Zodiac Man

The Zodiac Man appeared most frequently in calendars, devotional Books of Hours, and treatises on philosophy, astrology, and medicine in the medieval era.

[1][2] The concept of the Zodiac Man dates to the Hellenistic era in which the earliest exposition appears in Manilius's Astronomica (II.

[5] The general system of zodiac signs relating to healing is thought to predate Manilius by several centuries and has been attributed to philosophers such as Pythagoras, Democritus, Aristotle, and Hermes.

This injunction was attributed to Claudius Ptolemy: "Membrum ferro ne percutito, cum Luna signum tenuerit, quod membro illi dominatur.

Europe was, at the time, required by law to calculate the moon’s positioning before taking action on a patient or any kind of medical procedure.

Over time leading into the Middle Ages, the belief of the Zodiac Man slowly faded out due to new scientific discoveries.

These figures are all using different models and although it is difficult to say if there is any direct relationship between all of these, they are all focused on the human body, which is a large factor in the Zodiac Man’s history.