Aquarius

A representation of Aquarius printed in 1825 as part of Urania's Mirror

Aquarius (♒; Ancient Greek: Ὑδροχόος, romanized: Hydrokhóos, Greek and Latin for "water-bearer") is the eleventh astrological sign in the Zodiac, originating from the constellation Aquarius.

Under the tropical zodiac, the Sun is in the Aquarius sign between about January 21 and about February 20, while under the sidereal Zodiac, the sun is in Aquarius from approximately February 15 to March 14, depending on the leap year.

The ruling planets of Aquarius are Saturn (in traditional astrology alongside Capricorn), and Uranus (in modern astrology). It is a fixed air sign. The opposite sign of Aquarius is Leo.

Mythology

Detail of the Adda Seal, (ca. 2300 BCE) depicting Enki with water streams coming from his shoulders.

Mesopotamian Mythology

The water carrier represented by the constellation Aquarius was originally Enki (Akkadian Ea) to the ancient Sumerians and Babylonia. Aquarius is identified as GU.LA "The Great One" in the Babylonian star catalogues and represents the god Ea himself, who is commonly depicted holding an overflowing vase.

The Babylonian star-figure appears on entitlement stones and cylinder seals from the second millennium. It contained the winter solstice in the Early Bronze Age. In Old Babylonian astronomy, Ea was the ruler of the southernmost quarter of the Sun's path, the "Way of Ea", corresponding to the period of 45 days on either side of winter solstice. Aquarius was also associated with the destructive floods that the Babylonians regularly experienced, and thus was negatively connoted.

Detail of Aquarius from the Dendera zodiac (ca. 50 BC)

Ea was depicted as a god of freshwater, responsible for controlling the waters of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. This association with water likely contributed to Aquarius's subsequent portrayal as a Water Bearer in later civilizations.

Egyptian Astrology

In Ancient Egyptian astronomy, Aquarius was associated with the annual flood of the Nile; the banks were said to flood when Aquarius put his jar into the river, beginning spring. He was often depicted as pouring water of the Nile from two large urns. Hapi was the cause of the annual flooding of the river, which ensured the fertility of the land. Hapi was depicted as androgynous--a male god with breasts. The urns represented good fortune. Aquarius may have also been associated with Sobek due to him being also associated with the Nile.

Aquarius from the Syntagma Arateorum, print by Hugo Grotius (1600)

In the Dendera zodiac, Aquarius is represented as the flood god Hapi, holding two vases which gush water.

Greco-Roman Tradition

The water carrier represented by the zodiacal constellation Aquarius is Ganymede, a beautiful Phrygian youth. Ganymede was the son of Tros, king of Troy (according to Lucian, he was also the son of Dardanus). While tending to his father's flocks on Mount Ida, Ganymede was spotted by Zeus. The king of gods fell in love with him and flew down to the mountain in the form of a large bird, whisking Ganymede away to the heavens. Neighboring Aquila represents the eagle, under Zeus' command, that snatched the young boy. Ever since, the boy has served as cupbearer to the gods. Ovid has Orpheus sing the tale in Book X of his Metamorphoses.

Aquarius is sometimes associated with Deucalion, the son of Prometheus who built a ship with his wife Pyrrha to survive an imminent flood. They sailed for nine days before washing ashore on Mount Parnassus. Yet another figure associated with the water bearer is Cecrops I, a king of Athens who sacrificed water instead of wine to the gods.

Kumbha Rāśi, Kumbh Mela from Jantar Mantar, Jaipur, India. 18th century CE.

Hindu astrology

In Hindu (Vedic) astrology, Aquarius is known as Kumbha Rāśi (कुम्भ राशि), representing the symbol of a water pot. Kumbha is ruled by the planet Shani (Saturn) and is considered a fixed, air sign. It is associated with qualities of innovation, humanitarianism, and persistence, similar to Western interpretations, but its predictive role is rooted in the sidereal zodiac system.

The Kumbha Rāśi plays a key role in individual horoscopes (Janma Kundali), compatibility (Kundali Milan), and in timing rituals (Muhurta). Kumbha is also associated with the Kumbha Mela, which happens when the planet Brihaspati moves into Aquarius.

In the Hindu zodiac, Kumbha means "water-pitcher" and is associated with the goddess Ganga, the personification of the river Ganges. The birth story of the goddess Ganga and how she descended to earth is told in the Bhagavata Purana. It seems that while Vishnu was measuring the universe, he pierced a hole through the cover, and the water of the "Causal Ocean" poured through the hole and became the Ganges. Bathing in the Ganges is believed to wash away sins and bring you closer to liberation.

Constellation

The constellation Aquarius as it can be seen by the naked eye

Aquarius is a winter constellation in the northern hemisphere, found near Pisces and Cetus. It is especially notable as the radiant for four meteor showers, the largest of which is the Delta Aquarid meteor shower in late July and early August.

Aquarius is one of the oldest of the recognized constellations along the zodiac (the Sun's apparent path). It was one of the 48 constellations listed by the 2nd century astronomer Ptolemy, and it remains one of the 88 modern constellations. It is found in a region often called the Sea due to its profusion of constellations with watery associations such as Cetus the whale, Pisces the fish, and Eridanus the river.

At apparent magnitude 2.9, Beta Aquarii is the brightest star in the constellation.

Despite both its prominent position on the zodiac and its large size, Aquarius has no particularly bright stars, its four brightest stars being less bright than magnitude 2.8 . (The Apparent Magnitude scale is reverse logarithmic, with increasingly bright objects having lower and lower (more negative) magnitudes.) Recent research has shown that there are several stars lying within its borders that possess planetary systems.