Libra means ‘The Scales’ or ‘Balance’, so named because when the zodiac was still in its infancy, some four thousand years ago, the sun passed through this constellation at the autumnal equinox (21 September). At the two equinoxes (Spring and Autumn) the hours of daylight and darkness are equal. As a symbol for equality, the constellation came to represent Justice in several middle Eastern cultures. However, the Greeks had a different perspective; at one time Scorpius, which lies just to the east, was much larger, and the stars that make up Libra were then known as the Claws of the Scorpion.
1822/London