You will find below the horoscope of Joan Benoit with her interactive chart, an excerpt of her astrological portrait and her planetary dominants.
Additional information on the source of the birth time is sometimes available in the biography excerpt below.
Horoscopes having the same Big Three (Sun in Taurus, Moon in Sagittarius, Ascendant in Virgo) : Andy Murray, Marie-France Pisier, Josh Homme, Michel Cymes, Iker Casillas, Ayatullah Ruhollah Khomeini, Anaïs Jeanneret, John Hannah, Léa François... List of all the celebrities having the same Big Three.
Horoscopes having the same aspect Saturn square Ascendant (orb 0°20'): Al Pacino, Jeffrey Dahmer, Dua Lipa, Gordon Ramsay, Johnny Hallyday, Nolwenn Leroy, Miranda Kerr, Courteney Cox, Frédéric Chopin... Find all the celebrities having this aspect.
Horoscopes having the same aspect Venus sextile Uranus (orb 0°34'): Billie Eilish, Emma Watson, Gigi Hadid, Robin Williams, Kate Winslet, Aishwarya Rai, Pink (singer), George Harrison, Lenny Kravitz... Find all the celebrities having this aspect.
Celebrities born the same day: Megan Fox, Janet Jackson, Pierce Brosnan, Laura Pausini, IU (singer), Manhattan, New York (New York), Tori Spelling, Joseph Morgan (actor), Behati Prinsloo... List of all the celebrities born on May 16.
Horoscopes having the Moon in 29° Sagittarius : Judy Garland, Vanessa L. Williams, Thomas Dutronc, Ayatullah Ruhollah Khomeini, Eric Dane, Ethel Kennedy, Jean-Marc Barr, Brigitte Fossey, Jean-Pierre Mocky... List of all the celebrities having the Moon in 29° Sagittarius.
* 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
Joan Benoit Samuelson (born May 16, 1957) is an American marathon runner who won gold at the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, the year that the women's marathon was introduced. As a result she was the first ever women's Olympic marathon champion.
Career
Born in Portland, Maine, Benoit took to long-distance running to help recover from a broken leg suffered while slaloming. At Bowdoin College she excelled in athletics and then entered the 1979 Boston Marathon as a relative unknown. She won the race, while wearing a Red Sox cap, in 2:35:15, knocking eight minutes off the competition record. She repeated that success with a victory again in 1983 that took more than two minutes off the world's best time, set by Grete Waitz in the London Marathon just the day before, despite having had surgery on her Achilles tendons two years earlier.
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.
Here are some character traits from Joan Benoit'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.
In a matter of minutes, you can get at your email address your astrological portrait (approximately 32 pages), a much more comprehensive report than this portrait of Joan Benoit.
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.
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.
Joan Benoit, the diurnal South-western quadrant, consisting of the 7th, 8th and 9th houses, prevails in your chart: this sector brings about a thirst for communication and sometimes, a need to take risks in your dealings with others. Relations are a factor of your evolution and your transformation, which you accept serenely. Indeed, what matters to you is the movement and the energy that link you to others and that make you gain more awareness. A kind of rebellion or a desire to get away from it all is rooted in you.
Joan Benoit, here are the graphs of your Elements and Modes, based on planets' position and angles in the twelve signs:
Like the majority of Earth signs, Joan Benoit, you are efficient, concrete and not too emotional. What matters to you is what you see: you judge the tree by its fruits. Your ideas keep changing, words disappear, but actions and their consequences are visible and remain. Express your sensitivity, even if it means revealing your vulnerability. Emotions, energy and communication must not be neglected; concrete action is meaningless if it is not justified by your heart, your intellect or your enthusiasm.
Joan Benoit, Fire is dominant in your natal chart and endows you with intuition, energy, courage, self-confidence, and enthusiasm! You are inclined to be passionate, you assert your willpower, you move forward, and come hell or high water, you achieve your dreams and your goals. The relative weakness of this element is the difficulty to step back or a kind of boldness that may prompt you to do foolish things.
Your natal chart shows a lack of the Water element, with only 8.64% instead of the average 25%. Whether you are aware of it or not, affective values bring about problems, for you or your close friends. In general, a lack of Water does not necessarily mean that you are unable to love as much as others do. However, you may find it difficult to express the deepness of your heart and of your feelings. In the best cases, you come to terms with it, you adjust, you manage to show more affection or, why not, you pretend to be really affected! In the worst cases, you get into the terrible habit of repressing these essential values and you tend to forget that they are the basis of the richest and strongest bonds between human beings.
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.
The Mutable mode is the most emphasized one in your natal chart, Joan Benoit, which indicates a mobile character that is curious and thirsty for new experiences and evolution. You are lively and flexible, and you like to react quickly to solicitations, but don't confuse mobility with agitation, since this is the danger with this configuration - and with you, stagnation is out of the question. Security doesn't matter as long as you are not bored. You optimize, you change things, you change yourself... all this in a speedy way.
