Discovery of the Zodiac Man in Cuneiform

Abstract

Widely depicted in writings and drawings from ancient classical, medieval, and modern times, the Zodiac Man (Homo signorum) represents a roughly consistent correlation of zodiacal names with (human) body parts. Here, I announce the first discovery of the Zodiac Man in cuneiform writing and possibly its earliest attestation in the history of ideas. This Zodiac Man belongs to a hitherto misunderstood astrological table on a British Museum tablet (BM 56605), and its function in the table helps to clarify late Babylonian methods of medical astrology.