equator (the equator of the Earth projected outward onto the background of the
celestial sphere) that eclipses occur. Owing to the tilt of the Earth on its axis, the
ecliptic intersects the celestial equator at an angle of 23^1 ⁄ 2 °. The 12 signs of the zodi-
ac, through which the Sun appears to pass over the course of a year, lie around the
outside of the ecliptic.
EGYPTIANASTROLOGY
The ancient Greeks viewed Egypt as an exotic, mysterious land, somewhat as contem-
porary Westerners regard India. Thus, anything Egyptian carried with it an aura of
prestige that artifacts or ideas from other areas of the world did not enjoy. For this rea-
son, Greeks such as Herodotus tended to associate astrology with Egypt, although
Egyptian astrology had been adopted wholesale directly from Mesopotamian astrology,
and the Egyptians had added little to the science of the stars. It was only later, after
Hellenistic culture had been imposed upon the land of the Nile, that Egyptians con-
tributed to astrology.
THEASTROLOGYBOOK [215]
Egyptian AstrologyAlchemical imagery from a book by German chemist Libavius Alchymia, c. 1606, depicting
a black crow sitting on an eclipse while the black face above the three-headed bird
represents a total lunar eclipse. Reproduced by permission of Fortean Picture Library.