_, and _K[)e]s[=i]l_,
but the case is different when we come to _Mazzaroth_. In the fifth
tablet of the Babylonian Creation epic we read--

"1. He (Marduk) made the stations for the great gods;
2. The stars, their images, as the stars of the zodiac, he fixed.
3. He ordained the year, and into sections (_mizr[=a]ta_) he
divided it;
4. For the twelve months he fixed three stars.
5. After he had [. . .] the days of the year [. . .] images
6. He founded the station of Nibir to determine their bounds;
7. That none might err or go astray.
8. He set the station of B[=e]l and Ea along with him."

In the third line _mizr[=a]ta_, cognate with the Hebrew
_Mazz[=a]r[=o]th_, means the sections or divisions of the year,
corresponding to the signs of the zodiac mentioned in the second line.
There can therefore be little doubt that the translators who gave us our
English versions are practically correct in the rendering of Job
xxxviii. 32 which they give in the margin, "Canst thou bring forth
Mazzaroth (or the twelve signs) in his season?"

The foregoing extract from the fifth tablet of Creation has no small
astronomical interest. Merodach is represented as setting in order the
heavenly bodies. First of all he allots their stations to the great
gods, dividing to them the constellations of the zodiac, and the months
of the year; so that the arrangement by which every month had its
tutelary deity or deities, is here said to be his work. Next, he divides
up the constellations of the zodiac; not merely arranging the actual
stars, but appropriating to each constellation its special design or
"image." Third, he divides up the year to correspond with the zodiac,
making twelve months with three "stars" or constellations to each. In
other words, he carries the division of the zodiac a step further, and
divides each sign into three equal parts, the "decans" of the
astrologers, each containing 10 deg. (_deka_) of the ecliptic.

The statement made in line 4 refers to an important development of
astronomy. The _constellations_ of the zodiac, that is, the groups made
up of the actual stars, are very unequal in size and irregular in shape.
The numerous theories, ancient or modern, in which the constellations
are supposed to owe their origin to the distinctive weather of the
successive months, each constellation figure being a sort of hieroglyph
for its particular month, are therefore al