same series of signs, as is contained in the zodiac 
of the Mexicans. 
The astronomical monument, of which Bian- 
chini sent a drawing to the academy, is a mar- 
ble fragment preserved in the Vatican, and 
found at Rome in 1705. We propose here to 
examine it with particular attention, because it 
seems well adapted to throw light on the divi- 
sions of the ecliptic used in Mexico and eastern 
Asia. It exhibits, in five consecutive zones, the 
figures of the planets, the decani, the asterisms of 
the Greek zodiac repeated twice, and the signs 
of another zodiac, which has the greatest ana- 
logy with that of the Tartar nations. We may 
be surprised, that Fontenelle, Bailly, Dupuis, and 
Other distinguished men of letters, who have 
written on the origin of the zodiacs, should have 
taken this bass-relief for an Egyptian work*. 
According to the observation of Mr. Visconti, 
the style of the figures representing the planets 
evidently proves, that it was sculptured in the 
time of the Caesars. In this mutilated monu- 
ment we recognise, among the signs of the in- 
terior zone, a horse, a crab, a serpent, a dog that 
♦ Hist, de I’Acad. des Sciences, 1708, vol. 1, p. 110. 
Bailly, Hist, de I’Astr. anc., p. 493 and 504. Dupuis, 
Origine des Cultes, vol. 1, p. 180. Hager, Illustraz, d’uno 
Zodiaco orientate, 1811, p. 15. 