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.
Cadent houses, namely the 3rd, 6th, 9th and 12th houses, are very emphasized in your chart, Joan Benoit. They indicate important potential for communication, adaptability and flexibility. These houses are symbolically linked to the mind and intellect. The relative weakness implied by these characteristics indicates your tendency to hesitate or to be indecisive, but also your remarkable ability to start off again, which is a nice quality, finally: you can easily get yourself out of a tight spot thanks to your mobility and casualness, in the best sense of the term. This group of houses corresponds to evolutionary characteristics of your personality. However, they are only indications and you must include them in the rest of your chart in order to see whether they are validated or not!
N.B.: this dominant is a minor one.
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, Joan Benoit, the ten main planets are distributed as follows:
The three most important planets in your chart are Venus, Mercury and Saturn.
With Venus among your dominant planets, one of your first reflexes is... to please! Your look, your charm, and your seduction are omnipresent elements in your behaviour.
Your approach to things is connected to your heart, and for you, no real communication can flow if your interlocutors exude no sympathy or warmth. Cold and logical reasoning, clear thoughts and good sense are not important to you: if there is no affective bond with your environment, no connection can be established with the Venusian that you are, and nothing happens.
You have a strong artistic side, and you never neglect subjective but clear concepts such as pleasure, beauty, and also sensuality. However, sometimes to the detriment of efficiency, durability, logic, and... detachment.
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.
Saturn is part of your dominant planets: among the facets of your character, you have a grave and serious side, wise and somewhat severe, since your concentration can be powerful to the detriment of carelessness and friendliness.
You often look austere, but it is only an appearance, a kind of modesty or reserve; however, it is true that the Saturnian, who is fond of time, effort, asceticism, rigour and sobriety, may have popularity issues. Nevertheless, honesty and straightforwardness, reliability, as well as slow, wise and deep mental process, although not very popular and visible qualities, eventually become noticed and appreciated. Saturnians' second part of life is usually easier and more fulfilling.
Like the Jupiterian, your Saturnian facet prompts you to seek the essential, security, and longevity. However, the difference with the former is that you will never give priority to wealth or "the bigger, the better" philosophy for the sake of power. Saturn, like Jupiter, symbolizes social integration, and it is usually considered positive to have a harmonic Jupiter and Saturn in one's chart because of their social adaptation capacities.
Your vulnerability lies in your too serious and austere side, which may lead to unwanted loneliness and affective frustration. This generally does not last because Saturnians often hide deep down a golden heart that ends up revealing itself...
In your natal chart, the three most important signs - according to criteria mentioned above - are in decreasing order of strength Taurus, Gemini and Virgo. 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.
With the Taurus sign so important in your chart, you are constructive, stable, and sensual. Good taste, sense of beauty, manners, and unfailing good sense - all these qualities contribute to your charm and seductive power. Furthermore, if some people criticize your slow pace and your stubbornness, you rightly reply that this is the price for your security, and that you like the way it is - slow and steady....
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!
Virgo, associated with perfectionism, numbers and reason, is among your dominant signs: you inherit its sense of responsibility and tidiness, a clear mind, an unfailing logic, as well as a need to be useful and to fulfil your task to the best of your abilities. Obviously, people may think that you are too modest or reserved, suspicious or pessimistic because of your exceedingly critical mind, but aren't logic and wisdom great qualities? Of course, they are. Moreover, you keep your feet on the ground, you never behave irrationally and you are helpful and hardworking - what more can you ask for?!
The 9th, 4th 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.
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. You may also spend a part of your life far from home, etc. You are driven by a 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 an important 4th house in your chart, your private life, your intimacy, as well as your family and home, play a fundamental role. Your security and your family unit, the one you come from, but also the one you set up when you get married and start a family - or even as a girl bachelor living alone in your sweet home - are necessary for you to blossom. According to the Tradition, your father may play an important role in your life.
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 Joan Benoit, 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.
D'une nature optimiste et émotive, vous êtes, Joan Benoit, prise entre deux envies quelque peu incompatibles : vous êtes friande d'exotisme et d'indépendance, de mouvement, mais en même temps vous vous sentez bien dans une forme d'embourgeoisement et de conformisme de votre comportement ; en général, cela se traduit par une succession d'états d'âme tantôt tranquilles et bien adaptés aux différentes situations que vous rencontrez, tantôt empreints d'une envie irrésistible de changement et de renouveau. Plutôt d'une nature bon enfant presque naïve, vous avez confiance en vous et votre grande émotivité vous pousse à vivre intensément et avec variété des expériences émotionnelles d'une façon un peu dispersée mais qui, de toute façon, vous amènent les stimulations dont vous avez besoin pour être équilibrée. Grâce à cette attitude plutôt sympathique et avenante, vous bénéficiez d'une certaine popularité et cela d'autant plus que malgré votre soif d'aventures qui pourrait en effaroucher d'aucuns, vous vous adaptez aisément aux règles et usages du milieu dans lequel vous évoluez.
