Page:Notes and Queries - Series 9 - Volume 3.djvu/409

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ths.Hi.MAY27,m] NOTES AND QUERIES.


403


T; urus, Scorpio, Gemini, Sol, Luna, Sirius S< rpens, on it. Engraved in Hyde, and in 31 lurice, 'Indian Antiquities,' vol. iv. p. 566.

Greek Zodiac.

213. Painted on the vaulted roof of the convent church of Iviron, Mount Athos, each w th an angel. Fowler, Archceologia, xliv.

Indian Zodiacs.

214. In a square frame, arranged in twelve square divisions surrounding Buddah. Order after the Egyptian. Aquarius is a winged

Gemini a man with two globes under s arms. In the Philosophical Transac- tions ; Jamieson, ' Celestial Atlas,' 1822; and ' Cyclopaedia,' Plates, vol. i. pi. xii.

215. On a pagoda at Verdapettah, near Cape Comorin, 1764. ' Diet. Arch.'

216. On the ceiling of a temple in a tank near Mindurah. Gent. Mag.; 'Diet. Arch.'

217. On an ancient astronomical clock from Benares, presented to the Prince of Wales on his Indian tour. Leo is a horse with wings.

1 Virgo is a woman sitting in a boat. Capri- cornus is an alligator. Aquarius is a woman with a can.

218. "By the arrangement of the Gizdhubar legends according to the signs of the zodiac, and the equinoctial festivals in the sacrificial tablet from Aboo Hubba, it appears that the seasons, the equinoxes, &c., had been observed

land used as time measures as early as B.C. 2400" (Boscawen, 'From under the

Dust of Ages,' 1880, p. 63).

| 219. An Oriental zodiac is engraved in 'Asiatic Researches,' 1790, vol. ii. p. 303.

220. An oval Hindoo zodiac, called Rasi Chakra, contains the signs around the sun and seven planets, as a seated figure in hariot drawn by seven horses. Gemini is a man and woman ; Virgo a seated woman before a fire. Engraved in Moore, 'Hindu rantheon,' pi. Ixxxvii. ; in Jamieson, ' Celes- tial Atlas,' 1822 ; and Archceologia, xlvii. 343. T 221. An Indian zodiac, according to Sir W. "ones. Engraved in Jamieson, 'Celestial \tlas,' 1822.

222. On a coin struck by Jehanguire, sultan of Hindostan. Fraser, 'History of Vadir Shah,' p. 21 ; Taylor, ' Calmet's Dic- ionary,' vol. iii. p. 194.

Roman Zodiacs.

223. An ancient zodiacal gem has both the igns and the emblems. Montfaucon, vol. ii. mrt ii. pi. clxx.

224. On a cast of an antique gem the zodiac urrounds Neptune with trident, Jupiter with ulmen, Apollo with caduceus, and Mars with


Gorgon. Virgo is a woman and unicorn. In the same collection as No. 44.

225. On an early Christian bracelet found in a tomb. In Martigny. Smith, 'Dictionary of Christian Antiquities,' ii. 2060.

226. On a coin of Alexander Bassianus. ?A.D. 211. Humphreys, 'Coin Collector's Manual,' 1853.

Palestinian Zodiacs.

227. In a wheel window of the Saracen fountain at Jerusalem. Jennings, 'The Rosicrucians,' vol. ii. p. 68.

228. " Diana, the huntress, in a temple ; around are the signs of the zodiac ; no doubt implying that the power of the goddess ex- tended throughout the year." Taylor, 'Cal- met's Dictionary,' vol. v. p. Ii., pi. PTO, fig. 14. Egyptian order. On a coin of Ptolemais.

229. It would seem as if the signs had been carved on the white marble sculpture of the Hebrew golden lampstand of the Jerusalem Temple on the Arch of Titus in the Roman Forum. The stem rests on a stand, composed of a smaller base resting on a larger. In each of these are three panels, or six in all. But as only half the stand is shown, there were twelve panels in all. The form and plan of the stand are well shown in Calmet (vol. v. pi. CAN, figs. 5, 6). These six panels contain figures, and so no doubt all twelve did. The figures in Calmet are inaccurate, as may be seen by comparing them with a photograph, or the original at Rome, or with Fairbairn

' Bible Dictionary,' i. 262) and Reland ('De

Spolia Templi '), which latter is probably the most accurate. In Montfaucon (torn. iv. pi. 100), on three of the panels may be seen fish (Pisces). Two birds (Aquarius). In the levitical types Aquarius was figured by two birds over running water (Leviticus xiv. 5, 6 ;

' Mazzaroth,' by F. Rolleston, pt. ii. p. 49). In a lampstand in the charge of Levi it would be natural that the levitical form of the sign should be preferred to the patriarchal. A winged animal (? Leo). The cherubic zodiacal figures were winged (Ezekielx.), as the winged lion of Venice. Josephus and Judceus both connect the zodiac with the sacred utensils of the Temple, and in the lampstand there is no other place for the signs than the base's twelve panels ; neither is it easy to see what these were for except the twelve signs. As the tribes bore them on their banners (Gill, 'Commentary') this use of them here was

165). Josephus

v -., . / . J <; ^. ^.i,^ candlestick, which is made up of seventy pieces, refers to the twelve signs of the zodiac, through which the seven planets take their course : and the seven


most appropriate (see No. ('Ant.,' iii. 7) says: "The can