Where Did the Zodiac Signs Come From?

Are you one of those people who checks their daily horoscope religiously? Do you ever wonder where the zodiac signs come from? In this post, we’ll take a look at the history of the zodiac signs and how they came to be used in astrology. The zodiac is a zone of the sky that extends about 8° to either side of the ecliptic, which is the Sun’s yearly path around the sky. The zodiac is divided into 12 constellations, or signs, each named after a different animal or figure from Greek or Roman mythology.

The first record of the zodiac being used in astrology comes from cuneiform tablets that date back to around 1000 BCE. These tablets were used by ancient Babylonian astronomers to predict lunar eclipses. The Babylonians divided the sky into 3600 arc minutes and each sign corresponded to 100 arc minutes. The first known mention of the 12 zodiac signs is in Horace’s Epodes, an epic poem written in 30 BCE. In this poem, Horace compares his love interest to different signs of the zodiac.

It’s likely that this was not meant to be taken literally but was just a poetic way of flattering his loved one. Around 27 BCE, Roman astronomer Geminus wrote a treatise called Introduction to the Phenomena in which he listed the 12 signs of the zodiac in order from Aries to Pisces. This is likely one of the earliest instances where we see the order of the signs being used as we know them today. It wasn’t until around 2 BCE that astrology really began to be taken seriously as a predictive science.

This was when Ptolemy wrote his book Tetrabiblos, which laid out many principles that are still used by astrologers today. In this book, Ptolemy listed all of astrology’s different branches and sub-branches and devoted a section to each sign of the zodiac. He also renamed some constellations to match their associated mythological figures, like calling Orion “Osiris” after the Egyptian god of death and regeneration.

Fast forward a few hundred years, and we find that both Chinese and Indian cultures have developed their own systems for predicting future events using planetary positions relative to fixed stars and constellations. It’s interesting to note that both cultures independently arrived at very similar systems despite having no known contact with each other at that time.

So there you have it! A brief history of how the 12 signs of our modern-day zodiac came to be associated with astrology. Do you think your sign accurately represents your personality?