Early history As early as the 14th century BC a complete list of the 36 Egyptian
decans was placed among the hieroglyphs adorning the tomb of
Seti I; they figured again in the temple of
Ramesses II, and characterize every Egyptian astrological monument. Both the famous zodiacs of
Dendera display their symbols, identified by
Karl Richard Lepsius. (dated year 8 of his reign or 145 AD) showing his portrait and a Zodiac wheel with the busts of
Helios and
Selene in the center incorporating Greek-Byzantine elements, Israel The division of the ecliptic into the zodiacal signs originates in
Babylonian astronomy during the first half of the
1st millennium BC. The zodiac draws on stars in earlier
Babylonian star catalogues, such as the
MUL.APIN catalogue, which was compiled around 1000 BC. Some constellations can be traced even further back, to Bronze Age (
Old Babylonian Empire) sources, including
Gemini "The Twins", from "The Great Twins";
Cancer "The Crab", from "The Crayfish", among others. Around the end of the fifth century BC,
Babylonian astronomers divided the ecliptic into 12 equal "signs", by analogy to 12 schematic months of 30 days each. Each sign contained 30° of
celestial longitude, thus creating the first known celestial coordinate system. According to calculations by modern astrophysics, the zodiac was introduced between 409 and 398 BC, during
Persian rule, and probably within a very few years of 401 BC. Unlike modern astrologers, who place the beginning of the sign of
Aries at the position of the Sun at the
vernal equinox in the
Northern Hemisphere (
March equinox), Babylonian astronomers fixed the zodiac in relation to stars, placing the beginning of
Cancer at the "Rear Twin Star" (
β Geminorum) and the beginning of
Aquarius at the "Rear Star of the Goat-Fish" (
δ Capricorni). Due to the
precession of the equinoxes, the time of year the Sun is in a given constellation has changed since Babylonian times, as the point of March equinox has moved from
Aries into
Pisces. Because the divisions were made into equal arcs of 30° each, they constituted an ideal system of reference for making predictions about a planet's longitude. However, Babylonian techniques of observational measurements were in a rudimentary stage of evolution. In
Babylonian astronomical diaries, a planet position was generally given with respect to a zodiacal sign alone, though less often in specific degrees within a sign. When the degrees of longitude were given, they were expressed with reference to the 30° of the zodiacal sign, i.e., not with a reference to the continuous 360° ecliptic. For daily ephemerides, the daily positions of a planet were not as important as the astrologically significant dates when the planet crossed from one zodiacal sign to the next. with the Lion as
Leo, the Bull as
Taurus, the Man as Aquarius and the Eagle as a higher aspect of Scorpio. Some authors have linked the signs of the zodiac with the
twelve tribes of Israel, and with the lunar
Hebrew calendar, which has twelve
lunar months in a
lunar year.
Ernest L. Martin and others have argued that the arrangement of the tribes around the
Tabernacle (reported in the
Book of Numbers) corresponded to the order of the zodiac, with
Judah,
Reuben,
Ephraim, and
Dan representing the middle signs of Leo, Aquarius, Taurus, and Scorpio, respectively. Such connections were taken up by
Thomas Mann, who in his novel
Joseph and His Brothers, attributes characteristics of a sign of the zodiac to each tribe, in his rendition of the
Blessing of Jacob.
Hellenistic and Roman era (19th-century engraving) The Babylonian star catalogs entered
Greek astronomy in the 4th century BC, via
Eudoxus of Cnidus.
Horoscopic astrology first appeared in
Ptolemaic Egypt (305 BC–30 BC). The
Dendera zodiac, a relief dating to , is the first known depiction of the classical zodiac of twelve signs. The earliest extant Greek text using the Babylonian division of the zodiac into 12 signs of 30 equal degrees each is the
Anaphoricus of
Hypsicles of Alexandria (fl.190BC). Particularly important in the development of Western horoscopic astrology was the astrologer and astronomer
Ptolemy, whose work
Tetrabiblos laid the basis of the
Western astrological tradition. Under the Greeks, and Ptolemy in particular, the planets, Houses, and signs of the zodiac were rationalized and their function set down in a way that has changed little to the present day. Ptolemy lived in the 2nd century AD, three centuries after the discovery of the
precession of the equinoxes by
Hipparchus around 130 BC. Hipparchus' lost work on precession never circulated very widely until it was brought to prominence by Ptolemy, and there are few explanations of precession outside the work of Ptolemy until late Antiquity, by which time Ptolemy's influence was widely established. Ptolemy clearly explained the theoretical basis of the western zodiac as being a
tropical coordinate system, by which the zodiac is aligned to the equinoxes and solstices, rather than the visible constellations that bear the same names as the zodiac signs.
