16 Arab Translators of Egypt's Hieroglyphs Ski, seat oF boty ‘ive a8 gt, or just Thoy weave Rita He. rom bth to death, 2 messages ona memories © Online CLASSROOM GUIDE — 2 FIRSTLOOK Phosoersph by David H. Welle AramcoWorld arameoworld.com Cover: November/December 2017 Mohan Vol. 68, No. 6 HoH12Things Twitter Won't Tell You About Zodiacs by Rober Lebling cons by Kitty¥in Ling Miao Shoul the 13th constellation ofthe modiae rater to you? (ls naenec Opies, anc Babylonians wondered about itjust as ‘uch 9 everyone wh argues the point | now on sciel masa) Medi Bion: Johan Manaon | Sobcptions www arameonerls.eom | Editor: edo. © 38 REVIEWS & RECOMMENDATIONS Deng: Grape Engne Desir Stusio | Peiner RR 32 TheAmazigh Adventures of Le Petit Prince Writes by Louis We Cone ofthe wos most beloved citer’ stores, titles in Engsh—re50 rocco among Amazigh oF Tho Lite Princo 9. As one translator exphins, "The plot has mary similarities 1 our Amazigh oral tales: hralK Khas | Edtor: Rend Doughty | Avant Eaters Arhur PC Aa Resinson | Dipl ey | Wetmore | Web Design: eStetl a: amcor Post Oe Box 2106, Houston, Teves 772522108 USA, ot ust fr fair dese CALENDAR INSERT Tarab and the Art of Music 2018 Gregorian and 1438-40 Hi Calendar Introduction by Kay Hardy Campbell Beyond vtuosity,Avab musicalesthetics ‘ck an emtionally iy interactive retionsip tar, nang 0 @ 40 EVENTS & EXHIBITIONS aramco nco flThings Twitter Won't Tell You about Zodiacsok EdD = a 2 BSé OD ec o overberDecerbeian Uk erro- sin September y fe us National Aeconautics and Space Adi istration (sas) had updated the Western zodiac to correct, for 3,000 years of shifts in star positions, astrology fans went pretty much supernova on social media. According to the report, ast shifted the dates of the 12 signs forward by almost a month and inserted the ancient, nearly forgotten 13th sign of the serpent handler Ophiuchus in between Scorpius and Sag- ittarius, In reality, wasa used mG pIrPER ie & Primer for January’ night sky in the northern hemisphere, this was star char shows constellations including *hase of che astronomical zodiac (See sidebar, opposita| Each corner names zodiac con Stellations: Notice at top right, four appear, which accounts for he addition of Ophiuchus, inthe Previous spread: The "Horoscope of Prince Iskander’ for the grandson of Central Asian ruler AmirTimur (known as Tamerlane), was produced to reflect the aligament of celestial figures upon his birth on Apri 25, 1384. Like tass’s modern chart as well as many other depictions ‘of zodiaes through history, uses a circular planisphere to represent the sky, but t divides it into 12 sections following the Babylonian astrological zodiac. In Iskander’s lime, it was customary for leaders to have their birth charts and horoscopes mapped and preserved. Iskando later supported observation and calculation to account for the nearly infni- tcsimal annual shifting of our planet's axis known technically as the precession of the eq) noxes. The changes meant that for an estimated four out of five people, the sign toward which, the sun was pointing at their birth was not the one they thought; rather, it was the previous ‘one—except for Sagittarians, many of whom became Ophitt- cans. (This writer is now an ex-Pisees Aquarian.) Since pop- tlar astrology assigns personality traits to those born under cach sign, and it predicts their future in daily, weekly and. monthly horoscopes, NAsA’s science felt like cosmic chaos. Ina statement on its Tumblr website, NASA asserted that it was not trying to change the popular zodiac. Rather it was showing what it might look like if science and mathematics were rigorously applied. This ignited further debate about the differences between astronomy based on observable phe- nomena and astrology based on a mixture of observation and. 24 Ameo scholarship and showed particular in in the selences of the night sky. ccultural mythology. As clear as this difference might seem, learning that one’s birch sign might be different was (and remains) unsettling to many people. The science may argue itis irrelevant, but zodiac signs have shaped the thinking and even, identities of people in many lands for thousands of Here are 12 