Charlotte R. Long wrote in her book The Twelve Gods of Greece and Rome (p. 295) that the 1st century C.E. altar, found in Gabii in 1793 by Gavin Hamilton shows the twelve heads of the Roman gods in relation to the zodiac signs relieves that run along the side of the cylinder with their symbols. Mars rules Scorpio and his symbol is the Wolf.
I copied this picture from Wikimedia Commons. It was Uploaded by Jastrow (2006) entry: Image:Altar twelve gods Louvre Ma666.jpg
Silver necklace with Scorpio glyph made by C. Lago. Picture is courtesy of "ametistagirl" from Flickr
Glyphs (Internationally known hieroglyphics / symbols used in Western astrology to represent the 12 signs of the Zodiac) are a surprisingly late astrological development- they were used for the first time only circa 10th century C.E.:
Aries: curved horns of the ram or the letter T
Taurus: circle with horns on top
Gemini: like the roman symbol for the 2 (II)
Leo: small circle connected to lion’s tail
Virgo: looks like the letter M plus the letter V
Libra: pair of scales
Sagittarius: looks like an arrow aiming upward
Capricorn: curved tail of a fish or first two letters in the Greek word tragos, which means "goat."
(Source: The Alpha and the Omega by Jim A. Cornwell)
Aquarius: two zigzags one above the other - looks like water
Pisces: back-to-back half circles connected by an horizontal line in the middle
14th century Scorpio sign from Italy, Milan-Duomo (Cathedral), where at midday, a ray of sun hits the right zodiacal sign.
Picture is courtesy of mixedmediaexpressions.com from Flickr.
Scorpio sign in Palermo Sicily Cathedral as part of 1690 meridian line and solar calendar (heliometer). Above there’s a small hole in the roof. on midsummer's day the light from the hole falls on Cancer and six months' later on Capricorn. Picture is courtesy of maha-online from Flickr.
The most surprising Antikythera mechanism (no one expected that the Greeks could build such a complicated device so early) was discovered in a ship wreck near the Greek island of Antikythera in 1901 and is dated to about 150–100 B.C.E. It is kept in Athens at the National Archaeological Museum.
The front dial has a scale with the 365 days, which surrounds a scale with the Greek signs of the Zodiac.
Picture is copied from Wikimedia entry Antikythera uploaded by Marsyas.
Six hexagrams, a telescope along with the zodiacal signs and glyphs appear on a mosaic ceiling at Greenwich Town Hall, London, England, above the main door. It is not clear why the hexagrams were introduced in this context and why six. I guess it has to do with the influence of alchemy. Anyhow it’s a nice contribution to my new research about the hexagram and the Zodiac
See: www.flickr.com/groups/858932@N24/discuss/72157607482488166/
The Scorpio sign is the second from the bottom on the left column.
Picture is courtesy of a2d
The connection between the zodiac and the six-pointed star is the subject of my new research.
Photo is courtesy of Dobush from Kfar Aza, Israel.
The design of Merréll O'Brian's book cover shows that there is a connection between the zodiac and the six-pointed star. this is also the subject of my research.
Merréll O'Brian designed the Zodiac signs, each on a separate Star of David, on the cover of his book The Council of Twelve. He wrote to me that
The Council of Twelve has been in existence for 26000 years since The Creator placed Adam, Aries,"the First" as a high priest of the tribes; Adam created with the sun and moon…
The 12 signs of the zodiac may be interpreted as stages of spiritual development, starting from
slavery and ending in freedom. Take for example Roeland de Looff who wrote on his web page a beautiful piece about Tibetan Astrology. Here are some points:
Aries is symbolized by a drawing of a blind man. Aries is hasty and that's why it stumbles.
Taurus is symbolized by a drawing of a potter. Taurus’s will shapes its future by its deeds.
Gemini is symbolized by a drawing of a restless monkey. Gemini is restless and is jumping between projects.
Cancer is symbolized by a drawing of a ship with two voyagers (consciousness & body) and a navigator (true self).
Leo is symbolized by a drawing of a house with windows representing the six senses: eyes, nose, ears, tongues, body and mind.
Virgo is symbolized by a drawing of two figures making love (representing contact).
Libra is symbolized by a drawing of a figure with an arrow in his eye (representing too much information).
Scorpio is symbolized by a drawing of a woman who is giving beverage to a man (representing desires and feelings).
