or house may contain a group of planets that will bring nuances and sometimes weaken the role of the Ascendant, of the Sun sign etc.

Lastly, there are two other criteria: accentuations (angular, succedent and cadent) which are a classification of astrological houses and types of decanates that are occupied (each sign is divided into three decanates of ten degrees each). They provide some additional informations.

These general character traits must not be taken literally; they are, somehow, preparing for the chart reading. They allow to understand the second part of the analysis, which is more detailed and precise. It focuses on every area of the personality and provides a synthesis of all the above-mentioned parameters according to sound hierarchical rules.

Astrological Quadrants for Van Cliburn

Each quadrant is a combination of the four hemispheres of your birth chart and relates to a character typology. The Southern hemisphere – the top of your chart, around the Midheaven – is associated with extraversion, action, and public life, whereas the Northern hemisphere prompts to introversion, reflexion, and private life. The Eastern hemisphere – the left part, around the Ascendant – is linked to your ego and your willpower, whereas the Western hemisphere indicates how other people influence you, and how flexible you are when you make a decision.

Van Cliburn, the diurnal South-eastern quadrant, consisting of the 10th, 11th and 12th houses, prevails in your chart: assertion and goals achievement are at the centre of your concerns. You are very keen to implement your dreams and your plans. You achieve your ambitions as soon as possible, whether through an active social life, highly charged friendly relations, or an urge to take actions in order to reap - in the eyes of the world, of course - the rewards of your dynamism. It is likely that spirituality or humanitarian actions are part of your motivations, sometimes at the price of some degree of isolation.

Elements, Modes and House Accentuations for Van Cliburn

Van Cliburn, here are the graphs of your Elements and Modes, based on planets' position and angles in the twelve signs:

Cheers for communication and mobility, Van Cliburn! The predominance of Air signs in your chart favours and amplifies your taste for relations and for all kinds of short trips, whether real (travels) or symbolic (new ideas, mind speculations). You gain in flexibility and adaptability what you lose in self-assertion or in pragmatism.

The predominance of Water signs indicates high sensitivity and elevation through feelings, Van Cliburn. Your heart and your emotions are your driving forces, and you can't do anything on Earth if you don't feel a strong affective charge (as a matter of fact, the word "feeling" is essential in your psychology). You need to love in order to understand, and to feel in order to take action, which causes a certain vulnerability which you should fight against.

Earth qualities are under-represented in your chart, with only 2.65% instead of the average 25%. Deficiency in Earth may indicate that you have no interest in material and concrete values. It is likely that you live too much in your heart or in your mind, or even in your enthusiasm! The fact remains that you may end up in tricky situations, due to your lack of good sense or forethought: material life is unavoidable even if you are rather idealistic, dreamy, or easily content. You must tackle concrete life necessities, for fear of... being forced to cope with them, later, in much more unpleasant ways!

The twelve zodiacal signs are split up into three groups or modes, called quadruplicities, a learned word meaning only that these three groups include four signs. The Cardinal, Fixed and Mutable modes are more or less represented in your natal chart, depending on planets' positions and importance, and on angles in the twelve signs.

Van Cliburn, the Cardinal mode is dominant here and indicates a predisposition to action, and more exactly, to impulsion and to undertake: you are very keen to implement the plans you have in mind, to get things going and to create them. This is the most important aspect that inspires enthusiasm and adrenalin in you, without which you can grow weary rapidly. You are individualistic (maybe too much?) and assertive. You let others strengthen and improve the constructions which you built with fervour.

Houses are split up into three groups: angular, succedent and cadent.

The first ones are the most important ones, the most "noticeable" and energetic houses. They are the 1st, 4th, 7th and 10th houses. Their cuspides correspond to four famous angles: Ascendant for the 1st house, Imum Coeli for the 4th house, Descendant, opposite the Ascendant, for the 7th house and Midheaven for the 10th house, opposite the Imum Coeli.

Planets are evaluated according to a whole set of criteria that includes comprehensive Western astrology rules. At their turn, planets emphasize specific types of houses, signs, repartitions etc., as previously explained.

Your angular houses, namely, the 1st, 4th, 7th and 10th houses, are very emphasized in your chart, Van Cliburn: according to the Tradition, they are the strongest and most dynamic houses. Should the rest of your chart concur, angular houses suggest that you are an enterprising, energetic and assertive man. Indeed, angular houses are said to generate impulsions and to give a powerful and domineering personality.