reasons why the zodiac’s unique mix of myth and facts really does matter. ‘The 12-sign zodiacis part of the history of science—especially astronomy. ‘What ssa failed to clarify was the extent to which, the 12-sign zodiac is an essential past of the historicali Published in 1728 rom # hand-colored engraving by E Royal, John Flamsteed, this plate from Atlas Coclestis Serpent Handler") Although one of the Babylonian radia zodiac signs to the 12-month calendar system. development of the science of astronomy. Wes ‘mets used the zodiac to measure celestial positions up wnt the Renaissance, when scientists adopted the equatorial coor dinate system, which measures positions of celestial bodies by right ascension and declination and moving beyond the zodi ac's ecliptic based celestial longitude and celestial lativude. ‘To explain: The ecliptic is the imagined track across the sky that traces the sun's apparent course through the heavens during the yeas. Of course, that’s just how it seems from an earthly per spective, Here is what happens, in the words of EarthSky.org, website of the award-winning radio series EarthSky: AAs the Earth orbits the sun, the sun appears to pass in front of different constellations. Much like the moon appears ina slightly different place in the sky each night, the location of the sun relative to distant background stars drifts in an easterly direction from day to day. I's not the sim ie actually moving, The motion is entirely an illa- sion caused by the Earth's own motion around our star, Sky gazers noticed this relationship between the sun and the stars from the most ancient times, and many world cul: tures developed zodiacs based on constellations, often with pictures of people and animals as human minds seem to instinctively “connect the dots” to tease out meaning in the patterns of the stars. The constellations of the zodiae thus “le Janis first Astronomer pets Ophiuchus ("The original 13 constell: Astronomical (sidereal) Zodiac Pre ony enn March 1 ea TY ener} Pea oo ~— Pome rere ay Pee a ae OOS ro Tce ca Eo eee ea) een eed Deen ey ea Ce re Coe veces ent Tecuel [Qe markers er Rey PRIORI Scorpio: October24-November21 and trav San eae er clers. Even today both amateur and some professional sky-watchers rely on these constellations and others to help locate planets, comets and, other celestial events. ‘The imagery of the zodiac still appears frequently in pop- ular astronomy and science education materials such as the “Star Finder,” a foldup paper star locator on the Nasa website that prominently features a circle of zodiac symbols. ‘Thar chart includes Ophiuchus, which astronomers have long known crosses the ecliptic just like the other 12 zodiac constellations. But Ophivchus, as a sign, was dropped all the way back in Babylonian times because, scholars say, it 1e most “squeczed” of the zodiacal constellations, and to better align the zodiac with the 12-month Babylonian solar calenday, it was the easiest constellation to drop. The zodiac signs are part of world art and culture. The 12-sign zodiac is a significant cultural artifact. Each sign represents a 30-degree swath of the heavens, Because these NovebecDecember 2017.25signs are visual images, often with mythological stories under- lying them, painters, engravers and other artists over the cen- es have rendered them in art. ‘Much of the art surrounding the Western zodiac is based oon another artifact of culture: Classical Greek mythology. For example, the bull Taurus is associated with of mythical hero Theseus, king of Athens, and his slaying of the deaded half-man, half-bull Minotaur. The twins Gemini recall the story of brothers Castor and Pollux, who joined Jason and the Argonauts in their quest for the e tale 26 Ameo ‘The pattern of dots above the painting of tne bulls head resembles the arrangement of stars in either the Pleiades or Taurus (the Bull ana four more dots below the bull could also be stars, This painting appears among othors inthe caves near Lazcaun, in southwest France, and itis some 17000 yeare ald ‘The depiction ofthe bul ist reinforces the inter pretation that this painting may be an eerly zod acal Fepresentation, Ife, it then hints that