ARIES

(Lat. the Ram.) The first constellation of the ancient zodiac. Aries also denotes the first sign or the first 30 degrees of the zodiac; the first point of Aries being the point in which the equator intersects the ecliptic, and from which the longitudes are reckoned. In ancient times the signs and constellations of the zodiac coincided; but owing to the prece ion of the equinoxes, the twelve signs go backward among the constellations, at the rate of about."JO" annually, and the first point of Aries is now situate in the constellation Pisces. Aries. In ancient Military Science, the Latin name of the battering ram, an instrument with an iron head used to batter and beat down the walls of besieged places. [s. 99]