{"id":16374,"date":"2014-08-02T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2014-08-02T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/leithart.level2d.com\/?p=1289"},"modified":"2014-08-02T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2014-08-02T00:00:00","slug":"age-of-ram-age-of-fish","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/2014\/08\/age-of-ram-age-of-fish\/","title":{"rendered":"Age of Bull, Age of Ram"},"content":{"rendered":"<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC \"-\/\/W3C\/\/DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional\/\/EN\" \"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/TR\/REC-html40\/loose.dtd\">\n<html><head><meta http-equiv=\"content-type\" content=\"text\/html; charset=utf-8\"><meta http-equiv=\"content-type\" content=\"text\/html; charset=utf-8\">\n<\/head><body><p>Giorgio de Santillana (<a href=\"http:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Hamlets-Investigating-Origins-Knowledge-Transmission\/dp\/B004ELO098\/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&amp;ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1406739464&amp;sr=1-2&amp;keywords=hamlet%27s+mill%20tag=leithartcom-20\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">Hamlet\u2019s Mill<\/a>, 59-60) gives a brief description of the sun\u2019s precessional \u201cyear\u201d as it moves through the constellations of the Zodiac:<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe sun\u2019s position among the constellations at the vernal equinox was the pointer that  indicated the \u2018hours\u2019 of the precessional cycle \u2013 very long hours indeed, the equinoctial  sun occupying each zodiacal constellation for about 2,200 years. The constellation that  rose in the east just before the sun (that is, rose heliacally) marked the \u2018place\u2019 where the  sun rested. At this time it was known as the sun\u2019s \u2018carrier,\u2019 and as the main \u2018pillar\u2019 of the  sky, the vernal equinox being recognized as the fiducial point of the \u2018system,\u2019 determining  the first degree of the sun\u2019s yearly circle, and the first day of the year.\u201d\u00a0Thus, \u201cat time Zero (say, 5000 B.C. . .), the sun was in Gemini; it moved ever so slowly from Gemini into  Taurus, then Aries, then Pisces, which it still occupies and will for some centuries more.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Specifically: \u201cThe advent of Christ the Fish marks our age. It was hailed by Virgil, shortly before <em>Anno  Domini<\/em>: \u2018a new great order of centuries is now being born. . .\u2019 which earned Virgil the strange title of prophet of Christianity. That\u2019s not all: \u2018The preceding age, that of Aries, had been  heralded by Moses coming down from Mount Sinai as \u2018two-horned,\u2019 that is, crowned with  the Ram\u2019s horns, while his flock disobediently insisted upon dancing around the \u2018Golden  Calf\u2019 that was, rather, a \u2018Golden Bull,\u2019 Taurus.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>I\u2019m suspicious of his chronology, but if his dating is accurate, the exodus was not only from Egypt, but from the age of the Bull into the age of the Ram. Eery.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Giorgio de Santillana (Hamlet\u2019s Mill, 59-60) gives a brief description of the sun\u2019s precessional \u201cyear\u201d as it moves through the constellations of the Zodiac: \u201cThe sun\u2019s position among the constellations at the vernal equinox was the pointer that indicated the \u2018hours\u2019 of the precessional cycle \u2013 very long hours indeed, the equinoctial sun occupying each [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3021,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[961],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-16374","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-ancient-astronomy"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v21.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Age of Bull, Age of Ram<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Giorgio de Santillana (Hamlet&rsquo;s Mill, 59-60) gives a brief description of the sun&rsquo;s precessional &ldquo;year&rdquo; 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