Sagittarius is symbolized by a drawing of a woman that collects fruit in a basket (representing satisfaction through earthly objects).
Capricorn is symbolized by a drawing of two people making love in a cabin (representing new start)
Aquarius is symbolized by a drawing of a birth (representing new life).
Pisces is symbolized by a drawing of a burial. (Representing loss of material-life and release from the Wheel of Life.
Scorpio and the other zodiacal signs appear on this massive relief carved from a single stone at the Bel Temple, Palmyra, Syria. The zodiac signs surround Bel and the other planet-gods Helios, Selene, Ares, Hermes, Aphrodite and Cronos. Picture is courtesy of “spdl_n1”
Palmyra (aka Tadmor) is 215 km northeast of Damascus. Bel’s Greek name is Zeus and his Roman name is Jupiter. This temple is dated to the reign of Tiberius in 32 C.E.
In order to see the signs clearly I'm afraid you'll have to zoom in by clicking the All Sizes command above the picture
Scorpio sign appears in the center of (Diana) Artemis’ chest along with the other signs of the zodiac around her neck on a 125-175 C.E. statue exhibited in Ephesus Museum, Turkey. Picture is courtesy of AWWS.
In Greek mythology Hellenic goddess Artemis was the twin sister of Apollo.
Zodiac Signs appear on the 1908 floor of the Roman Catholic Dormition (“Falling Asleep” of the Virgin) Church in Jerusalem along with names of Prophets Daniel, Isaiah, Jeremiah and Ezekiel and a verse from Proverbs 8, 23-25. The three intersecting circles in the center symbolize the Trinity. Designer of the church was Heinrich Renard.
Picture is courtesy of “Black and white archive” From Flickr
Picture was taken in 1945 by James George (1921 - 2006)
This Cuneiform tablet picture is courtesy of Nickmard Khoey who published it on Flickr with the following caption:
This is the last datable cuneiform tablet in the British Museum. It gives the monthly positions of the planets in the zodiac signs and the dates of their characteristic phenomena. Dates of solstices, equinoxes and eclipses are also given. The text also refers to the rising of Sirius, and especially bright star used as calendar markers by various cultures across the ancient world.
61 C.E., Babylon, Iraq
P.S.
Nickmard Khoey added:
It is the "last" dated Cunieform tablet. It has been dated because of the Zodiac information on it. Cunieform was still in use until the 1st Century AD. It was used for more than 3,000 years in various forms by different near eastern empires.
It’s a pity that I can’t read cuneiform letters. It would have been much more friendly if we could see the known zodiac-signs scattered between these strange letters, but it seems that these were invented latter.
The Tetractys shows the numbers 1, 2, 3, 4 as dots, each in a separate line.
The Tetractys is connected to the six-pointed Star, like we see here in the following drawing.
It is also connected to the zodiac as Clare Martin showed in her book "Mapping the Psyche", London, 2005:
Pythagoras devised the Tetractys as a mathematical model that shows how numbers describe the nature of the universe as well as the nature of any system, including the human being…
These numbers are not simply quantitative, but are also archetypes of number, with ‘oneness’, ‘twoness’, ‘threeness’ and ‘fourness’ being understood as wholes or unities in themselves, each with their own qualitative meaning.
1- There is one zodiac
2- The signs are active or passive (Scorpio is passive)
3- The signs are cardinal, fixed or mutable (Scorpio is fixed)
4- Each sign belongs to one of the elements: fire, earth, air, water (Scorpio is water)
Scorpio sign appears on a 1982 German Zodiac signs stamp issued to mark four hundred years of the Gregorian calendar.
Copyright: Dobush From Kfar Aza, Israel
Nearby there's a big sign notifying that an ancient legend has it that if you touch your Zodiac sign and make a wish while looking at the sea - your wish will come true. To me it looks like a modern legend invented to attract tourists - why didn't they mention the source of the legend?
Scorpio with the other signs of the zodiac appears on a Bas-relief, which is kept now in the Estense Museum in Modena, Italy.
From: The Mysteries Of Mithra by Franz Cumont, Chicago, 1903 p. 223
At Housesteads on Hadrian's Wall, Britain, there was found a A bronze image of Mithras surrounded by the Twelve Signs of the Zodiac. This is the earliest artifact showing the Signs of the Zodiac in the north-west provinces of the Roman Empire.
