FOR some their morning routine starts with a cup of coffee and looking up their star signs every day in the papers to see what 'fortunes' or 'misfortunes' their day held. Aside from being a little bit of fun, this practice apparently has deep roots in our history.
Is it true that the concept of Western zodiac signs has been around since the 1st Millennium BC?
Verdict:
TRUE
The Western zodiac, which is based on the movements of the sun relative to the stars of the constellations, is thought to have originated with the ancient Babylonians in the 1st millennium BC.
The Babylonians divided the sky into 12 equal parts, each associated with a different constellation, and assigned specific dates to each one. These dates were then used to create a lunar calendar, which was used to predict the dates of eclipses and other astronomical events.
How a person determines their zodiac is checking which of the 12 constellations was in the part of the sky that the sun rose from on the day they were born.
The time the sun spends in a constellation is roughly for about a month before it moves to the next zodiac sign.
This 'movement' is actually an illusion which is caused by the Earth's own motion around the sun.
Over time, the Babylonian zodiac was adopted and adapted by other cultures, including the ancient Egyptians, Greeks, and Romans. These cultures added their own interpretations and associations to the zodiac, further shaping the modern Western understanding of the zodiac signs.
Despite its ancient origins, the Western zodiac remains a popular and enduring symbol in modern astrology.
Each of the 12 zodiac signs is associated with a specific set of characteristics and is said to be influenced by the positioning of the sun, moon, and planets at the time of a person's birth.
However, astrology is not considered a science, and the predictions made by astrologers are not proven by scientific studies - which is the reason why many do not believe in zodiac signs or the correlation between astrology and human personalities.
Although your zodiac does not actually influence your life nor determine your personality, the practice of astrology was integral to the development of modern day astronomy.
References:
1. https://plato.stanford.edu/
2. https://www.theguardian.