Unusual fates are often linked to a predominance of angular houses, but this is only a partial indication...

N.B.: this dominant is a minor one.

Dominants: Planets, Signs and Houses for Van Cliburn

The issue of dominant planets has existed since the mists of time in astrology: how nice it would be if a person could be described with a few words and one or several planets that would represent their character, without having to analyse such elements as rulerships, angularities, houses, etc!

The ten planets - the Sun throughout Pluto - are a bit like ten characters in a role-play, each one has its own personality, its own way of acting, its own strengths and weaknesses. They actually represent a classification into ten distinct personalities, and astrologers have always tried to associate one or several dominant planets to a natal chart as well as dominant signs and houses.

Indeed, it is quite the same situation with signs and houses. If planets symbolize characters, signs represent hues - the mental, emotional and physical structures of an individual. The sign in which a planet is posited is like a character whose features are modified according to the place where he lives. In a chart, there are usually one, two or three highlighted signs that allow to rapidly describe its owner.

Regarding astrological houses, the principle is even simpler: the twelve houses correspond to twelve fields of life, and planets tenanting any given house increase that house's importance and highlight all relevant life departments: it may be marriage, work, friendship etc.

In your natal chart, Van Cliburn, the ten main planets are distributed as follows:

The three most important planets in your chart are Jupiter, Mercury and the Sun.

Jupiter, the planet of expansion, organization, power and benevolence, is quite emphasized in your chart. Like any Jupiterian, you are warm, open, sociable, consensual, active and optimistic. You can use your self-confidence to erase differences of opinion, and you leave the task of analyzing and perfecting things to specialists. Your role, and you know it since you were young, is to gather, to demonstrate your synthesizing and conciliatory mind, and to naturally reap its fruits - power.

You appreciate legality, social order but also order in general. With you as a leader, every plan or human entity can be organized and structured. You excel at supervising. The Jupiterian type is indeed the politician par excellence, and a positive Jupiter in your chart is synonymous with good integration into society, whatever the chosen path.

Is this idyllic picture really perfect? Certainly not: each planet's typology has its own weaknesses. One of yours is pride, like the Solarian, but your will of expansion at all costs may generate a form of exaggeration in everything, endless pleasure, inappropriate self-confidence that could lead you to rough materialism and the thirst for absurd material comfort - in the worst cases, of course.

With Mercury among your dominant planets, you are certainly cerebral, nervous, swift, curious, quick-witted, and you love to communicate. Your psychological pattern is intellectual, all the more so since Mercury is important, with its whole set of assets but also of weaknesses, obviously.

Your sensitivity, emotions, and heart's impulses give precedence to thinking, which can lead people to believe that you are a playful and witty but heartless person, intellectualizing situations and juggling with words and numbers whilst ignoring human aspects of things. Of course, it is said that cats always land on their feet - this is your Mercurian strength and your trump card!

Your weakness lies in your nervousness, and you may miss your goal because of your "over-intellectualization" that may be detrimental to other kind of energies such as instinct, spontaneity, heart, sensitivity, etc.

One of the dominant planets in your natal chart is the Sun. He symbolizes will, magnetism, sense of honour and dignity. You are a Solar being, and you often display charismatic and leadership qualities. Your warmth and your persuasive power lead you far away from pettiness. You enjoy thinking big and, consequently, you move forward according to what you decide.

Your Solarian weakness may be related to the sin of pride or to excessive authority. The frontier between pride and vanity is tenuous: be careful not to overstep it and to keep the nobleness of heart that is part of your charm.

In your natal chart, the three most important signs - according to criteria mentioned above - are in decreasing order of strength Cancer, Libra and Gemini. In general, these signs are important because your Ascendant or your Sun is located there. But this is not always the case: there may be a cluster of planets, or a planet may be near an angle other than the Midheaven or Ascendant. It may also be because two or three planets are considered to be very active because they form numerous aspects from these signs.

Thus, you display some of the three signs' characteristics, a bit like a superposition of features on the rest of your chart, and it is all the more so if the sign is emphasized.

Cancer is one of your dominant signs and endows you with imagination and exceptionally shrewd sensitivity. Although suspicious at first sight - and even at second...- as soon as you get familiar with people and let them win your confidence, your golden heart eventually shows up, despite your discretion and your desire for security that make you return into your shell at the slightest alert! Actually, you are a poet and if you are sometimes blamed for your nostalgia and your laziness, it is because your intense inner life is at full throttle...

