330 



Prom the remotest periods, the nations of 

 Asia were acquainted with the two divisions of 

 the ecliptic, one into 27 or 28 houses, or lunar 

 prefectures, the other into 12 parts. The asser- 

 tion, that this last division was found only among 

 the Egyptians, is erroneous. The most ancient 

 monuments of Indian literature, the works of 

 Calidas and Amarsinh* mention both the 12 

 signs of the zodiac, and the 27 campaigns of the 

 moon. From what we know of the communica- 

 tions which had taken place several thousands 

 of years before our eera, between the nations of 

 Ethiopia, Upper Egypt, and Hindostan, we 

 ought not to consider all that they transmitted 

 to the people of Greece as belonging exclusively 

 to the Egyptians. 



The division of the ecliptic into 27 or 28 lunar 

 houses, is probably -f* more ancient than the 

 division into twelve parts, which relate to the 

 annual motion of the Sun. Phenomena repeated 

 every lunation in the same order, fix the attention 

 of men much more strongly than changes of po- 

 sition, the cycle of which is finished only in the 

 space of a year. As the Moon is placed, in each 

 lunation, near the same stars, it appears natural, 

 that particular names should be given to the 27 

 or 28 constellations, through which she passes in 



Asiatic Researches, rol. ii, p. 346. 

 + Le dentil, vol. i, p. 261. 



