Aries is a sign of the zodiac. Represented by the ram. It is a northern constellation of 156 stars, of which fifty are visible. It is the first of the twelve signs in the zodiac, which the sun enters at the vernalequinox, about the 21st of March. The first point in Aries is that where the equator cuts the ecliptic in the ascending node, and from which the right ascensions of heavenly bodies are reckoned on the equator, and their longitudes upon the ecliptic. Owing to the precession of the equinoxes the sign Aries no longer corresponds with the constellation Aries, which it did 2000 years ago. Research Aries
The zodiac was the name given by the ancient Greeks to the heavens. It was an imaginary belt in the celestial sphere, extending about 80 degrees on either side of the ecliptic, the apparent path of the Sun among the stars. The width of the zodiac was determined originally so as to include the orbits of the Sun and Moon and of the five planets (Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn) that were known to the people of ancient times.
The zodiac is divided into 12 sections of 300 degrees each, which are called the signs of the zodiac. Starting with the vernalequinox and then proceeding eastward along the ecliptic, each of the divisions is named for the constellation situated within its limits in the second century BC. The names of the zodiacal signs are Aries, the Ram; Taurus, the Bull; Gemini, the Twins; Cancer, the Crab; Leo, the Lion; Virgo, the Virgin; Libra, the Balance; Scorpio, the Scorpion; Sagittarius, the Archer; Capricorn, the Goat; Aquarius, the Water Bearer; and Pisces, the Fish. Because of the precession of the equinoxes about the ecliptic, a 26,000-year cycle, the first point of Aries retrogrades about 10 degrees in 70 years, so that the sign Aries today lies in the constellationPisces. In about 24,000 years, when the retrogression will have completed the entirecircuit of 3600, the zodiacal signs and constellations will again coincide.
It is believed that the zodiacal signs originated in Mesopotamia as early as 2000 BC . The Greeks adopted the symbols from the Babylonians and passed them on to the other ancient civilisations. The Egyptians assigned other names and symbols to the zodiacal divisions. The Chinese also adopted the 12-fold division, but called the signs rat, ox, tiger, hare, dragon, serpent, horse, sheep, monkey, hen, dog, and pig. Independently, the Aztec Indians devised a similar system. Research Zodiac
The Elliottdale is a carpet-wool breed of sheep which was developed at the Elliott Research Station in Tasmania. Development of the breed commenced in 1963 when the CSIRO made available a ram which was the progeny of a New Zealand Drysdale ram and a Merino/Border Leicester cross ewe. It was later discovered that this ram did not possess the gene for carpet-wool characteristics and work continued based on locating sheep with the carpet- wool gene in the TasmanianRomney flocks. This was achieved in 1968. Development of the breed continued using a base flock of pure Romneyewes, many showing some carpet-wool characteristics. By 1972 it was considered that top selected rams were breed true and that the breed had become fixed in type. The Elliottdale is similar to the Romney, with cleaner points and a carpet-wool fleece of 38-40 microndiameter. Rams may be horned or polled but ewes are always polled. The breed also has many prime lamb features, producing quick growing lambs of excellent quality. Research Elliottdale
The Waldschaf sheep of Germany is a member of the dual-coated landrace. A direct descendent of the Bavarian Zaupelschaf, it is a very old breed that used to be wide spread. It is a small, robust, and frugal landrace, with a calm disposition, high fecundity, and a non-seasonal breedingcycle. It can be bred twice a year and twins are the norm. The breed has delicate limbs and hard hoofs. The head is straight, but can be slightly curved on the ram. Ears stick out sideways or hang slightly. Research Waldschaf
The Wiltshire horn is an ancient British breed of sheep from the ChalkDowns region of England. Reaching large numbers during the 17th and 18th centuries, they became almost extinct by the beginning of the 20th. Wiltshire Horn Sheep were exported to Australia in the 1950's and again in the 1970's. Both rams and ewes are horned. Ewes have a fairly short backward curving horn. Rams horns make a spiral loop each year till they're fully mature, getting thicker and more impressive each year. Occasionally these horns grow too snugly to the rather massive adult jaw and must be cut off. Both sexes are white, with occasional dime-sized black spots in the undercoat. They grow a heavy coat of coarse hair for the winter, shedding and rubbing it off as warm weather arrives leaving a short coat of straight hair for summer. The mature ram wears a most handsome 'cape' on his chest. Spring shedding starts at the head, going down the back and then the sides. Research Wiltshire Horn
Charles Ellet was an American civil engineer who designed the first wire- cable suspension bridge in the USA, in 1842. He was born in 1810 at Pennsylvania and died in 1862. He also designed the world's first long-span wire-cable suspension bridge, crossing the Ohio River at Wheeling, West Virginia. He began his career as a surveyor and assistant engineer on the Chesapeake and OhioCanal in 1828. In 1831 and 1832 he was in Europe, enrolled at the Ecole Polytechnique in Paris and studied the various engineering works taking place in France, Germany, and Britain. For his first wire-cable suspension bridge, over the Schuylkill River at Fairmount, Pennsylvania, Ellet introduced a technique he had learned in France of binding small wires together to make the cables. The central span of the suspension bridge over the Ohio River was at 308 meters the longest ever built when it was completed in 1849. The bridge failed under wind forces in 1854; however, Ellet's towers remained standing and the bridge was rebuilt.
Following the outbreak of the American Civil War in 1861, Ellet produced a steam-powered ship for the Union forces to ram the Confederates on the Mississippi River and in June 1862, led a fleet of nine of these rams in the Battle of Memphis. The Union side was victorious, but in the course of the fighting Ellet was fatally wounded. Research Charles Ellet
Ammon was an ancient Egyptian god. He was depicted as a human with a ram's head or simply with the horns of a ram. He was one of the chief gods, and was adopted by the Greeks as Zeus and the Roman's as Jupiter.There was a celebrated temple of Ammon in the Oasis of Siwah in the Libyan desert. Research Ammon
In Egyptian mythology, the Crio-sphinx is a sphinx with the head of a ram, as distinguished from the andro-sphinx with a human head and the hieraco-sphinx with the head of a hawk. Research Crio-Sphinx
Cybele was the Great Mother and fertility goddess of the Phrygians and later the Greeks and Romans. Cybele lived in the wild and dangerous regions of the earth and ruled the fiercest of animals. She was said to enable her followers to be reborn after death into a new life. A black stone was sacred to Cybele. At annual celebrations to Cybele a chariot drawn by lions was driven through the streets of Rome, and at her rites the priests would beat and castrate themselves with whips decorated with knuckle bones in frenzies of passion. The rites were accompanied by the sacrifice of a bull or ram, its blood pouring from above over the priest. Research Cybele
The Probert Encyclopaedia was designed, edited and programed by
Matt and Leela Probert
Abbreviations
Research Aries