some zodiac signs may lorg predate the Babylonian zodiac and may have been shared across grest distances, Left Inseribed in cuneiform soript ona clay tablet during the second millennium ter, a Sumerian astralogies! ealendar from Uruk now Warks, rag) demonstrates the deta! with which early astronomerastrologers kept track of mavernents in the heavens. Golden Fleece. The only inanimate object in the zodiac, the golden scales of Libra, is linked to the Greek underworld’s lesser goddess of justice, Dike, and it dominates the sky during the autumn equinox, when day and night are of equal length—in balance. ‘One of the great scientists of Greek antiquity is the “father of the Western zodiac.” TThe development of the Greek zodiac shows us how early astronomy and astrology were joined at the hip. Many early astronomers were also astrologers—and none proved as influential asthe second-century Greek polymath Claudius Prolemy of Alexandria, Knowa alto for his mathematical and astronomical opus the Almagest (or Syntaxis Mathematica), which inspized many early Arab and European scientists, his1 scorpion at tap-center marking the autumn equinox, this Yurdura stone do as produced in the 14th century sce, during the period of Kassie rule, the time scholars theorize may have birthed the Babylonian zodiac. Lower: On the ceiling of the ‘ample of Hathor in central Egypt appears "the Zodiac of De niephere comprising 12 constellations thet form & Babylonian euler representation ofthe zodize: Typically Egyption a sented zodiaes in rectangles most widely read book is his astrological work, the Terra- biblos (Four Books}. In fact, Prolemy’s astrological writings were so highly regarded that they were taught in European universities well into the 17th century. ‘The Tetrabiblos laid the foundation for the Western astro- logical tradition. Prolemy rationalized the planets, houses and signs of the Hellenistic zodiac and defined their functions in a way that has changed litle to the present day. Ptolemy's Greek zodiac originated in Mesopotamia, “The Greek zodiac signs ean be traced back to the Sumerians, who built the world’s first known civilization between the “Tigeis and Euphrates rivers in present-day leag. From the Sumerians, the evolving idea of a zodiac passed to the Akks- dians, and then on to the Assyrians and, abit later, to the Babylonians—all before it came to the Greeks. The zodiac achieved the form we know today under the Babylonians in the first millennium nce, and its origins in the region, explains Lorenzo Verderame, Assyriologist at Sapienza Universita di Roma, can be raced back to the third millenniam bce How did the Sumerians develop their zodiae signs? Did they invent them or did they, too, borrow them from still ‘older sources? The answer is probably a bit of both. Certain examples of proto-zodiacal arrwork, like the Bull and the Lion, are believed by some scholars to have come from Elam, 4 rival civilization to the east. Others propose that the zodiac, fo at least part of it, had its origins in the carly astronomy of Armenia, northwest of Mesopotamia, around 3000 scr. Ruins at the northwestern Armenian town of Metsamor, the site of a trading civilization, include three observatory platforms with engravings that suggest “zodiacal ereacures,” some of which ray have influenced the Babylonians ‘We do know that about 1000 rce, Mesopotamian astron- ‘omers produced a star catalogue known as MUL.APIN (The Plough), named for its opening words. Essentially an astro nomical textbook, it contains all 12 constellations of the Bab- ylonian zodiac, along with many others. The oldest known copy of this compilation, inscribed in cuneiform on a pair of baked mud tablets, dates to the seventh century 38. The oldest zodiac imagery of all dates back to cave dwellers. Other experts are convinced that some zodiae figures are even ‘older than Elam or Metsamor. Recent studies of the Paleo- lishic cave paintings of bulls, horses and other animals at Lascaux, France, suggest the backgrounds of certain paintings hs & NowemberDecerbes 2017. 