An anthropologist’s diagram of the Zodiac

A decorative table of the Zodiac, comparing the astronomical systems of the ancient civilizations, including the Egyptians, Greeks, Romans and Chinese, published in 'Memoire explicatif du Zodiaque chronologique et mythologique'. Charles François Dupuis (1742-1809) was a French anthropologist who believed that the signs of the zodiac were invented by the ancient Egyptians and served them as a sort of astronomical and agricultural calendar. On this basis he built up a thorough system of mythology and chronology, accounting for the origin of religions.