Q 01/05

Which sign begins the astrological year at the March equinox?

A) Aries

B) Pisces

C) Libra

D) Capricorn

Answer · why

A) Aries

Its start, the First Point of Aries, drifts slightly each year because the equinox falls anywhere from 19 to 21 March.

Q 02/05

The word zodiac comes from a Greek phrase meaning what?

A) Twelve houses

B) Circle of little animals

C) Path of the Sun

D) Wheel of the heavens

Answer · why

B) Circle of little animals

Most of the signs are animals or mythical hybrids, hence the name.

Q 03/05

The division of the sky into twelve equal signs was devised by astronomers of which ancient civilisation?

A) China

B) Egypt

C) Greece

D) Babylon

Answer · why

D) Babylon

Modern calculations put the invention between 409 and 398 BC, during Persian rule, by analogy with twelve 30-day months.

Q 04/05

Which 2nd-century text by Ptolemy is regarded as the founding work of Western astrology?

A) De Divinatione

B) Tetrabiblos

C) Almagest

D) Timaeus

Answer · why

B) Tetrabiblos

It was translated into Latin by Plato of Tivoli in 1138 and shaped European astrology for centuries.

Q 05/05

Horoscopic astrology, with individual birth charts, was created in which city where Babylonian and Egyptian ideas met?

A) Athens

B) Antioch

C) Babylon

D) Alexandria

Answer · why

D) Alexandria

Alexander's conquest of Egypt in 332 BC put the two traditions side by side; the Egyptians contributed the 36 decans of ten degrees each.