Friday, December 08, 2006

Persian Zodiac

Taurus


Scorpio


Virgo


Sagittarius


Pisces


Libra


Leo


Gemini


Capricorn


Aquarius


Aries


Cancer


Demon


These images come form an egyptian manuscript from the 14th/15th centuries. It reproduces a persian astrological treatise from ~9th century - 'Kitâb al-Mawalid' - by Abû Ma'shar, said to have been the most influential document in the development of western astrology. [I believe it is otherwise known as 'The Book of Nativities' or 'The Book of Revolution of the Birth Years'.]

Although produced in Cairo, the manuscript illustrations were almost certainly by a persian artist. The 36 pages consist of a few devils or demons (last image above) together with horoscope zodiac figures - usually 3 illustrations per zodiac sign. [I removed all the library stamps and cleaned up - ever so slightly - a little of the background markings]

3 comments :

explotaexplotameexplo said...

Adoro este tipo de ilustraciones

Thank You.

Desavexando said...

thank you for research!

D said...

Wow! I had been looking for these for a long time! I had seen only one of them in a book a while ago, and was wondering what the whole thing looks like... Thank you so much!

Post a Comment

Comments are all moderated so don't waste your time spamming: they will never show up.

If you include ANY links that aren't pertinent to the blog post or discussion they will be deleted and a rash will break out in your underwear.

Also: please play the ball and not the person.

Note: only a member of this blog may post a comment.

 
Creative Commons License