50 free zodiac trivia questions with answers. The zodiac is older than horoscopes and stranger than star signs. This zodiac trivia quiz covers all twelve Western signs, their symbols, elements, modalities and ruling planets, and the myths behind them, from the Nemean lion and the Dioscuri to Ganymede and Astraea. It also covers the astronomy: the ecliptic, the Babylonian 30-degree divisions, MUL.APIN, Ptolemy's Tetrabiblos, precession and why the 'first point of Aries' is now in Pisces, and the recurring fuss over Ophiuchus. The Chinese zodiac gets its due too: the Jade Emperor's race, the 60-year cycle and Vietnam's cat. So does the history of horoscopes, from Cicero calling it pseudoscience to R. H. Naylor's 1930 column on the newborn Princess Margaret. Astrology is described here as a tradition, not endorsed as fact. About a third of the questions are for anyone who knows their sign, a third for people who know their rising sign, and the rest for those who can name the star at the scorpion's heart. Every answer is checked against a cited source shown under the question.
30 of 50 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01The word 'zodiac' comes from a Greek word meaning what?
Of little animals
Zōidion is the diminutive of zōion, animal, reflecting how many signs are beasts or hybrids.
Q 02Into how many equal signs is the zodiac divided along the ecliptic?
12
Each occupies 30° of celestial longitude; the Babylonians set it up by analogy to twelve 30-day months.
Q 03The zodiac and its 360-degree measurement originated with which ancient civilisation?
Babylonian
It reached Greek astronomy by the 2nd century BC via Eudoxus and later shaped the Hindu zodiac.
Q 04What is the ecliptic?
The Sun's apparent yearly path across the sky
The zodiac is the band about 8° either side of it, where the planets also travel.
Q 05Because of precession, the March equinox point has moved from Aries into which constellation?
Pisces
It shifts about one degree every 72 years, a full circle in roughly 26,000 years; Hipparchus is credited with discovering it.
Q 06Which star catalogue, compiled around 1000 BC in Mesopotamia, did the zodiac draw on?
MUL.APIN
Some constellations go back further still: Gemini was already 'The Great Twins'.
Q 07Which 2nd-century work by Ptolemy laid the basis of Western astrology?
Tetrabiblos
The Almagest was his astronomy; the Tetrabiblos, 'four books', is its astrological companion.
Q 08The Dendera zodiac, the first known depiction of the twelve signs, comes from which country?
Egypt
Horoscopic astrology itself first appeared in Ptolemaic Egypt.
Q 09Which is the first sign of the zodiac?
Aries
The Sun enters it at the March equinox, typically March 21; it is a cardinal fire sign ruled by Mars.
Q 10What animal represents Aries?
Ram
The Latin ariēs simply means ram; the Hindu equivalent is Meṣa.
Q 11Which planet rules the second sign, the bull?
Venus
Taurus is a fixed earth sign ruled by Venus; the Moon is said to be exalted there at exactly 3°.
Q 12Which three signs make up the earth element?
Taurus, Virgo, Capricorn
Cancer, Scorpio and Pisces are water; Aries, Leo and Sagittarius fire; Gemini, Libra and Aquarius air.
Q 13Gemini is represented by which mythological twins?
Castor and Pollux
The Dioscuri; the Babylonians already called the two stars the Great Twins.
Q 21What is the opposite sign of Aquarius?
Leo
Aquarius is ruled by Saturn in traditional astrology and Uranus in modern astrology.
Q 22Which figure from Greek myth did the Aquarius water carrier come to represent?
Ganymede
To the Sumerians and Babylonians the figure was originally the god Enki.
Q 23The astrological symbol for the twelfth sign shows two fish joined by what?
A string
Pisces's fish are, in classical interpretation, the ichthyocentaurs who helped Aphrodite when she was born from the sea.
Q 24Which sign is twelfth and last in the zodiac?
Q 14What is the ruling 'planet' of the fourth sign, the crab?
The Moon
It is the cardinal water sign, most often drawn as a crab, though lobsters, crayfish and even turtles have appeared.
Q 15In Greek myth, Zeus placed Leo in the sky to commemorate which of Heracles' labours?
The Nemean lion
Egyptians called the constellation Knem and worshipped it because it rose during the Nile flood.
Q 16Virgo is associated with which figure from Greek mythology?
Astraea
The last immortal to abandon Earth at the end of the Silver Age.
Q 17Which is the only zodiac sign represented by an inanimate object?
Libra
The scales belong to Themis, Greek personification of sacred law; Libra shares Venus with Taurus.
Q 18According to Greek myth, why does the constellation Orion set just as Scorpius rises?
A giant scorpion stung him to death
Orion was killed by the scorpion, so the two are never in the sky together; Scorpio is a fixed water sign.
Q 19Which sign completes the fire trigon with Aries and Leo?
Sagittarius
The archer is also the fourth mutable sign, after Pisces, Gemini and Virgo.
Q 20Capricorn is ruled by which planet?
Saturn
In India the Sun's entry into Capricorn is celebrated as Makara Sankranti in mid-January.
Pisces
It spans 330° to 360°, with the Sun passing through from about February 19 to March 20.
Q 25Which constellation has been proposed as a '13th sign' of the zodiac?
Ophiuchus
Steven Schmidt proposed it in 1970 in a 14-sign zodiac that also added Cetus; the Sun sits in front of it from about November 29 to December 18.
Q 26Which body did Schmidt and Berg suggest as the ruler of their proposed 13th sign?
Pluto
The 13-sign idea took off in Japan in the 1990s via Walter Berg and Mark Yazaki.
Q 27What does it mean to be 'on the cusp' in astrology?
Arriving as the Sun straddles two signs
The solar disc is about half a degree wide, so it can genuinely sit across the boundary at the moment of birth.
Q 28How long is an astrological 'age', such as the Age of Aquarius, said to last?
About 2,160 years
One 25,920-year precession cycle divided by twelve; the Age of Aquarius follows the Age of Pisces.
Q 29The Chinese zodiac assigns an animal to each what?
Year
It repeats every twelve years, combined with ten Heavenly Stems into a 60-year cycle.
Q 30Which animal traditionally comes first in the Chinese zodiac?
Rat
Legend says it won the Jade Emperor's race, then Ox, Tiger, Rabbit, Dragon, Snake, Horse, Goat, Monkey, Rooster, Dog and Pig.