Aries

Also called the ram, ♈

Mesopotamian constellations; the printed glyph is medieval

Aries meaning

Aries is the first sign of the zodiac, the ram, where the sun sits at the March equinox in the tropical system. The ram picture is ancient. The printed glyph ♈ is a medieval shorthand, not a Babylonian diagram.

♈U+2648

The first slice of the sun’s year, drawn as a ram.

Where it comes from

The band of the ecliptic was divided so the sun would have a house for each month. Mesopotamian star lists already knew a ram here. Greeks called it Krios. Tropical astrology still starts Aries at the March equinox even though precession has moved the stars. The glyph — two curls, like horns — is a manuscript and printer’s convention.

Astrology

A month, then a temperament

The agricultural use is a place on the sun’s path. Hellenistic and later astrology turned that place into a temperament: heat, onset, the head of the body. A tattoo chart that says only “leadership” has kept the temperament and dropped the sky.

Near this

Sources

Mesopotamian and Greek constellation lists
Tropical astrology’s equinox convention, distinct from the stars now behind it

Named when the entry depends on a text, a date, or a standard. Catalog numbers are not invented.

Your margin

Private. It stays in this browser and never joins the canon.

symbol.wiki, edited as Sigilla. Last reviewed 2 October 2026. A reading of public tradition, not a ruling.