glenn morton wrote:
> The oldest known cuneiform texts with 12 equal zodiacal signs date to
> the 5th century B. C. (van der Waerden 1974), suggesting that the
> traditional zodiac was established by this time. Earlier records,
> however, reveal that the signs were not always evenly spaced:
> Babylonian texts dating to 700 B. C. (such as the mul APIN series)
> contain not equal signs but irregular zodiacal constellations. This
> discrepancy is a clue that the constellations of the ecliptic may not
> have been originally conceived as a complete 12 part system. Indeed,
> some of the zodiacal constellations we know of today were absent at
> this time.” Alexander A. Gurshtein, “The Origins of the
> Constellations,” American Scientist, 85(1997), , p. 266
Just a note on this: As I said in my earlier post, the Arabic
names of A & B Librae mean "the northern claw" & "the southern claw",
pointing to a connection with the adjacent Scorpio. It's possible that
the imagery of Joseph's dream in Gen.37:9 has some connection with this.
Shalom,
George
>
>
> glenn
>
> see http://www.flash.net/~mortongr/dmd.htm
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