27From left This planisphere, drawn by Andreas Cellarus in 1660, depicts the solar system and zodiac in the style first promulgated by Greco-Roman astronomer and geographer Claudius Ptolemy; a Korean zodiac dates from the Korye Dynasty period, 100-1300 ct Opposite, from top: In Aleppo, Syria, a masaie floor of a sixth-century synagogue shows the zodiac centered around a Hellenistic sun god, 4 Tath-century ce miniature radiac wheel from soutnern France; and tne oldest known lelamie calestial globe, from the 13th century, which provided a 3B model of the universe, complete with constellations, bath of the zodiac and others. may incorporate prehistoric star charts. If so, this puts the origin of some zodiac figures, especially Taurus, back some 10,000 to as much as 40,000 years. The West inherited the Babylonian zodiac, thanks to Alexander the Great. The Babylonian zodiac passed to the Greek-speaking world through the two Greek successor states of the empire built by Alexander the Great: the Seleucid empice of Mesopotamia and the Prolemaic kingdom of Egypr, based in Alexandria This was the “Hellenistic” period, from 323 to 31 sce, and, it gives us the first surviving pictures of the Mesopotamian constellations: the Seleucid Zodine from Mesopotamia itsel and the Dendera Zodiac from Egypt. These two zodiacs, both part of a pictographic tradition, show the 12 zodiac figures, plus four other animals in the zodiac style: crow, serpent, ceagle and southern fish, “The Seleucid Zodiac was a set of 12 clay tablets display- ing the zodiacal signs for astrological use. Examples of three of the tablets survive from the last few centuries uct: Taurus with the Pleiades, Leo with Corvas the Crow standing on Hydra the Water Snake, and Virgo with her ear of corn, The Zodiae of Dendera, from Egypt in the first century ace, is “the only complete map that we have of an ancient sky,” says John H. Rogers of the British Astronomical Asso- ciation, Preserved for us in a bas-relief on the ceiling of the 28 Ameo Hathor Temple at Dendera, Egypt, this zodiac shows the classical zodiac surrounded by popular Egyptian constella- tions for the rest of the sky. Some of the zodiac figures have Greco-Roman names, and others have Egyptian names. The shapes of the figures, although produced during Egypt's Ptole ‘maic era that almost universally favored Greco-Roman styles, the Mesopotamian Seleucid Zodiac and also to various Babylonian boundary-stone picto- graphs from the second millennium nce. Thus the Zodiac of, Dendera, despite its Egyptian venue, “seems to be a complete copy of the Mesopotamian zodiac,” Rogers says. are actually almost identical Babylonians influenced Arabs... Curse the Greek sphere, zodiac calendars were rather common- place in the Near East from the third century act to the second century of our era, particularly among Nabataean Arabs and Aramaic-speaking peoples, including Assyrians and Hebrews. In early Islamic history, the constellations of the Arab zodiac bore names translated from Greek or Aramaic, but Ahmed al-Jallad, a professor at Leiden University, explains that the ancient Arabian zodiac has roots extending back to Babylonia. ‘Most knowledge of the Babylonian tradition, however, appears to have been lost by the time of the Classical Islamic period in the Middle Ages, For example, the 10th-century astronomer al-Sufi believed the pre-Islamic Arabs were entizely unaware of the zodiac,€ Al-Jallad, however, studied the notoriously difficult Safaitic inscrip- tions—Bedouin graffiti carved on rocks in the basalt deserts of Syria, Jordan and Saudi Arabia—and identified all 12 zodiacal constellations, all craceable back to Babylonia. AlJallad showed that early Arabs did now about the zodiac, and that they had closer culcural ties with the civilizations of the Fertile Crescent than previously assumed. And the inscriptions he found were similar to those on tens of thousands of rocks amid the lava flows of present-day southern Syria, northeastern, Jordan and adjoining areas of northern Saudi Arabia, --and Hebrews. ‘The mazzaroth (“constellations”), or Hebrew zodiac, took its form berween the Hellenistic and Islamic eras, and it shows a mix of influ- ences, primarily from the Greek and Mesopotamian traditions. Its 12 representations match up with the Babylonian/Greek version