Hindu zodiac According to mathematician-historian
Montucla, the Hindu zodiac was adopted from the
Greek zodiac through communications between ancient India and the Greek empire of
Bactria. The
Hindu zodiac uses the
sidereal coordinate system, which makes reference to the fixed stars. The tropical zodiac (of Mesopotamian origin) is divided by the intersections of the
ecliptic and
equator, which shifts in relation to the backdrop of fixed stars at a rate of 1° every 72 years, creating the phenomenon known as precession of the equinoxes. The Hindu zodiac, being sidereal, does not maintain this seasonal alignment, but there are still similarities between the two systems. The Hindu zodiac signs and corresponding Greek signs sound very different, being in Sanskrit and Greek respectively, but their symbols are nearly identical. For example,
dhanu means "bow" and corresponds to Sagittarius, the "archer", and
kumbha means "water-pitcher" and corresponds to Aquarius, the "water-carrier".
Middle Ages During the
Abbasid era, Greek reference books were translated into
Arabic, and
Islamic astronomers then did their own observations, correcting Ptolemy's Almagest. One such book was
Al-Sufi's
Book of Fixed Stars, which has pictorial depictions of 48 constellations. The book was divided into three sections: constellations of the zodiac, constellations north of the zodiac, and southern constellations. When Al-Sufi's book, and other works, were translated in the 11th century, there were mistakes made in the translations. As a result, some stars ended up with the names of the constellation they belong to (e.g.
Hamal in Aries). The High Middle Ages saw a revival of interest in
Greco-Roman magic, first in
Kabbalism and later continued in
Renaissance magic. This included magical uses of the zodiac, as found, e.g., in the
Sefer Raziel HaMalakh. The zodiac is found in medieval
stained glass as at
Angers Cathedral, where the master glass maker, André Robin, made the ornate
rosettes for the North and South transepts after the fire there in 1451.
Medieval Islamic era museum,
Lebanon Astrology emerged in the 8th century AD as a distinct discipline in Islam, with a mix of Indian, Hellenistic Iranian and other traditions blended with Greek and Islamic astronomical knowledge, for example Ptolemy's work and Al-Sufi's Book of Fixed Stars. A knowledge of the influence that the stars have on events on the earth was important in Islamic civilization. As a rule, it was believed that the signs of the zodiac and the planets control the destiny not only of people but also of nations, and that the zodiac has the ability to determine a person's physical characteristics as well as intelligence and personal traits. The practice of astrology at this time could be divided into four broader categories:
Genethlialogy, Catarchic Astrology, Interrogational Astrology and General Astrology. Astrology was valued in the royal courts, for example, the Abbasid Caliph Al-Mansur used astrology to determine the best date for founding the new capital of Baghdad. Many theologians and scholars thought that it went against the tenets of Islam; as only God should be able to determine events rather than astrologers looking at the positions of the planets. Next, the astrologer would use an ephemeris, a table denoting the mean position of the planets and stars within the sky at any given time. Finally, the astrologer would add the altitude of the sun taken from the astrolabe, with the mean position of the planets on the person's birthday, and add them together on the takht (also known as the dustboard).
Mughal king Jahangir issued an attractive series of coins in gold and silver depicting the twelve signs of the zodiac. File:P.9 a volvella of the moon. A volvella is a moveable device for working out the position of the sun and moon in the zodiac.jpg|A volvella of the moon. A volvella is a moveable device for working out the position of the Sun and Moon in the zodiac, 15th century File:Monasterio de Svetitskhoveli, Miskheta, Georgia, 2016-09-29, DD 41.jpg|17th-century fresco of
Christ in the zodiac circle,
Cathedral of Living Pillar,
Georgia == Twelve signs ==