Egyptian Zodiac Signs
Ezz Al-Turkey
Have you ever got carried away with zodiac signs and horoscopes? Well, what if we told you this was common in Egypt thousands of years ago? By the end of the fourth century, Egypt was first exposed to the zodiac system, which the Babylonians created in the Near East. The signs gained popularity among Egyptians in the Ptolemaic period when they carved their horoscopes on shattered pottery pieces called ostracons and used them to decorate their graves. Still, there are only three zodiacs in Egyptian temples, including the Esna zodiac.
Calculating the zodiacal positions of the Moon, Sun, and the five planets—Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn—was necessary to produce a horoscope. Greek and demotic horoscopes have been discovered in Egypt, and in 1999 American astronomy historian Alexander Jones established that several Greek-language Egyptian astrologers were employing Babylonian techniques.
The fact that Egyptian academics could compute Babylonian astronomy just as well as their Greek-writing counterparts suggests that local Egyptian scholars had a larger role in the spread of Babylonian astronomy to Greco-Roman Egypt. Egyptian astrologers started creating horoscopes to predict a baby's future, just like the Babylonians. Like the Western zodiac, the Egyptian zodiac included twelve signs. Unlike the zodiac we use now, Egyptian astrology includes specific dates, which is what sets it apart.
Some of these zodiac signs were named after iconic Egyptian gods, like Mut, Geb, Osiris, Isis, Amun-Re, Horus, and Anubis, and each came with their own unique set of shared traits, just like the zodiac signs we use and know today.
The intriguing aspects of Egyptian astrology highlight its distinctiveness and potency. It was something entirely apart from anything else you could discover. Furthermore, it's amazing to see how closely modern western astrology resembles the practices and perceptions of ancient Egypt.