The Zodiac Man in Armenian Tradition

Sargsyan, Anush · 2025

In the Armenian tradition the zodiac signs are tied to parts of the body and to geographical regions, a doctrine descending from Paul of Alexandria and from a work attributed to Anania Shirakatsi. Between the twelfth and fourteenth centuries these texts were absorbed into Armenian calendrical and astronomical compendia and their commentaries. Western Zodiac Man iconography was then taken into the Armenian tradition, where tomar manuscripts often present it as double-page compositions showing both the astrological and geographical dimensions. Sargsyan shows the zodiac signs in these diagrams generally follow Islamic iconographic models, since Armenian prognostic literature was heavily influenced by Islamic tradition, with independent European examples adopted later.

Citation checked against the publisher's record on 2026-07-13.