Originally there were only four signs of the zodiac, each one marking a solstice or equinox. [In March,] there was the Bull, plowing up the heavens and the new year; the Lion, indicative of summer heat from the tropic regions where he lived; the Scorpion, whose claws curled around the autumnal equinox — the only one to get his name even partially from his looks — and the rainy season in the winter, when the man who held the watering pot tipped it too far toward the Earth, and the celestial river sprang forth. The other signs of the zodiac were marked later, probably under the influence of the lunar calendar which insisted on twelve of everything, but these four were the great signs, and they were destined to have a great history. The four brightest stars among them were called “royal” at the beginning. They were Aldebaran, Regulus, Antares and Fomalhaut. The symbols for the constellations were borne on the standards of the tribes of Israel as they marched through the wilderness: Judah had a lion; Reuben a man and a river; Ephraim a bull and Dan an eagle with a serpent.–Stephen and Margaret Ionides