12. Signs of the zodiac

We continue with our daily extracts from Barnaby Rogerson's fascinating Book of Numbers. Today, we look at the zodiac

Aries (ram)
Taurus (bull)
Gemini (twins)
Cancer (crab)
Leo (lion)
Virgo (virgin)
Libra (scales)
Scorpio (scorpion)
Sagittarius (archer)
Capricorn (goat)
Aquarius (water carrier)
Pisces (fish)

The zodiac is a very old concept, which has impregnated our thought patterns for thousands of years. In essence it was the observation of the sun's circular path through the heavens (as viewed from the earth) and the division of this into 12 equal sections of 30 degrees to make a complete circuit of 360 degrees. Like so much of our world, the start date is spring, the vernal equinox of 21 March, so Aries (21 March–20 April) must always start the cycle.

The symbols chosen by the Sumerian astrologers and their imaginative pattern making of sacred shapes from the most prominent stars passed seamlessly into Babylonian, Egyptian, Hindu and Greek thought – notably through the teachings of a pair of well-travelled Greeks, Eudoxus of Cnidus and from the Egyptian-Greek scholar Ptolemy, whose Almagest colonised the imagination of both Islam and Christendom.

But just to read the Sumerian names is to stand in witness of an impressive piece of 5,000-year-old living continuity: Luhunga (farmer) is Aries; Gu Anna (bull of heaven) is Taurus; Mastabba Bagal (great twins) is Gemini; Al-Lul (crayfish) is Cancer; Urgula (lion) is Leo; Ab Sin (virgin land) is Virgo; Zib Baanna (scales) is Libra; Girtab (scorpion) is Scorpio; Pabilsag (soldier) is Sagittarius; Suhurmas (goat-fish) is Capricorn; Gu La ('great one') is Aquarius, the water bearer during the winter rains; and Dununu (fish cord) is Pisces.

Tomorrow: the 13 hallows of Britain

• Taken from Rogerson's Book of Numbers by Barnaby Rogerson (Profile).

Reference and languagesBarnaby Rogerson
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