ng the reign of Assur-bani-pal, c. 650 B.C., in which
there occurs a passage interpretable as pointing to the acceptance of 36
constellations: 12 northern, 12 zodiacal and 12 southern. These
constellations were arranged in three concentric annuli, the northern
ones in an inner annulus subdivided into 60 degrees, the zodiacal ones
into a medial annulus of 120 degrees, and the southern ones into an
outer annulus of 240 degrees. Brown has suggested a correlation of the
Euphratean names with those of the Greeks and moderns. His results may
be exhibited in the following form:--the central line gives the modern
equivalents of the names in the Euphratean zodiac; the upper line the
modern equivalents of the northern paranatellons; and the lower line
those of the southern paranatellons. The zodiacal constellations have an
interest peculiarly their own; placed in or about the plane of the
ecliptic, their rising and setting with the sun was observed with
relation to weather changes and the more general subject of chronology,
the twelve subdivisions of the year being correlated with the twelve
divisions of the ecliptic (see Zodiac).

+----------------+---------------+--------------------+
| Northern | Zodiacal | Southern |
+----------------+---------------+--------------------+
| Cassiopeia | Aries | Eridanus |
| Auriga | Taurus | Orion |
| Cepheus | Gemini | Canis major |
| Ursa minor | Cancer | Argo |
| Ursa major | Leo | Hydra Crater |
| Booetes | Virgo | Corvus |
| Serpentarius | Libra | Centaurus |
| Hercules | Scorpio | Lupus |
| Lyra | Sagittarius | Ara |
| Aquila | Capricornus | ? |
| Pegasus | Aquarius | Piscis australis |
| Andromeda | Pisces | Cetus |
+----------------+---------------+--------------------+

The Phoenicians--a race dominated by the spirit of commercial
enterprise--appear to have studied the stars more especially with
respect to their service to navigators; according to Homer "the stars
were sent by Zeus as portents for mariners." But all their truly
astronomical writings are lost, and only by a somewhat speculative
piecing together of scattered evidences can an estimate of th