in symbol- ism, starting point and sequence. Archeologist Rachel Hachlili, who has studied zodiac mosaics found on the floors of synagogues built in the fourth to sixth centuries, says these zodiaes, with their symbolic figures, served the local community as popular calendars that helped people zemember the timing of seasonal events and rituals, The Hindu zodiac synthesized local and Greek elements—and itis more accurate. Dating to 1500 ack or even earlier, the Hindu zodiac, too, shows Greck influences, but according to American historian of science David Pin- sree and others, some aspects are indigenous, The Vedas, the scriptures ‘of Hinduism and India’s oldest literature, refer to the science Jyotish, which involves tracking and predicting the movements of celestial bod- ies for time keeping. Jyotisha came to encompass Hindu astrology as well, which devel- coped through contact with Greek learning, centuries after Alexander the Greats military campaign in northwestern India in the fourth een- tury ace. Science historian Michio Yano describes India's absorption of the Greek system from the second to fifth centuries of our era as “the Sanskritization of Greek astrology.” India absorbed Greek astronomical science as wel, including some elements that predated even Prolemy. ‘Though written and vocalized in Sanskrit, they represent pictorial mages associated with the Greek zodiac. For example, dhanu (“bow”) corresponds to Sagittarius the Arches, and kumbha (“water pitcher”) cor- responds to Aquarius the Water Bearer. Where they differ most profoundly, however isin thei fundamental celestial referents: The Greek system uses the tropical zodiac, in which the motion of planes is measured against the postion ofthe Stn on the spring equinox; the Hindu system, much like the Babylonian, uses the more sable sidereal zodiac, in which the tars are regarded as a fixed background against which the motion of planets is measured, The sidereal system thus adjust forthe slight wobble of the Earth's axis, and its measurements are more accurate over centuries Twas in about the second century that the Hindu sidereal zodiac began diverging from the Greek tropical zodiac, atthe time India was absorbing Greek astronomical and astrological knowledge. Today Hindu asteology (sometimes called Vedic astrology) is alive and well, and advanced degrees in the discipline are still offered by some Indian universities NowemberDecember 2017. 29Chinese astrologers based their zodiac on the orbital intervals of Jupiter. Sheng xiao (“birth likeness”) is the name of the Chinese zodiac, popular also in Japan, Korea and Vietnam. It dates to the fourth century acz and shows a few similarities to the Greek and Babylonian zodiacs. This has led scholars to explore the possibilty of cultural transmission from Babylo- nia to China. (Because the Babylonian system is much older 20 Aramco sontury-sce wooden plaque from Gansu, China, af the Big Dipper, surrounded by co Tetons. Chinese ast don a cycle of 12 years, and ‘lars debate the extent of any—to Babylonian than the Chinese, the experts don’t believe the transmission was the other way around, from China to Babylonia.) Sim- ilarities include the use of 12 signs represented by animals, (Only the Dragon is mythical the rest are real.) [At the same time, China’s zodiac is unique because it covers 12 years rather than 12 months. The zodiac covers a 12-year span because of the special place that the planet Jupiter held among early “Year Star” ("Sui-xing” |. In about 2000 scx, it was Chinese astronomers who first confirmed that Jupiter takes 12 Earth years, or one “Jupiter Year,” to orbit the Sun. By the fourth century Bc, the Chinese divided the sky into 12 zodiacal regions, with Jupiter passing through one region each year In Chinese asteology, a zodiac sign is based on a lunar calendar and is determined by the year of birth. For example, someone born Derween February 7, 2008, and January 25, 2009, was born in the Year of the Rat. According to this system, inese astronomers, who called Jupiter the the year begins under the influence of a zodiae sign, and depending on the char acteristics of that sign, the fate written in the stars is