Sheep god of fertility). Other deities occasionally shown with ram features include the goddess Ishtar, the Phoenician god Baal-Hamon, and the Babylonian god Ea-Oannes. In Madagascar, sheep were not eaten as they were believed to be incarnations of the souls of ancestors. There are many ancient Greek references to sheep: that of Chrysomallos, the golden-fleeced ram, continuing to be told through into the modern era. Astrologically, Aries, the ram, is the first sign of the classical Greek zodiac, and the sheep is the eighth of the twelve animals associated with the 12-year cycle of in the Chinese zodiac, related to the
Zodiac Man the limbs of the zodiacal sign") describing the subdivision of zodiac signs into dodecatemoria (signs within signs) suggests that The Zodiac Man (or Zodiac Animal, modified slightly to suit each sign) could also be associated with the idea of this "micro-zodiac". Overall, the idea of The Zodiac Man goes back thousands of years to Babylonia where the body was considered to work in tune with the heavenly bodies. 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. The Zodiac