With Libra as a dominant sign in your natal chart, you love to please, to charm, and to be likeable. Moreover, you are naturally inclined towards tolerance and moderation, as well as elegance and tact, as if you were meant to please! Of course, you always find malcontents who criticize your lack of authenticity or of courage and your half-heartedness, but your aim is to be liked, and in this field, you are an unrivalled champion!

With Gemini as a dominant sign, your qualities include being lively, curious, mobile, clever, and flexible: you often make others dizzy, and you may come across as a dilettante - a bit inquisitive, shallow, and insensitive because you may be too intellectualizing. However, your natural curiosity, a nice quality, and your quick humour, allow you to demonstrate to everyone how much they may gain from your company, and that your apparent flightiness hides an appetite (particularly mental) for life, which itself conceals a terrific charm!

The 10th, 9th and 1st houses are the most prominent ones in your birth chart. From the analysis of the most tenanted houses, the astrologer identifies your most significant fields or spheres of activity. They deal with what you are experiencing - or what you will be brought to experience one day - or they deal with your inner motivations.

With a prominent 10th house, your destiny's achievement may be very notable: the 10th house represents your career, your public life, and your ambitions. A good deal of your energy may thus be used to successfully implement what you have in mind. Instinctively, you are very keen to make your dreams come true. Sooner or later, you will deal with the public, and your personal achievement will go through trials and ordeals: other people and visible actions.

Your 9th house being one of your most tenanted house, or at least emphasized, travels and faraway places play a major role for you: travels may take place in a symbolic sense, namely mind speculations or conceptions about political matters, philosophy, religion or spirituality, or in the literal sense, such as real long distance travels by plane. It may also be that you spend a part of your life far from home, etc. You are driven by some kind of rebelliousness, which urges you to explore the Unknown; it may also be the call of the adventure. Besides, if the rest of your chart concurs, you may be considered as a real draught, often up hill and down dale, constantly on the lookout for exciting discoveries and new, enchanting horizons.

With a dominant 1st house, your magnetism is powerful, and your individuality as well as your willpower are out of the ordinary. You are a determined, strong-willed, and assertive person, with this relative criterion at least.

It is likely that you never go unnoticed when you are in a crowd or a in reunion: an important 1st house suggests that you are a charismatic person with above average vital energy, especially if the Sun is present in this sector.

Your personal interests are always important and you never forget them, which doesn't mean that you are self-centered, but only that you behave according to what is in harmony with your deep nature!

After this paragraph about dominant planets, of Van Cliburn, here are the character traits that you must read more carefully than the previous texts since they are very specific: the texts about dominant planets only give background information about the personality and remain quite general: they emphasize or, on the contrary, mitigate different particularities or facets of a personality. A human being is a complex whole and only bodies of texts can attempt to successfully figure out all the finer points.

The Moon in Leo and in House 10: his sensitivity

Recherchant l'attention et l'approbation des autres, vous avez besoin Van Cliburn d'extérioriser vos émotions, de les interpréter et même de les jouer de façon théâtrale parfois car il est essentiel pour vous d'occuper le devant de la scène et de briller. Vous souhaitez faire toujours plus sinon mieux que les autres et vous vous efforcez donc, quelle que soit la situation, de vous montrer chaleureux, généreux, loyal, honnête, droit et courageux. Vous êtes toujours disponible quand on a besoin de votre aide ou de vos conseils et vous êtes fier et heureux de pouvoir rendre service. Attention toutefois à ne pas trop imposer votre présence légèrement dominatrice ! Vous n'êtes pas toujours indispensable et l'on pourrait vous reprocher de vous comporter de manière quelque peu égocentrique et autoritaire quand vous tentez de prendre les choses en main sans tenir compte de l'avis des personnes qui vous entourent. Il serait dommage de donner de vous cette image alors que, manquant peut-être de confiance en vous, vous cherchez tout simplement à vous rassurer...

