160 G. Thibaut— Babylonian Origin of the Tamar Zodiac. [No. 4, 
however, would by itself be hardly sufficient to establish the conclusion 
in question ; for the idea of laying out a zodiac in special connection 
with the periodic revolution of the moon is, if not an obvious one, at 
any rate such as may possibly occur to different individuals or nations 
independently. The argument, therefore, really binges on a second 
circumstance, viz., the identity or partial identity of the asterisms con¬ 
stituting the different zodiacs. But here also the distinction made 
above, has to be kept in view, and has actually been kept in view by all 
competent enquirers. That the Arabs, Hindus and Chinese alike, 
include within their zodiacs, stars like Aldebaran and Spica, and groups 
of stars like the Pleiades, and a and (3 Greminorum, can convince, and has 
convinced, nobody of the original connection of the three series ; for in 
all such cases the selection was a matter of necessity rather than choice. 
But something like conviction begins to form itself when w T e meet with 
cases where the three nations although free to take different lines, agree 
in following one and the same track. The coincidences falling under 
this head are not numerous ; but some of them are highly striking. 
There is, in the first place, the choice of three faint stars in Orion’s 
head (A., Of 6 2 ) to constitute the al-haka of the Arabs, the Mrigagiras 
of the Hindus, the Tse of the Chinese. There next is the choice of 
certain stars in the tail of the Scorpion, which lie at a considerable 
distance south of the Ecliptic to mark the as-saula of the Arabs, the 
A l ill a of the Hindus, and the Wei of the Chinese. There further is the 
fact that all the three zodiacs agree in marking two of their stations 
by the stars constituting the so-called square in Pegasus, although all 
those stars have a hio-h northern latitude (the two Bhadrapadds of the 
Hindus, the two Farahs of the Arabs, She and Pi of the Chinese). To 
the same class of cases belongs the selection — met with, however, in 
the Hindu and Arab zodiacs only — of two stars of the third magnitude 
(8 and 0 Leonis), which both have a high northern latitude, to constitute 
the Piirva Phalguni of the Hindus, and the Cluing of the Chinese. We 
may also, I think, mention, under this heading, the inclusion within 
the series of the small stars 35, 39 a. 41 Arietis —which form the 
Bharani of the Hindus, the al-Butain of the Arabs, and the Wei of 
the Chinese ; and perhaps, also, the fact that certain little conspicuous 
stars in Hydra—which, moreover, do not lie very close to the 
Ecliptic — were selected to constitute the A^leshds of the Hindus and 
the Lieu of the Chinese. In this last case, however, the Arab Zodiac 
deviates from the two others, in keeping close to the Ecliptic. But, even 
if we abstract from the less striking cases, there remain a number of 
coincidences so remarkable that the hypothesis of a common origin of 
the three lunar zodiacs suggests itself almost inevitably. If, on the 
