Glossary F

Founder Constellation. Any of the four principal constellations of what was later to become the zodiac. They are the Bull, the Lion, the Scorpion and the Water–Pourer whose heliacal risings in Mesopotamia around 4000 BCE marked the spring equinox, the summer solstice, the autumn equinox and the winter solstice, respectively. Roughly speaking they are situated 90° away from each other and formed the principal 'compass points' in the ancient sky at the start of civilisation.