History of Palmistry
Palm-reading traditions developed across multiple cultures and were systematized in different ways. European chiromancy is documented in medieval and early-modern sources, while modern popular palmistry was heavily shaped by nineteenth-century writers.
Palm-reading traditions appear in multiple cultural settings rather than descending from one securely documented inventor. European chiromancy is attested in medieval sources and later became entangled with astrology and physiognomy. Nineteenth-century writers such as d'Arpentigny, Desbarrolles and Cheiro strongly shaped the modern popular systems still circulated today.
Stories attributing a canonical palmistry treatise to Aristotle are unreliable; such material belongs to later pseudo-Aristotelian traditions rather than Aristotle's accepted works.