Zodiac
    | Please |help| us convert the |Dictionary of Roman Coins| from scans to text by typing the original text here. Please add updates or make corrections to the NumisWiki text version as appropriate. Zodiac. "The Ecliptic (or great circle which the sun describes in virtue of his proper motion) has been divided by astronomers from time immemorial into twelve equal parts called Signs. The names are Aries, Taurus, Gemini, Cancer, Leo, Virgo, Libra, Scorpio, Sagittarius, Capricornus, Aquarius, and Pisces. In each of these signs the ancients formed groups of stars, which they denominated Zodiacal constellations (ziodia, animals), not confined to the ecliptic, but included within an imaginary belt, extending 9° on each side of it, to which they gave the name of Zodiac (zwdiakx kklox, circle or zone of the animals.) (Encyc. Brit.., 9th ed. art., Astronomy, vol. ii., p. 771.)" The Roman inferiority to the Greeks in the science of Astronomy is fully recognised by the Latin writers (Virg. Aen. vi. 848; Seneca, Nat. Quaest. vii., 25), and while the astronomical science of the Greeks was in its infancy, that of the Romans had no existence (Sir G. C. Lewis, An historical survey of the Astronomy of the Ancients, 1862.) The Zodiac is represented on several Greek Imperial coins (Alexander Severus - Perinthus; Julia Maesa-Amastris; Valerian-AEgae; Eckhel, Doct. Num. Vet., vol. ii., pp. 40, 386, vol. iii., p. 37); and on Alexandrian coins of Antoninus Pius (Eckhel, op. cit., vol. iv., p. 70; Head, Hist. Num., p. 721.) It may also be found on the following Roman coins:--
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Zodiac
| Please |help| us convert the |Dictionary of Roman Coins| from scans to text by typing the original text here. Please add updates or make corrections to the NumisWiki text version as appropriate. Zodiac. "The Ecliptic (or great circle which the sun describes in virtue of his proper motion) has been divided by astronomers from time immemorial into twelve equal parts called Signs. The names are Aries, Taurus, Gemini, Cancer, Leo, Virgo, Libra, Scorpio, Sagittarius, Capricornus, Aquarius, and Pisces. In each of these signs the ancients formed groups of stars, which they denominated Zodiacal constellations (ziodia, animals), not confined to the ecliptic, but included within an imaginary belt, extending 9° on each side of it, to which they gave the name of Zodiac (zwdiakx kklox, circle or zone of the animals.) (Encyc. Brit.., 9th ed. art., Astronomy, vol. ii., p. 771.)" The Roman inferiority to the Greeks in the science of Astronomy is fully recognised by the Latin writers (Virg. Aen. vi. 848; Seneca, Nat. Quaest. vii., 25), and while the astronomical science of the Greeks was in its infancy, that of the Romans had no existence (Sir G. C. Lewis, An historical survey of the Astronomy of the Ancients, 1862.) The Zodiac is represented on several Greek Imperial coins (Alexander Severus - Perinthus; Julia Maesa-Amastris; Valerian-AEgae; Eckhel, Doct. Num. Vet., vol. ii., pp. 40, 386, vol. iii., p. 37); and on Alexandrian coins of Antoninus Pius (Eckhel, op. cit., vol. iv., p. 70; Head, Hist. Num., p. 721.) It may also be found on the following Roman coins:--
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View whole page from the |Dictionary Of Roman Coins|