NATURE 
S20 
THURSDAY, APRIL 6, 1882 
THE ORIGIN OF THE SIGNS OF THE ZODIAC 
The Unicorn: a Mythological Investigation. By Robt. 
Brown, Jun. (London; Longmans, Green, and Co., 
1881.) 
Astral Origin of the Emblems and Hebrew Alphabet. 
By J. H. Broome. (London: Edw. Stanford, 18381.) 
T is perhaps unjust to Mr. Brown’s very attractive and 
suggestive book to couple it with the wild and 
ignorant lucubrations of the Rev. J. H. Broome. Mr. 
Brown has collected his facts from the latest and best 
authorities, and displays a wonderful amount of wide 
reading. His main object is to show that the unicorn of 
heraldry is the last faded representative of the horned 
moon of early mythology who struggles in vain with the 
solar lion, and among other curious points which he 
seems to have made clear is that the 777guetra of Sicily, 
the three legs of the Isle of Man, is the lunar ass of the 
Bundehesh with the triple legs. His book supplies 
another illustration of the close connection that exists 
between mythical astronomy and mythical zoology. As 
for Mr. Broome it is sufficient to say that he supposes the 
square Hebrew characters to constitute an independent 
alphabet of early origin, and the zodiac of Denderah to 
be “the oldest planisphere in the world, apparently 
referring to a time when the winter solstice, 4000 B.c., 
was quitting Pisces to enter Aquarius.’’ Before he again 
commits himself to print, a study of some elementary 
work on the history of the alphabet, as well as some 
acquaintance with Hebrew and Arabic, would be ad- 
visable. 
The subject, however, which he has attempted to 
handle is really an interesting one. The origin of the 
signs of the zodiac is a question which we have but 
recently obtained materials for answering. Even the 
origin and meaning of the symbols by which they are 
represented are unknown to most of those who are in the 
habit of using them. Some of these symbols, certainly, 
are plain enough: it is not difficult, for instance, to dis- 
cover the horns of the bull in the symbol of Taurus, or 
the arrow in that of Sagittarius. But the meaning of 
others, such as the symbols of Virgo, of Scorpio, or of 
Capricornus, is not so self evident. These symbols, how- 
ever, are of comparatively modern invention, and first 
came into use along with the symbols still employed by 
astronomers to denote the planets. In an interesting 
article upon the latter in Za (ature last January, it is 
pointed out that they cannot be traced further back than 
the tenth century, and owe their origin to the connection 
the alchemists believed to exist between the planets and 
the metals. The precise forms of the symbols were not 
fixed immediately, and Letronne (Revue archéologique, 
ili. p. 261, 1846) maintains that at first the initial letters 
of the names of the planets were employed, of which the 
Greek Z, still representing Zeus or Jupiter, is the sole 
survival. The symbols of Mercury, of Venus, of Mars, 
and of Saturn are respectively pictures of the caduceus, 
the mirror, the spear and shield, and the sickle which 
characterised the deities after whom the planets were 
named. The cross which surmounts the globe of the 
VOL. xxv.—No. 649 
earth points to Christian influence, and is probably not 
older than the sixteenth century, while the trident of 
Neptune has been substituted for the L. and V. of the 
name of Le Verrier only within the last half-century, and’ 
the symbol of Uranus is little more than the initial H of 
the name of Herschel. 
But modern though the symbols of the planets and 
zodiacal signs may be, it is quite otherwise with the signs 
themselves, and the majority of the names by which we 
still call them. Recent research has shown that the 
general voice of classical antiquity was right in regarding 
the Chaldeans as the first to map out the path of the sun 
during the year into separate regions, or constellations. 
Copies made by Assyrian scribes of older Babylonian 
works on astronomy have been found in the library of 
Nineveh, and are now in the British Museum. From 
these we may form some idea of the astronomical notions 
which prevailed among the Babylonians 4000 years ago, 
as well as trace almost to their beginning the so-called 
Signs of the Zodiac. 
The primitive population of Babylonia, now known by 
the name of Accadians, did not belong to the Semitic 
race, but spoke an agglutinative language like the Finns 
or Turks of to-day. It was they who first made Chaldea 
famous for its study of astronomy, and it is to them that 
the Signs of the Zodiac are due. Each sign represented 
a month of thirty days, and the signs and months were 
accordingly called by common names. As far back as 
our records carry us the year began with Aries, but we 
have indications that the names of the zodiacal signs 
were originally given in that remote epoch when the 
vernal equinox still coincided with the entrance of the 
suninto Taurus. At all events the Accadian name of 
the second month and second sign is that of “ the direct- 
ing Bull,” a name which could have a signification only 
when the Bull directed the course of the year. 
Why the opening of the year was thus placed under 
the protection of the Bull we are now able to explain. The 
ecliptic, or “ path of the sun’? as it is sometimes expressly 
called, was also termed “the furrow of heaven,” and the 
planet Jupiter was commonly known as “the planet of 
the furrow of heaven,’ or “the bull of the sun.’ The 
sun-god, Merodach, when regarded as passing through 
the zodiacal signs, was addressed as Gudibir, “the bull 
of light,’ which must, therefore, have been another way 
of naming the ecliptic. Since the Accadian term for 
planet literally signified “ old sheep,” while Arcturus, the 
Bootes of the Greeks, was called “the shepherd of the 
heavenly flock,”’ it is evident that the agricultural popula- 
tion of early Babylonia looked upon the sky as a vast 
field, filled with flocks and herds, where the sun, like a 
toiling bull, “directed”’ the plough through the bright 
furrow of heaven. The belief that the celestial bodies 
were animals was not confined to the Accadians ; we find 
it prevailing among uncultivated tribes all over the world. 
The only way in which primitive man was able to explain 
the motions of the stars and planets was by supposing 
them to be endowed with the same life as the animals by 
whom he was surrounded. 
The origin of the name of Aries is less clear. In 
Accadian the sign is called “ he who dwells on the altar of 
uprightness,’’ and is explained to mean the god Bel, 
Possibly we have here an allusion to the Assyro-Pheenician 
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