zona

Latin · noun

Edited by: Kierán Meinhardt
Last edited: 2026-10-14

Meanings

1. zone

2. belt

Literal translation

belt

1. zone

1.a zone spatial, terrestrial

division of the inhabited portion of the Earth

Harum quinque zonarum quae media est, corusci Solis incensa luminibus et sempiterni ardoris adustione torrida ignito colore perpetui ruboris inficitur.

‘Of those five zones the one in the middle is always burned by the gleaming sun and parched by the burning of sempiternal heat, is stained by the fire-hot color of perpetual redness’

— Firmicus Maternus, Mathesis 1.10.4

Genre: astrological compendium Provenance: Sicily Date: ca. 334 CE

Firmicus Maternus. 1897. Ivlii Firmici Materni Matheseos Libri VIII, ed. W. Kroll, F. Skutsch. Stuttgart: B. G. Teubner. 1.34-35

1.b zone astronomical term, spatial

in the sky

Cancer ad aestivae fulget fastigia zonae extenditque diem summum parvoque recessu destruit et, quanto fraudavit tempore luces, in tantum noctes auget: stat summa per omnis.

‘Gleaming in summer’s topmost circle, Cancer prolongs the day to its greatest length and then shortens it in retreating by small degrees, increasing night by the amount which it stole from day: for the sum of day and night remains constant.’

— Manilius, Astronomica 3.625 ff

Genre: astrological treatise

Manilius. Astronomica. Edited and translated by G. P. Goold. Loeb Classical Library 469. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1977. 214-215

2. belt

2.a belt astronomical term, spatial,

zodiacal belt

sex tanta rotundae efficiunt orbem zonae, qua signa feruntur bis sex aequali spatio texentia caelum

‘six of these lengths make up the circle of the round belt, where move the twelve signs which weave in equal lengths the pattern of heaven’

— Manilius, Astronomica 1.554 ff

Genre: astrological treatise

Manilius. Astronomica. Edited and translated by G. P. Goold. Loeb Classical Library 469. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1977. 48-49

Cite this entry

APA (7th)

Meinhardt, K. (2026). zona (Lemma #1742). The ZODIAC Glossary: A Cross-Cultural Glossary of Ancient Astral Science. https://zodiacglossary.github.io/lemma/1742/

Chicago (Author-Date)

Meinhardt, K. (2026). zona (Lemma #1742). The ZODIAC Glossary: A Cross-Cultural Glossary of Ancient Astral Science. https://zodiacglossary.github.io/lemma/1742/

MLA (9th)

Meinhardt, K. (2026). zona (Lemma #1742). The ZODIAC Glossary: A Cross-Cultural Glossary of Ancient Astral Science. https://zodiacglossary.github.io/lemma/1742/

Harvard

Meinhardt, K. (2026) zona (Lemma #1742), The ZODIAC Glossary: A Cross-Cultural Glossary of Ancient Astral Science. Available at: https://zodiacglossary.github.io/lemma/1742/ (Accessed: November 5, 2026).

BibTeX

@misc{zodiac1742,
	note = {[Online; accessed 2026-11-05]},
	author = {Meinhardt, Kierán},
	year = {2026},
	title = {zona ({Lemma} #1742)},
	url = {https://zodiacglossary.github.io/lemma/1742/},
	howpublished = {https://zodiacglossary.github.io/lemma/1742/},
}