Mithraism was brought to Rome by Roman soldiers from Persia in the first century C.E.
Picture of Amphora
from Psyakos, 520 BC, Breskia Museum Italy
on a Greek stamp depicting Hercules killing the Nemean Lion
There are many references to the connection between Hercules' 12 Labors and the Zodiac. Alice A. Bailey even dedicated a whole book to this issue (The Labours of Hercules: An Astrological Interpretation, 2000).
Here’s a digest from: http://www.mlahanas.de/Greeks/Mythology/HeraclesLabours.html
The Lernean Hydra - Cancer
The Nemean Lion -Leo
The Erymanthian Boar - Cancer
The Apples of the Hesperides- Scorpio
The Cerynian Hind- Libra
The Stymphalian Birds- Sagittarius
The Stable of Augeas- Capricorn
The Mares of Diomedes- Aquarius
Cerberus- Pisces
The Girdle of Hippolyte - Aries
The Cretan Bull- Taurus
The Cows of Geryon- Gemini
Donald A. Mackenzie claims in his book Myths of Babylonia And Assyria (1915, project Gutenberg, Chapter XIII- Astrology and Astronomy, Table XIII.1 that our signs are derived from ancient Babylonia:
Constellation Aries
Babylonian Equivalent: The Laborer or Messenger
Constellation Taurus
Babylonian Equivalent: A divine figure and the "bull of heaven"
Constellation Gemini
Babylonian Equivalent:
The Faithful Shepherd and Twins side by side, or head to head and feet to feet
Constellation Cancer
Babylonian Equivalent: Crab or Scorpion
Constellation Leo
Babylonian Equivalent: The big dog Lion
Constellation Virgo
Babylonian Equivalent: Ishtar, the Virgin's ear of corn
Constellation Libra
Babylonian Equivalent: The Balance
Constellation Sagittarius
Babylonian Equivalent:
Man or man-horse with bow, or an arrow symbol
Constellation Capricorn
Babylonian Equivalent: Ea's goat-fish
Constellation Aquarius
Babylonian Equivalent: God with water urn
Constellation Pisces
Babylonian Equivalent: Fish tails in canal
In addition Donald A. Mackenzie wrote that according to the Babylonian Creation Legend (British Museum “The Seven Tablets Of Creation" from the Library of Ashur-bani-pal at Nineveh) Merodach fixed three stars for each month of the Zodiac… Mr. Brown, junior, calculated that the signs of the Zodiac were fixed in the year 2084 B.C.E (Primitive Constellations, 1899, vol. 2, pp. 147)
Marc Chagall created 12 painted windows at The Synagogue of the Hadassah Medical Center in 1962. The Windows represent the 12 Tribes of Israel, arranged in FOUR groups of three, and the choice of colors was inspired by the description of the breastplate of the High Priest in Exodus 28:17-21.
Picture is courtesy of “tevnin” From Flickr
In his book (De Vita Mosis 3, 209) Philo (20-50 C.E.) interpreted the names on the 12 stones of the high priest as the signs of the zodiac.
Josephus Flavius (37-100 C.E.) gave a similar explanation to the 12 stones in his book (Antiquities of the Jews Vo 3 chapter 7)
The stones were placed in FOUR rows like the zodiac signs which are arranged in FOUR groups according to the four elements: earth water fire and air.
The translation of the names of the stones from Hebre
w to English has many variations. Here’s one:
Ruby- Reuven
Topaz - Shimon
Emerald - Levi
Turquoise - Yehuda
Lapis Lazuli - Yissachar
Quartz - Zevulun
Jacinth - Dan
Agate - Naphtali
Amethyst- Gad
Chrysolite -Asher
Onyx - Yosef
Jasper - Binyamin
Now, since each stone had a different color the comparison between a certain stone and a certain tribe was also a comparison between a certain color
and a certain tribe.
The colors of the 12 tribes according to Sefer HaTodaah of Rabbi Eliyahu Kitov:
Red: Reuven
Green: Shimon
White/Black/red: Levi
Blue: Yehuda
Dark Gray: Yissachar
White: Zevulun
Sapphire Dan
Light Red: Naphtali
Light Gray: Gad
Not specified: Asher
Black: Yosef
All the colors: Binyamin
The following stones are associated with Scorpio: ruby, topaz, rhodonite, rhodocrosite, sodalite, bloodstone, beryl, apache tear, aqua aura, azurite-malachite
