The Year of the Snake is here! But how did a legendary tale of twelve animals shape Chinese astronomy and culture for over 3,000 years?In this episode of The Ancients, Tristan Hughes is joined by Professor John Steele from Brown University to dive into the origins of the Chinese Zodiac to mark the Chinese New Year. They uncover how this ancient zodiac, associated with 12 animals, ties into Chinese astronomy and philosophy. Professor Steele explains the intricate cycles of 12 earthly branches and 10 heavenly stems that form a 60-year pattern deeply embedded in Chinese culture. Discover the mythical origins, the influence of lunar calendars, and the evolution of this zodiac from the Shang dynasty to today. Presented by Tristan Hughes. Audio editor is Aidan Lonergan, the producer is Joseph Knight. The senior producer is Anne-Marie Luff.Theme music from Motion Array, all other music from Epidemic SoundsThe Ancients is a History Hit podcast.Sign up to History Hit for hundreds of hours of original documentaries, with a new release every week and ad-free podcasts. Sign up at https://www.historyhit.com/subscribe. You can take part in our listener survey here.
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2025 welcomes the year of the snake, the sixth animal of the 12 at the heart of the Chinese zodiac. If you are born a snake, you are considered mysterious yet charismatic, calm yet determined. To many, it's all just fun superstition. Regardless, knowing your Chinese zodiac animal symbol and what it represents has become incredibly popular with people across the world.
It's part of your identity, a fun fact to share with friends. If anyone wants to know, I'm a rat and couldn't be prouder. But this is a tradition that has endured for more than a millennia. So how exactly did this zodiac come about? How did it relate to wider ancient Chinese astronomy and philosophy, their lunar calendar? And why these particular 12 animals? It's The Ancients on History Hit.
I'm Tristan Hughes, your host. Today, as Chinese New Year approaches, we're exploring these ancient origins of what is arguably the most famous part of that festival, the Chinese Zodiac. Our guest today is Professor John Steele from Brown University, an expert on ancient astronomy and lunar calendars. Now, John, he has a particular interest in ancient Babylonian astronomy.
Think their own famous zodiac featuring names like Capricorn, Aries, Leo, Sagittarius, and so on. An episode we'll no doubt do in the future. But John has also studied astronomy in ancient China and how they divided up time into cycles of 60 years.
It's a cycle that has its roots in ancient Chinese history, more than 3,000 years old, and heavily features the 12 animals that represent the Chinese zodiac today. We're going to be exploring it all, lots of detail and information coming your way, and I hope you enjoy. John, it is a pleasure to have you on the podcast today.
Pleasure to be here. Thanks for inviting me.
Now, everyone loves a Zodiac, and it feels especially true this time of year, with particularly the Chinese Zodiac. But no such thing as a silly question, what exactly is the Chinese Zodiac?
Yeah, I mean, it's not a silly question. It's actually not a simple question either, because it's kind of a misnamed concept. I mean, the zodiac in its technical meaning is a division of the path of the sun into 12 equal parts. So as we think of the Earth in the centre of the universe, as we view it, we have the sun moving around us and the moon and the planets moving around us.
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