TAURUS- THE BULL

ZODIAC- TAURUS- THE BULL 

By C.J. BLAKE

THE Chaldeans had amongst them stories of some of the things of which we have the record in our own Scriptures. It appears from their curious writings, which have come down to us, that they had heard of the tree of knowledge in the Garden of Eden, and of the temptation of the first man and woman, and that they had also some account of Noah's Flood.
They did not write in books but on cylinders and tiles, formed by burnt clay, and marked with some sharp pointed instrument. After being buried under the earth for thousands of years, many of these writings have been discovered, dug up, and sent to London to the British Museum. Though they looked like a mere heap of fragments of broken brick. covered with scratches and marks. they were found by Mr George Smith, a very clever man, who sorted them and learned to read them, to be written all over with words, full of meaning. 

The buildings of the Chaldeans were of brick like the cylinders and tiles, upon which they wrote. Some of them were raised extremely high, built up storey upon storey, till they formed lofty towers. On the tops of the towers were the observatories, from which the priests, who were also the men of science, watched the movements of the stars. The second sign they chose for the Zodiac, was that of Taurus, the Bull. The bull, as well as the ram, was considered a sacred animal. Images of winged bulls were placed at the gates of palaces and temples, and were supposed to protect kings in their palaces, and worshippers in the temples, and to keep out wicked and ill-disposed persons.

The Egyptians too, another very great and ancient nation, knew of the Zodiac, and used the twelve signs, together with a similar division of time to that employed by the Chaldeans. The early Egyptians lived a very happy and peaceful life their country; their country was fruitful, and they employed themselves in cultivating the ground, and rearing large numbers of sheep and cattle.

These people had at first true and pure thoughts about religion; they believed in God. and reverenced all living creatures, even insects, because life was in them, and life could only come from God. Especially they held cattle sacred, and paid extreme honour to the bull. They were therefore at one with the Chaldeans in choosing Taurus, the Bull, as the second of the heavenly signs.  

The mark, employed to denote the sign of Taurus, is still used by astronomers, as you may see, if you at an astronomical globe or chart, when you have the chance.  

References:

Chatterbox 1903