Although the ecliptic plane was unmoving and firmly defined as viewed against the background of the fixed stars - and thus also against the celestial equator - the observer was fixed on the surface of the moving Earth, creating the illusion for him of a serpentine path of the Sun and the moving stars (planets). Had the stars seen him he would describe a serpentine path.

The precessional 'wobble' would over the millenia create another illusion for the Earth-based observers, viz. that the fixed stars (and the ecliptic) were moving later and later in the year as defined from the cardinal points of the Sun:

A further complication was the fact that the angle of obliquity was slowly changing, creating a slow but now real serpentine path:

Therefore Marfik in Serpentarius would have been at the equinox of SEPTEMBER 22 (265, *185) at the same time as the Sun and Antares:

	*181
*ALDEBARAN (68)**		*ANTARES (249)**
MARCH 25 (84)		SEPT 22 (265 = 329 - 64)
May 28 (148 = 84 + 64)		*MARFIK (249)**
*Day 280 = OCTOBER 7 (200) = SEPTEMBER 22 (265) + 15. 80 days = 40 weeks. Day 314 (π) = NOVEMBER 10 (234) = SEPTEMBER 22 (265) + 49 (7 weeks). 314 (π) - 265 (SEPTEMBER 22) = 49 → 249 - 49.*

Hevelius has illustrated Serpentarius in a way which hides the waist of the Serpent. But in the Olmec version we can see that the Serpent here had to twist around in order to followe the sinus curve:

265 (SEPTEMBER EQUINOX) - 314 / 2 = 265 - 157 = 108.

... It is known that in the final battle of the gods, the massed legions on the side of 'order' are the dead warriors, the 'Einherier' who once fell in combat on earth and who have been transferred by the Valkyries to reside with Odin in Valhalla - a theme much rehearsed in heroic poetry. On the last day, they issue forth to battle in martial array. Says Grimnismal (23): 'Five hundred gates and forty more - are in the mighty building of Walhalla - eight hundred 'Einherier' come out of each one gate - on the time they go out on defence against the Wolf.' That makes 432,000 in all, a number of significance from of old.

This number must have had a very ancient meaning, for it is also the number of syllables in the Rigveda. But it goes back to the basic figure 10,800, the number of stanzas in the Rigveda (40 syllables to a stanza) [40 * 270 = 10800] which, together with 108, occurs insistently in Indian tradition, 10,800 is also the number which has been given by Heraclitus for the duration of the Aiōn, according to Censorinus (De die natali, 18), whereas Berossos made the Babylonian Great Year to last 432,000 years.

Again, 10,800 is the number of bricks of the Indian fire-altar (Agnicayana). 'To quibble away such a coincidence', remarks Schröder, 'or to ascribe it to chance, is in my opinion to drive skepticism beyond its limits.'

Shall one add Angkor to the list? It has five gates, and to each of them leads a road, bridging over that water ditch which surrounds the whole place. Each of these roads is bordered by a row of huge stone figures, 108 per avenue, 54 on each side, altogether 540 statues of Deva and Asura, and each row carries a huge Naga serpent with nine heads. Only, they do not 'carry' that serpent, they are shown to 'pull' it, which indicates that these 540 statues are churning the Milky Ocean, represented (poorly, indeed) by the water ditch, using Mount Mandara as a churning staff, and Vasuki, the prince of the Nagas, as their drilling rope. (Just to prevent misunderstanding: Vasuki had been asked before, and had agreeably consented, and so had Vishnu's tortoise avatar, who was going to serve as the fixed base for that 'incomparably mighty churn', and even the Milky Ocean itself had made it clear that it was willing to be churned.) ...

But M107 between Antares and Marfik suggests the equation 364 + 107 = 471 = 314 * 1½ = number of glyphs on the G tablet.

... Another name for Mercury was Hermes and Hermes Trismegisthos (thrice-mighty) could have referred to the fact that there were 3.141 * 115.88 = 364.0 days for the cycle of the Earth around the Sun. Although the calendar has 365 days for a year this is due to the fact that the Earth has to turn around an extra day in order to compensate for how the direction to the Sun changes during a year ...