Zodiac

For the East Asian zodiac based on the Jovian orbital cycle, see Chinese zodiac. For other uses, see Zodiac
(disambiguation).

Two maps of the constellations, two centuries apart. Both show the zodiac constellations along the curved line showing the
sun's ecliptic path.
The zodiac is a belt-shaped region of the sky that extends approximately 8° north or south (as measured
in celestial latitude) of the ecliptic, the apparent path of the Sun across the celestial sphere over the course of the
year. The paths of the Moon and visible planets are within the belt of the zodiac.[1]
In Western astrology, and formerly astronomy, the zodiac is divided into twelve signs, each occupying 30°
of celestial longitude and roughly corresponding to the
star constellations: Aries, Taurus, Gemini, Cancer, Leo, Virgo, Libra, Scorpio, Sagittarius, Capricorn, Aquarius,
and Pisces.[2][3]
These astrological signs form a celestial coordinate system, or more specifically an ecliptic coordinate system,
which takes the ecliptic as the origin of latitude and the Sun's position at vernal equinox as the origin of longitude

Name[edit]
The English word zodiac derives from zōdiacus,[5] the Latinized form of the Ancient Greek zōidiakòs
kýklos (ζῳδιακός κύκλος),[citation needed] meaning "cycle or circle of little animals". Zōidion (ζῴδιον) is the diminutive
of zōion (ζῷον, "animal"). The name reflects the prominence of animals (and mythological hybrids) among the
twelve signs.

Usage[edit]
Modern zodiac wheel showing the 12 signs used in horoscopic astrology
The zodiac was in use by the Roman era, based on concepts inherited by Hellenistic astronomy from Babylonian
astronomy of the Chaldean period (mid-1st millennium BC), which, in turn, derived from an earlier system of lists of
stars along the ecliptic.[6] The construction of the zodiac is described in Ptolemy's comprehensive 2nd century AD
work, the Almagest.[7]
Although the zodiac remains the basis of the ecliptic coordinate system in use in astronomy besides
the equatorial one,[8][9] the term and the names of the twelve signs are today mostly associated with horoscopic
astrology.[10] The term "zodiac" may also refer to the region of the celestial sphere encompassing the paths of the
planets corresponding to the band of about 8 arc degrees above and below the ecliptic. The zodiac of a given
planet is the band that contains the path of that particular body; e.g., the "zodiac of the Moon" is the band of 5°
above and below the ecliptic. By extension, the "zodiac of the comets" may refer to the band encompassing
most short-period comets.[11]

History[edit]
Further information: Former constellation
Early history[edit]
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, unmistakably identified by Karl
Richard Lepsius.[12]

A 6th century mosaic zodiac wheel in a synagogue, incorporating Greek-Byzantine elements, Beit Alpha, Israel

Zodiac circle with planets, c.1000 – NLW MS 735C

Further information: Babylonian star catalogues and MUL.APIN
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 (First
Babylonian dynasty) sources, including Gemini "The Twins," from MAŠ.TAB.BA.GAL.GAL "The Great Twins,"
and Cancer "The Crab," from AL.LUL "The Crayfish," among others. [citation needed]
Around the end of the 5th 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,[13] and probably within a very few years of 401 BC.[14] 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).[15]
Due to the precession of the equinoxes, the time of year the Sun is in a given constellation has changed since
Babylonian times, the point of March equinox has moved from Aries into Pisces.[16]
Because the division was made into equal arcs, 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. [17] They measured the position of a planet in reference to a set of "normal stars"
close to the ecliptic (±9° of latitude) as observational reference points to help positioning a planet within this ecliptic
coordinate system.[18]
In Babylonian astronomical diaries, a planet position was generally given with respect to a zodiacal sign alone, less
often in specific degrees within a sign.[19] 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. [19] In
astronomical ephemerides, the positions of significant astronomical phenomena were computed
in sexagesimal fractions of a degree (equivalent to minutes and seconds of arc).[20] 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.[19]

Hebrew astronomy and astrology[edit]

Knowledge of the Babylonian zodiac is said to be reflected in the Hebrew Bible; E. W. Bullinger interpreted the
creatures appearing in the book of Ezekiel as the middle signs of the four quarters of the zodiac, [21][22] with the Lion
as Leo, the Bull is Taurus, the Man representing Aquarius and the Eagle representing Scorpio. [23] Some authors
have linked the twelve tribes of Israel with the same signs or the lunar Hebrew calendar having twelve lunar
months in a lunar year. 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.[citation
needed]

