366 



who plays on the vina, and of a young man, 

 who brandishes a club*." 



The interior zodiac contains, like that of the 

 Thibetans, the Chinese, and the Tartars, only 

 animals, real .?w&«. In the Greek sphere, half 

 the signs are formed of animals found in nature, 

 the other half is composed of human figures, and 

 fabulous or allegorical beings. The Balance, 

 £uyaq, or hn$x, is held sometimes by the claws, 

 fflXxi, of the Scorpion-}- ; at others by a male 

 figure, as in the planisphere of Bianchini, and in 

 the Indian zodiac ; and at others by the Virgin, 

 who in this case assumes the name of Astrea. 

 Sixy. The signs of the lunar mansions, or the 

 hieroglyphics of the days of the Mexican calen- 

 dar, are represented both by animals and inani- 

 mate objects. If we adopt the ingenious idea 

 of Mr. Hager, according to which the sacred 

 stone, brought by Michaux from the banks of 

 the Tygris, is an ancient zodiac, we shall find, 

 that, among the Chaldeans, the series of the real 

 ZuSix was also interrupted by altars, towers, and 

 houses J. This last fact is favourable to the 

 hypothesis, that the dodecatemorions owe their 

 origin to the lunar mansions, or houses. The 

 same stone appears to offer another analogy. In 



* Asiat. Res. vol. 2, page 835. 



t Manil.,lib. I. vol. 609. 



I lllustrazione d'uno Zod, Oriental", cap. 8, p. 39, trav, 2. 



