There can be but little doubt but that such was the origin of the names imposed, and for a time they would be understood in that sense. But afterwards, when time was more accurately kept, and calendars regulated, without each man studying the stars for himself, when the precession of the equinoxes made the periods not exactly coincide, the original meaning would be lost, the stars would be associated with the animals, as though there was a real bull, a real lion, &c., in the heavens; and then the step would be easy to represent these by living animals, whom they would endow with the heavenly attributes of what they represented; and so the people came at last to pray to and worship the several creatures for the sake of their supposed influence. They asked of the Ram from their flocks the influences they thought depended on the constellation. They prayed the Scorpion not to spread his evil venom on the world; they revered the Crab, the Scarabæus, and the Fish, without perceiving the absurdity of it.
It is certain at least that the gods of many nations are connected or are identical with the signs of the zodiac, and it seems at least more reasonable to suppose the former derived from the latter than vice versâ.
Among the Greeks indeed, who had, so to speak, their gods ready made before they borrowed the idea of the zodiac, the process appears to have been the reverse, they made the signs to represent as far as they could their gods. In the more pastoral peoples, however, of the East, and in Egypt, this process can be very clearly traced. Among the Jews there seems to be some remarkable connection between their patriarchs and these signs, though the history of that connection may not well be made out. The twelve signs are mentioned as being worshipped, along with the sun and moon, in the Book of Kings. But what is more remarkable is the dream of Joseph, in which the sun and moon and the other eleven stars worshipped him, coupled with the various designations or descriptions given to each son in the blessing of Jacob. In Reuben we have the man who is said to be "unstable as water," in which we may recognise Aquarius. In Simeon and Levi "the brethren," we trace the Twins. Judah is the "Lion." Zebulun, "that dwells at the haven of the sea," represents Fishes. Issachar is the Bull, or "strong ass couching down between two burdens." Dan, "the serpent by the way, the adder in the path," represents the Scorpion. Gad is the Ram, the leader to a flock or troop of sheep. Asher the Balance, as the weigher of bread. Naphtali, "the hind let loose," is the Capricorn, Joseph the Archer, whose bow abode in strength. Brujanin the Crab, changing from morning to evening, and Dinah, the only daughter, represents the Virgin.
There is doubtless something far-fetched in some of these comparisons, but when we consider the care with which the number twelve was retained, and that the four chief tribes carried on their sacred standards these very signs—namely, Judah a lion, Reuben a man, Ephraim a bull, and Dan a scorpion—and notice the numerous traces of astronomical culture in the Jewish ceremonies, the seven lights of the candlestick, the twelve stones of the High Priest, the feasts at the two equinoxes, the ceremonies connected with a ram and a bull, we cannot doubt that there is something more than chance in the matter, but rather conclude that we have an example of the process by which, in the hands of the Egyptians themselves, astronomical representations became at last actually deified.
It has been thought possible indeed to assign definitely each god of the Egyptians to one of the twelve zodiacal signs. The Ram was consecrated to Jupiter Ammon, who was represented with a ram's head and horns. The Bull became the god Apis, who was worshipped under that similitude. The Twins correspond to Horus and Harpocrates, two sons of Osiris. The Crab was consecrated to Anubis or Mercury. The Lion belonged to the summer sun, Osiris; the Virgin to Isis. The Balance and the Scorpion were included together under the name of Scorpion, which animal belongs to Typhon, as did all dangerous animals. The Archer was the image of Hercules, for whom the Egyptians had great veneration. The Capricorn was consecrated to Pan or Mendes. The Waterer—or man carrying a water-pot—is found on many Egyptian monuments.
This process of deification was rendered easier by the custom they had of celebrating a festival each month, under the name neomenia. They characterised the neomenias of the various months by making the animal whose sign the sun was entering accompany the Isis which announced the fête. They were not content with a representation only, but had the animal itself. The dog, being the symbol of Cannulus, with which the year commenced, a living dog was made to head the ceremonial of the first neomenia. Diodorus testifies to this as an eye-witness.
These neomenias thus came to be called the festival of the Bull, of the Ram, the Dog, or the Lion. That of the Ram would be the most solemn and important in places where they dealt much in sheep. That of the Bull in the fat pasture-lands of Memphis and Lower Egypt. That of Capella would be brilliant at Mendes, where they bred goats more than elsewhere.
We may fortify these opinions by a quotation from Lucian, who gives expression to them very clearly. "It is from the divisions of the zodiac," he says, "that the crowd of animals worshipped in Egypt have had their origin. Some employed one constellation, and some another. Those who used to consult that of the Ram came to adore a ram. Those who took their presages from the Fishes would not eat fish. The goat was not killed in places were they observed Capricornus, and so on, according to the stars whose influence they cared most for. If they adored a bull it was certainly to do honour to the celestial Bull. The Apis, which was a sacred object with them, and wandered at liberty through the country, and for which they founded an oracle, was the astrological symbol of the Bull that shone in the heavens."
Plate IV.—The Zodiac and the Dead in Egypt.