Votre carrière ou votre accomplissement professionnel, Van Cliburn, sont les domaines où vos émotions vont pouvoir être abondamment canalisées. Souvent populaire, notamment auprès des femmes, vous avez en vous l'instinct de plaire au public et à la foule. Cette popularité est souvent due à votre côté changeant, léger,... (excerpt)

Mercury in Cancer and in House 10: his intellect and social life

Vous possédez Van Cliburn une intelligence sensible, délicate, et aussi une facilité de compréhension qui vous dotent d'une intuition et d'une réceptivité importante. Pour vous, les impressions ou les sentiments étant plus importants que les faits, votre mémoire sélective, excellente au demeurant, ne s'embarrassera pas d'éléments inutiles. Votre imagination fertile peut vous amener à modifier quelque peu la réalité quotidienne sans même vous en rendre compte afin de la rendre plus conforme à vos rêves. Si vous êtes créatif, vous pourrez même la mettre à profit dans une activité littéraire où vous inventerez à loisir de belles histoires du temps passé. Vous vous passionnez tant pour l'Histoire que vous risquez parfois de vous y plonger avec trop de nostalgie et ainsi ne pas pouvoir saisir les opportunités du présent pour élaborer des projets et penser à l'avenir.

Votre esprit vif et conciliant est au service de votre carrière, Van Cliburn. Grâce à votre mobilité naturelle, vous vous adaptez en permanence pour vous glisser au mieux aux postes que vous convoitez et votre réussite professionnelle est souvent due à votre capacité à comprendre que changer,... (excerpt)

Venus in Gemini and in House 9, and the Sun in Cancer: his affectivity and seductiveness

Dans votre thème, le Soleil est en Cancer, Vénus en Gémeaux. Deux signes aussi différents que le Cancer et les Gémeaux ne peuvent que forger une affectivité riche parce que contrastée, complexe parce qu'obéissant à deux modes antinomiques : au désir de découverte d'une Vénus Gémeaux s'oppose l'idéal de sécurité d'un Soleil Cancer. L'une est fonction d'apprentissage et se nourrit de la multiplicité des expériences. L'autre est fonction de protection et tend à isoler le couple pour laisser pleinement s'épanouir l'échange et la fusion entre deux êtres. Il importe ici de trouver un équilibre entre deux tendances d'égale importance sans doute : vivre des émotions renouvelées sans mettre en péril le caractère absolu et unique de la relation, c'est laisser à l'affectivité une certaine liberté, et cela dans le respect mutuel et la confiance réciproque. Liberté, pas infidélité ! Car l'importance de la cellule-couple une et indivisible est chez vous plus marquée encore qu'à l'ordinaire. Vous montrez du reste un caractère possessif, exclusif. Mais il faut à une Vénus Gémeaux son lot d'émotions variées. Et le quotidien tue à moyen terme le désir. Sans doute avez-vous tendance à instaurer un mode de fonctionnement ludique en couple : caprices et fantaisie alimentent une amitié solide. Cette condition respectée, vous savez bâtir une relation de tendresse jamais stérile, jamais enfermée dans d'inextricables et fatales habitudes.

Est-ce aimer ou bien plaire qui vous anime vraiment ? Van Cliburn, vous avez un tel charme et un tel bagout que vous réussissez facilement à être ce que l'on appelle un tombeur. Sentiments et intellect sont si intimement mêlés que vous ne savez parfois plus vous-même si vous aimez vraiment ou bien si vous jouez un rôle. Vous avez le goût du flirt, de la variété et vous appréciez beaucoup les situations compliquées où plus personne ne sait vraiment où est la réalité. Vous passez d'un jeu à l'autre, tout est matière à séduire pour vous, que ce soit dans vos attitudes, votre discours où votre façon de vous habiller, vous ne séparez pas vos actions de votre souci de plaire et gare à ceux qui ne l'ont pas compris car ils peuvent alors prendre au pied de la lettre vos mots si doux et si bien tournés et en souffrir tant la déconvenue peut être cruelle : pour vous, il ne s'agissait que de l'instant et vous ne vous engagez pour ainsi dire jamais car vous détestez par dessus tout l'enfermement même dans l'idée.

Van Cliburn, à vous de choisir : l'amour rencontré au cours de vos voyages à l'étranger ou l'amour des voyages tout court et la focalisation des sentiments dans cet idéal d'évasion vers le lointain ? Ou peut-être les deux, quoi qu'il en soit, vous avez souvent tendance... (excerpt)

The Ascendant is in Libra and the ruler of the Ascendant is Venus, in Gemini: his behaviour

The ruler of the Ascendant, also referred to as the chart ruler, brings a few interesting nuances to the meanings provided by the Sun and the Ascendant. The sign in which the ruler of the Ascendant is posited fine-tunes the style of personality described by the Sun and the Ascendant. It may strengthen it if the sign is identical to either of them.