the same for all bora during that whole year. (Popular reputations of rats not withstanding, people born under the Rat ate said to be charming, intelligent, out going and hardworking.) The Greek/Babylonian ‘An ideal time for know! cedge-sharing on zodiacs and similar topics between Mesopotamia and China took place during the centuries of the Silk Roads, the intercontinental trade network across Central Asia that eame into its own in the final decades of the second century act. From the Chinese side, the Silk Road was encouraged by Emperor Wa, who ruled the ‘Western Han Dynasty. Wa dispatched a special envoy, Zhang (Qian, to the countries to the west. Zhang visited the kingdoms ‘of Fergana, Sogdiana and Bactra (formerly the post-AlexandrianVaulting over the main concourse of New York's Gran: ral Station, the mural of the Mi has been rector al times since Painting in 18 Greco-Bactrian Kingdom) and gathered information about the Indus River Valley of North India and the Parthian Empise. His reports encouraged China to con- tinue ts outreach in the West, Eventually the Sill: Road stretched all the way to Rome, enabling Romans to buy silks and spices from China in exchange for Roman, slass beads and other wares. ‘Two important examples of zodiacs dating from the seventh to the 13th centuries appear in northwest: ‘em China: the Xuanbua Tombs of Hebei Province and the Mogao Caves at Dunhuang in Gansu Prov- ince, Diana ¥. Chow, associate curator of East Asian ‘Art at the San Diego Museum of Art, studied them, In mural paintings on the ceilings of the Xuanhua Tombs are Babylonian/Greek zodiaes that date to the 12th century. The zodiac symbols on these “celestial ceilings” ace accompanied by traditional Chinese star representations, and according to Chou, they consti- tute “perhaps the earliest known complete zodiac in Chinese art.” ‘The Mogao Caves, not far from a Silk Road out- post near the Gobi Desert, were dug in the fourth century by Buddhist monks for the purpose of med- itation. Created over the course of 2 millennium, the caves today number about 1,000, and many feature painted murals that are some of the finest of their kind in China, In Cave 61, there appears a Buddha Tejaprabha (Buddha of the Blazing Lights") and, in the back: aground, the Chinese 28 astrological stars together ‘with Babylonian astrological signs but there is little evidence of ‘more than incidental influence. Although images of the Babylonian zodiac came to China in the forms of diagrams, sketches, personal accessories, vessels, and other items, and even considering Chinese astrologers were doubtless familiar with the Babylonian zodiac, scholars today believe chat Chinese astrology was largely immune to ‘outside influence. Yer the similarities are too intriguing to ignore. For example, both Western and Chinese zodiac signs are ruled by elements. The Western zodiac divides its signs according to the four classical Greek elements of fie, earth, air and water, and the Chinese zodiac divides is signs into five clements of fire, earth, water, wood and metal, There are also some similarities in the roles the zodiacs play in developing personal astrology charts ‘Western scholars long asserted that these and other com monalities demonstrated Babylonian/Greek influence in Chinese astrology, but 2Lst-century scholars, led by David Pankenies, maintain Chinese astrology remained “essentially impervious to external influences: Coincidence or influence? That's a subject for furuze scholars, © Robert Lebling (lobling’yahoo.com) isa writer, editor ane publi aflars dvsor wha lives and works in Sauci Aras Ho's outhor of Legends af the Fre Spins Jinn and Gori trom Arabia to Zanzibar 2 Tur, 2010 & 2014), one co-author, with Bonne Pepperdine, of Natural Rem ‘Arabia (Stacey International, 2008, 0m to be published in ' rev'sed second econ by Medina Pualshing. Hei ee Ulsr contriouter ta. Arameovteria. Kity Yin Ling Miao, PhD, s an arts, poet and scholar wha Ives in Califo tnd speciaizas in ancient Chinase bone and turtle lor ore ‘la bone) serpt, Sha ie author and aris of Brush ofthe Cat (arpalitation.net, 201 ies of [Cette aries a arameoworté.com Ieuan asvorony: Wn atic eonsalons $9 19