HISTORY ONLINE

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In antiquity the constellation Libra was known as the "Claws of the Scorpion."

Libra is a zodiacal constellation. It represents the balance or scales, and is one of the oldest constellations. Although now associated with Virgo, a goddess of justice who had scales as the emblem of her office, it was once associated with the fall equinox. On that day, the days and nights are of equal length (i.e. the moon and the sun are in balance).
Libra is represented in the heavens next to the hand of Virgo.

Libra, or the Scales, obviously dates back to the predecessors of the Greeks. The legend of this sign seems to originate in Egypt, where the Egyptian lord of the dead used a scale to weigh the souls of those who had died. Anubis is portrayed with the head of a jackal. He and his brother Apu-at watched over the two roads that led to the Underworld. Anubis would weigh the souls of the dead to determine their value based on what they had done on Earth.

Anubis sent worthy souls to the kingdom of Osiris, which was the equivalent of what the modern era refers to as Heaven. He could be seen as a benevolent deity in this respect. However, he could also be seen as a dark and terrible figure from whom there was no escape. His attribute, the scales, was a symbol of final judgement. It was only appropriate that the Greeks allowed them to retain their place and legend in the heavens.