The ruler of the Ascendant, Van Cliburn, is Venus. In the sign of Gemini, it endows you with flexibility and the capacity to undertake several things simultaneously, sometimes at the risk of spreading yourself too thing and getting discouraged. Your innate communication skills match your insatiable curiosity for people and for things.

The Sun in Cancer and in House 10: his will and inner motivations

Psychologiquement, vous êtes d'une nature rêveuse, tournée vers la nostalgie du passé, vers la mère, vers la famille : tout en instinct, tout en protection ou défense de votre être vis-à-vis de l'extérieur, vous possédez une vie intérieure riche, une imagination fertile voire même infinie, une propension à éviter tout risque inutile, à rechercher la sécurité en ne vous  dévoilant que lorsque la confiance est là, une nostalgie du passé pour le sentiment de bien-être qu'il vous rappelle.

Né avec la marque de ce signe, vous êtes émotif, sentimental, paisible, imaginatif, sensible, fidèle, résistant, protecteur, vulnérable, généreux, romantique, tendre, poète, paternel ou maternel, rêveur, indolent, gourmand, dévoué, mais vous pouvez aussi être craintif, irréaliste, fuyant, passif, susceptible, angoissé, dépendant, entêté, lunatique, passéiste, paresseux, pesant, casanier ou hermétique.

L'amour au masculin : pour vous, Van Cliburn, en amour, vous êtes un tendre, un sensible, plutôt fidèle. Influencé par votre mère, vous recherchez inconsciemment une compagne qui vous apportera autant d'attention et d'affection que vous en receviez dans votre enfance. Casanier mais rêveur, vous vous épanouirez dans votre cocon familial au milieu de la famille que vous aurez créée, rêvant d'aventures et de voyages extraordinaires... que vous réaliserez quand même quelquefois mais surtout dans votre tête.

La tendresse compte pour vous plus que la sexualité même si elle est également un facteur de sécurité et de stabilité. Vous appréciez énormément de redevenir le petit enfant gâté que vous étiez, savourant les petits plats ou recevant les compliments réguliers dont vous avez tant besoin pour vous sentir rassuré.

Vous êtes sans doute à l'abri des drames, des complications de la vie car au moment même où une situation délicate intervient, vous préférez souvent la tuer dans l'oeuf en n'y donnant pas suite ou en rentrant dans votre coquille tranquillement, et en y ressortant quand l'orage est passé.

Votre foyer sera généralement heureux et riche, calme et harmonieux dans la durée.

Van Cliburn, votre besoin d'affirmation est très fort et s'oriente clairement vers la réussite de votre destin social ou professionnel, ou, du moins, vers une élévation importante par rapport à votre milieu d'origine; vos efforts, votre volonté et vos buts sont parfaitement définis dans votre esprit :... (excerpt)

Mars in Gemini and in House 9: his ability to take action

Van Cliburn, vous êtes d'une activité débordante sur le plan mental. Les idées se bousculent à toute vitesse et vous avez une facilité à réfléchir à plusieurs choses et surtout à les traiter en même temps. L'action sur le plan concret ou physique vous intéresse moins, car en fait une fois que vous avez "vu" une solution, sa réalisation n'importe pas tant que cela, il s'agit surtout d'avoir l'esprit en ébullition tout le temps. Cérébral et curieux, vous avez souvent une sexualité pleine de fantasmes où les idées plaisantes se mélangent avec vos désirs et sentiments pour les amplifier et les enrichir. Vous n'êtes donc pas simple mais si votre partenaire vous suit sur ce plan là, l'enjeu en vaut vraiment la peine. La joute verbale, le plaisir de débattre et le goût de la discussion sont permanents chez vous et un petit danger existe d'agacer un peu ceux ou celles qui n'auraient pas votre rapidité ou votre sens de l'humour.

Vous pouvez vous donner de toutes vos forces pour votre idéal, Van Cliburn, qu'il soit de nature politique, religieux, éthique, moral, ou bien de la forme la plus élevée c'est-à-dire spirituel. Et souvent dans plusieurs de ces domaines. Se donner de toutes vos forces signifiera souvent un goût... (excerpt)

Conclusion

This text is only an excerpt from the portrait of of Van Cliburn, which we hope will inspire you to deepen your knowledge of astrology.

Regarding the sources of the birth data in our possession, kindly note that the pages we publish constitute a starting point for more detailed research, even though they seem useful to us. When the sources are contradictory, which occurs rarely, after having analysed them, we choose the most reliable one. Sometimes, we publish a birth date just because it is made available, but we do not claim that is it the best one, by no means.