Zodiac Mythology
Zodiac mythology was the first known celestial coordinate system. There were two zodiac systems created from which the Western world derived their understanding of the zodiac system. Babylonian astronomy developed the zodiac system with 12 signs which are now familiar in the West. The term zodiac means “circle of animals”. The classical Greek zodiac also includes signs but are not represented by animals. The Greek term of zodiac denotes a path, or the path through which the sun travels. The zodiac stands for an annual cycle where twelve stations along the path of the sun through the constellations which divide into twelve equal zones of celestial longitude.
Another explanation of the zodiac is that it means a region of the celestial sphere which includes a band of 8 arc degrees above and below the ecliptic and encompasses the paths of the moon and the planets which can be seen by the naked eye. These planets are Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn. The early astronomers called the planets wondering stars to separate them from the fixed stars of the Ptolemy. The astrologers used the movement of the planets and the sun to determine what the events on the earth would be.
The Egyptians and the Mesopotamians determined the seasons by the constellations we know as Taurus, Leo, Scorpio, and Aquarius by the year 2000, B. C.. This way of determining the seasons may have been used as far back as 5,000 B. C. The dividing of the ecliptic into the zodiac signs originated about the 1st millennium by the Babylonians. According to the Babylonian calendar each month represents a constellation, beginning with the position of the sun in the vernal equinox. The original Babylonian zodiac had 18 signs. The 12 sign zodiac was developed later and became the permanent form used. It was believed the reason for this may have been that there were only 12 months in the Babylonian year. Of all of the planets in the zodiac, Jupiter is the most important one.
The twelve zodiac signs used today are 1. Aries (The Ram), 2. Taurus (The Bull), 3. Gemini (The Twins), 4. Cancer (The Crab), 5. Leo (The Lion), 6. Virgo (The Virgin), 7. Libra (The Scale), Scorpio (The Scorpion), 9. Sagittarius (The Centaur), 10. Capricorn (The Sea Goat), 11. Aquarius (The Pitcher), and 12. Pisces (The Fish). Many of the early Greek myths tell about the constellations and according to the ancient Greeks named the heavenly bodies and the gods ruled them. The Greeks felt that there were gods who ruled and controlled every single thing that existed and every event in the scheme of things.
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