While the Babylonians made rapid progress in agricultural technique and astrology, similar advances were taking place in China and India. They were using a vertical stick known as the gnomon, to caculate the distances between the Sun, Moon, and the planets by measuring the length and direction of the shadow it cast on earth. By a systematic study of the planetary configurations and the arrival of monsoons and other weather conditions, they were able to predict the proper time for planting and harvesting. Although this knowledge was common to all the four ancient civilizations, the earliest records of astrological details were those made by the Babylonians. During the eighth century B.C.they made use of clay tablets to record astronomical and astrological data by pressing leaves with symbolic shapes and signs into the clay tablets. They lay buried for centuries until archaeologists discovered them in the nineteenth century. They throw light on their knowledge of astronomy and their way of life. They divided their year into four parts marked by the four major solar events. The Spring equinox, Autumn equinox, the Winter solstice and the Summer solstice. The months were determined by the phases of the moon and the days by the sighting of the moon and its setting and not by the rising and setting of the sun, as it is done now.

During the sixth century B.C.Greek intellectuals like Herodotus, the philosopher and Pythagoras, the mathematician, went to Babylonian and returned with valuable information about the equinoctical and solstical points, lunar measurements, the constellations of the zodiac and the construction of individual horoscopes. After the Greeks conquered Babylonia and established their empire there in the fourth century B.C. they had full access to the astronomical knowledge of the Babylonians which they combined with their own theories. It was during this period that the stars and planets became defined and distinct qualities and characteristics were attributed to each of them. Astrology branched off as a separate system leaving astronomy to continue with its calculations and measurements and mundane predictions of seasons, eclipses and so on.