When was the 12 constellation introduced to China _ 12 constellation introduced to China?

When was the constellation 12 introduced to China?

The concept of "Zodiac" was introduced from Greece to India, and was introduced to China with Buddhist scriptures in the 6th century. The zodiac was named in Babylonian times. The Babylonians divided the whole zodiac into 12 segments from the vernal equinox, and each segment was called "Palace", and each segment was named after its own constellation, which was later spread by the ancient Greeks around A.D. ..

According to the records of Buddhist scriptures in China, the scriptures that first appeared in the zodiac are the Dafang Sutra of Mahayana Buddhism and other Japanese scriptures translated by Nellian Tiershe. It was in the Buddhist scriptures of the Sui Dynasty in the sixth century that there was a special "cultivation item": "In September, the god of archery is November, and the god of water is the moon. By the Ming and Qing Dynasties, the translated names of the zodiac were basically stable, except for "Yin and Yang Shi" and "Shuangnv", all the other names were exactly the same as the current names.

In ancient times, in order to determine the position of navigation, astronomical phenomena were observed during navigation, and the scattered stars in the sky were connected by imagination. Half of them are ancient names, and their naming methods are based on the myths and forms of ancient civilization. The other half is only named in modern times, usually with navigation instruments. In ancient times, due to different regions, the way of "Lian Guan" was not the same. 2 1 century, the world unified constellation map, which divides the sky into 88 regions and 88 constellations.

More than 2000 years ago, the Greek astronomer Herbax divided the ecliptic into 12 parts to mark the position of the sun on the ecliptic. The ecliptic is 0 degrees at the vernal equinox and every 30 degrees from the vernal equinox, named after the main constellations in the palace at that time.

It should be noted that the names of the zodiac are borrowed from the names of nearby constellations, just like the main branch of the China calendar, and the images of the zodiac are different from the actual constellations.