Over almost four millennia, horoscopes have undergone an astonishing transformation: from royal state omens in ancient Babylon, via the personalised birth charts of Hellenistic scholars, to a digital lifestyle trend on Instagram and TikTok. The following timeline walks you through the key milestones.
As early as the second millennium BCE, priests compiled almost 7,000 celestial omens on the clay tablets of Enuma Anu Enlil, interpreting planetary gods such as Marduk/Jupiter for signs of harvest, war or weather.[1]
By c. 500 BCE they had divided the ecliptic into twelve equal 30° sectors—the prototype of today’s zodiac.[1]
Egyptians linked constellations with deities and animals, using the heliacal rising of Sirius as a reliable calendar marker for the Nile flood.[2]
After Alexander’s conquest (332 BCE), Babylonian planetary cycles fused with Egypt’s 36 decans, paving the way for individual natal horoscopes.[3]
The Babylonian priest Berossus established an astronomy school on Kos around 280 BCE, making horoscope techniques popular in the Aegean.[3]
Greek mathematicians fixed the twelve‑sign zodiac and codified planet‑to‑sign rulerships—summarised in Ptolemy’s Tetrabiblos (2nd century CE).[4]
Roman emperors, notably Tiberius, employed court astrologers such as Thrasyllus; soldiers and commoners also sought birth charts, while almanacs spread astrological lore.[5]
Between the 8th and 10th centuries, scholars in Baghdad translated Greek texts, refined trigonometry, and compiled precise astronomical‑astrological tables (zijes).[6] [7]
These works entered Europe via Toledo and Sicily from the 12th century onward, influencing university curricula and medical practice.
Astrology remained a core subject for physicians into the 16th century, but from about 1650 the empirical methods of the Scientific Revolution gradually pushed it out of academia.[8]
On 24 August 1930, the Sunday Express printed the first newspaper horoscope by R. H. Naylor to celebrate Princess Margaret’s birth—launching a global column format.[9]
Since the 2010s, astrology has boomed on Instagram, TikTok and podcasts; influencers like Chani Nicholas reach millions, while memes about “Mercury Retrograde” dominate social feeds.[10]
The history of horoscopes reflects cultural transfers and upheavals: from royal statesmanship to academic subjects to digital lifestyle accessories. Anyone who encounters today's zodiac interpretations thus looks at a heritage that has repeatedly adapted to new religious, scientific, and media paradigms—and is therefore so enduring.