Q 01/05

The word 'zodiac' comes from a Greek word meaning what?

A) Twelve houses

B) Path of the moon

C) Circle of the sun

D) Of little animals

Answer · why

D) Of little animals

Zodiac comes from the Greek zōidiakos kyklos, 'circle of little animals': zōidion is the diminutive of zōion, animal, fitting a ring of signs that are...

Q 02/05

Into how many equal signs is the zodiac divided along the ecliptic?

A) 10

B) 12

C) 13

D) 24

Answer · why

B) 12

The zodiac has 12 signs of 30° each, dividing the full 360° of the ecliptic into equal parts modelled on the months of an ancient lunisolar calendar.

Q 03/05

The zodiac and its 360-degree measurement originated with which ancient civilisation?

A) Greek

B) Chinese

C) Egyptian

D) Babylonian

Answer · why

D) Babylonian

The Babylonians divided the ecliptic into equal 30° signs during the first millennium BC, a 360° scheme rooted in their base-60 mathematics; Greek ast...

Q 04/05

What is the ecliptic?

A) The projection of Earth's equator

B) The line through the Milky Way's core

C) The orbit of the Moon around Earth

D) The Sun's apparent yearly path across the sky

Answer · why

D) 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 05/05

Because of precession, the March equinox point has moved from Aries into which constellation?

A) Gemini

B) Taurus

C) Pisces

D) Aquarius

Answer · why

C) Pisces

It shifts about one degree every 72 years, a full circle in roughly 26,000 years; Hipparchus is credited with discovering it.