Votre famille, votre foyer et souvent votre mère, Joan Benoit, ont une importance émotionnelle particulièrement forte. Vous êtes attachée plus que quiconque à vos racines et le cadre intime dans lequel vous vivez est essentiel; il est une source continue de charges affectives qui vous imprègnent... (excerpt)
Votre esprit est calme et pondéré ; même si vous assimilez lentement les choses, votre mémoire est considérable. Votre jugement est basé sur la réflexion et la raison et s'appuie toujours sur l'expérience. Vous êtes, Joan Benoit, une bonne conseillère, quelqu'un sur qui l'on peut compter et à qui l'on peut se confier en toute discrétion. Pleine de bon sens, prudente, méthodique et disciplinée, vous pouvez mener à bien des projets constructifs, d'autant que vous serez souvent très déterminée dans vos opinions et vos actions. Mais une certaine tendance à l'intolérance et aux idées préconçues risque parfois de choquer votre entourage qui aimerait vous voir faire preuve de plus de souplesse au lieu de refuser en bloc tout ce qui n'est pas immédiatement vérifiable. Vous vous exprimez généralement avec beaucoup de charme et cela vous permet certainement de mieux faire accepter à autrui vos habitudes bien établies.
Votre esprit est vagabond, Joan Benoit, dans le sens le plus noble du terme : vous vous intéressez au domaine des hautes connaissances, que ce soit dans le domaine moral, spirituel, politique ou religieux. Très tôt, ce qui est loin vous attire, ce qui vous donne une... (excerpt)
Dans votre thème, le Soleil est en Taureau, Vénus en Gémeaux. Deux signes peuvent se suivre et ne pas se ressembler le moins du monde : Au désir du Taureau de préserver un équilibre qu'on sait aussi essentiel que fragile s'oppose la volonté Gémeaux de découvrir, expérimenter, multiplier les émotions (Vénus) sinon les rencontres. Complémentaires, ces deux Signes le sont sans l'ombre d'un doute. Le Soleil Taureau facilite l'installation d'une aventure affective dans le temps. Et par-là même son épanouissement. La Vénus Gémeaux évite d'enfermer le couple dans une routine nécessairement préjudiciable au naturel et à la plénitude des sentiments. Pourtant, un réel équilibre n'est envisageable que si les deux tendances - à maints égards antinomiques - peuvent s'exprimer. Le choix, la compréhension ou la faculté d'évoluer du partenaire seront ici déterminants. Tour à tour, il vous faudra satisfaire la soif de tranquillité de votre Signe solaire et le désir d'inédit de votre Signe vénusien. Combler un besoin d'intimité, de stabilité, et la pressante nécessité d'alimenter encore et toujours la passion. Aussi paradoxal que cela puisse paraître, vous n'aimerez vraiment que celui ou celle qui dérange parfois la paisible quiétude taurienne, qui remet en cause la sérénité par ailleurs rêvée. Parce que la passion n'a pas de prix. Et est à ce prix.
Est-ce aimer ou bien plaire qui vous anime vraiment ? Joan Benoit, vous avez un tel charme et un tel bagout que vous réussissez facilement à être ce que l'on appelle une tombeuse. 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 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.
Joan Benoit, 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 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 your Ascendant is in the same sign as your Sun. This specific feature means that the Sun's characteristics in sign previously delineated are strengthened.
Joan Benoit, vous avez très tôt pris pour vous-même l'adage "Nul n'est prophète en son pays" et cette impression depuis tout petite que vous possédez quelque chose de différent et qui ne pourra pas être parfaitement compris par vos proches et votre environnement natal vous pousse à... (excerpt)
Plus sensible que vous est difficile, Joan Benoit, ce qui fait que vous pouvez souvent contenir une certaine agressivité que vous aurez en général du mal à extérioriser. Vous êtes habituellement plutôt passive et votre force tient davantage de l'inertie et de la résistance que du déploiement vers l'action. Vous êtes d'humeur changeante et comme vous ne montrez que peu de choses de vous, vous surprenez en réagissant à contre-temps, si tardivement alors que les autres n'ont plus le souvenir de ce qui vous avait troublée à l'origine. Le seul domaine où vous pouvez avec bonheur exprimer toute votre ardeur ou votre action est celui de votre foyer ou, dans un sens plus symbolique, dans le domaine que vous avez sécurisé auparavant : en d'autres mots, vous avez besoin de confiance pour agir, dans le domaine concret aussi bien que celui de votre sexualité.
Votre énergie et votre capacité d'action sont au service de votre carrière et de votre destin tout court, Joan Benoit : pas de doute, c'est là une des configurations planétaires les plus simples et les plus claires. Pas d'hésitation, pour vous, agir, c'est lutter pour grimper dans... (excerpt)
This text is only an excerpt from the portrait of of Joan Benoit, 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.