Hellenistic and Roman era[edit]

The 1st century BC Dendera zodiac (19th-century engraving)

The Babylonian star catalogs entered Greek astronomy in the 4th century BC, via Eudoxus of Cnidus.[24][25] Babylonia
or Chaldea in the Hellenistic world came to be so identified with astrology that "Chaldean wisdom" became
among Greeks and Romans the synonym of divination through the planets and stars. Hellenistic astrology derived
in part from Babylonian and Egyptian astrology.[26] Horoscopic astrology first appeared in Ptolemaic Egypt (305 BC–
30 BC). The Dendera zodiac, a relief dating to ca. 50 BC, 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. 190 BC).[27] 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.[28] 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.
[29]
 Ptolemy lived in the 2nd century AD, three centuries after the discovery of the precession of the
equinoxes by Hipparchus around 130 BC. Hipparchus's lost work on precession never circulated very widely until it
was brought to prominence by Ptolemy,[30] and there are few explanations of precession outside the work of Ptolemy
until late Antiquity, by which time Ptolemy's influence was widely established. [31] 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. [32]
Hindu zodiac[edit]
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.[33] 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. [34] For example, dhanu means "bow" and corresponds to Sagittarius, the
"archer", and kumbha means "water-pitcher" and corresponds to Aquarius, the "water-carrier". [35]

Middle Ages[edit]

Angers Cathedral South Rose Window of Christ (centre) with elders (bottom half) and zodiac (top half). Medieval stained glass
by Andre Robin after the fire of 1451
During the Abbasid era, Greek reference books were systematically translated into Arabic, then Islamic
astronomers 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 glassmaker, André Robin,
made the ornate rosettes for the North and South transepts after the fire there in 1451. [36]
Mughal king Jahangir issued an attractive series of coins in gold and silver depicting the twelve signs of the zodiac.

Medieval Islamic era[edit]

Ottoman-style sundial with folded gnomon and compass. The sundial features engraved toponyms in Arabic and zodiac
symbols. Debbane Palace museum, Lebanon
Astrology emerged in the 8th century CE as a distinct discipline in Islam, [37]: 64  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.[38]
The practice of astrology at this time could be divided into 4 broader categories: Genethlialogy, Catarchic Astrology,
Interrogational Astrology and General Astrology. [37]: 65  However the most common type of astrology was
Genethlialogy, which examined all aspects of a person's life in relation to the planetary positions at their birth; more
commonly known as our horoscope.[37]: 65 
Astrology services were offered widely across the empire, mainly in bazaars, where people could pay for a reading.
[39]
 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. [37]: 66  However, whilst horoscopes were generally widely
accepted by society, many scholars condemned the use of astrology and divination; linking it to occult influences.
[40]
 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. [39]
In order to calculate someone's horoscope, an astrologer would use 3 tools: an astrolabe, ephemeris and a takht.
First, the astrologer would use an astrolabe to find the position of the sun, align the rule with the persons time of
birth and then align the rete to establish the altitude of the sun on that date. [41] 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. [42] 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). [42] The dust board was
merely a tablet covered in sand; on which the calculations could be made and erased easily. [39] Once this had been
calculated, the astrologer was then able to interpret the horoscope. Most of these interpretations were based on the
zodiac in literature. For example, there were several manuals on how to interpret each zodiac sign, the treatise
relating to each individual sign and what the characteristics of these zodiacs were. [39]
Early modern[edit]
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

17th-century fresco of Christ in the zodiac circle, Cathedral of Living Pillar, Georgia

An example of the use of signs as astronomical coordinates may be found in the Nautical Almanac and
Astronomical Ephemeris for the year 1767. The "Longitude of the Sun" columns show the sign (represented as a
digit from 0 to and including 11), degrees from 0 to 29, minutes, and seconds. [43]
The zodiac symbols are Early Modern simplifications of conventional pictorial representations of the signs, attested
since Hellenistic times.

Twelve signs[edit]
Main article: Astrological sign
What follows is a list of the signs of the modern zodiac (with the ecliptic longitudes of their first points), where 0°
Aries is understood as the vernal equinox, with their Latin, Greek, Sanskrit, and Babylonian names. But note that
the Sanskrit and the name equivalents (after c.500 BC) denote the constellations only, not the tropical zodiac signs.
The "English translation" isn't usually used by English speakers. The Latin names are standard English usage
(except that "Capricorn" is used rather than "Capricornus").

The following table compares the Gregorian dates on which the Sun enters a sign in the Ptolemaic tropical zodiac,
and a sign in the sidereal system proposed by Cyril Fagan.

The zodiac signs in a 16th-century woodcut

The beginning of Aries is defined as the moment of vernal equinox, and all other dates shift accordingly.[48] The
precise Gregorian times and dates vary slightly from year to year as the Gregorian calendar shifts relative to
the tropical year. These variations remain within less than two days' difference in the recent past and the near-
future, vernal equinox in UT always falling either on 20 or 21 March in the period of 1797 to 2043, falling on 19
March in 1796 the last time and in 2044 the next. The vernal equinox has fallen on 20 March UT since 2008, and
will continue to do so until 2043. [49]

As each sign takes up exactly 30 degrees of the zodiac, the average duration of the solar stay in each sign is one
twelfth of a sidereal year, or 30.43 standard days. Due to Earth's slight orbital eccentricity, the duration of each sign
varies appreciably, between about 29.4 days for Capricorn and about 31.4 days for Cancer (see Equation of time).
In addition, because the Earth's axis is at an angle, some signs take longer to rise than others, and the farther away
from the equator the observer is situated, the greater the difference. Thus, signs are spoken of as "long" or "short"
ascension.[54]

Constellations[edit]
The Earth in its orbit around the Sun causes the Sun to appear on the celestial sphere moving along the ecliptic (red), which
is tilted 23.44° with respect to the celestial equator (blue-white).

18th c. star map illustrating how the feet of Ophiuchus cross the ecliptic.
In tropical astrology, the zodiacal signs are distinct from the constellations associated with them, not only because
of their drifting apart due to the precession of equinoxes but because the physical constellations take up varying
widths of the ecliptic, so the Sun is not in each constellation for the same amount of time. [55]: 25  Thus, Virgo takes up 5
times as much ecliptic longitude as Scorpius. The zodiacal signs are an abstraction from the physical constellations,
and each represent exactly 1⁄12th of the full circle, but the time spent by the Sun in each sign varies slightly due to the
eccentricity of the Earth's orbit.
Sidereal astrology remedies this by assigning the zodiac sign approximately to the corresponding constellation. This
alignment needs re calibrating every so often to keep the alignment in place.
The ecliptic intersects with 13 constellations of Ptolemy's Almagest,[56] as well as of the more precisely
delineated IAU designated constellations. In addition to the twelve constellations after which the twelve zodiac signs
are named, the ecliptic intersects Ophiuchus,[57] the bottom part of which interjects between Scorpio and Sagittarius.
Occasionally this difference between the astronomical constellations and the astrological signs is mistakenly
reported in the popular press as a "change" to the list of traditional signs by some astronomical body like the
IAU, NASA, or the Royal Astronomical Society. This happened in a 1995 report of the BBC Nine O'Clock News and
various reports in 2011 and 2016. [58][59][60]
Some "parazodiacal" constellations are touched by the paths of the planets, leading to counts of up to 25
"constellations of the zodiac".[61] The ancient Babylonian MUL.APIN catalog lists Orion, Perseus, Auriga,
and Andromeda. Modern astronomers have noted that planets pass
through Crater, Sextans, Cetus, Pegasus, Corvus, Hydra, and Scutum, with Venus very rarely passing
through Aquila, Canis Minor, Auriga, and Serpens.[61]

Astrophotos of the twelve zodiac constellations

Some other constellations are mythologically associated with the zodiacal ones: Piscis Austrinus, The Southern
Fish, is attached to Aquarius. In classical maps, it swallows the stream poured out of Aquarius' pitcher, but perhaps
it formerly just swam in it. Aquila, The Eagle, was possibly associated with the zodiac by virtue of its main
star, Altair.[citation needed] Hydra in the Early Bronze Age marked the celestial equator and was associated with Leo, which
is shown standing on the serpent on the Dendera zodiac.[citation needed] Corvus is the Crow or Raven mysteriously
perched on the tail of Hydra.