LIBRA

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Astraea was the last of the gods to stay on Earth, as mankind became wicked, she ascended to heaven to become the constellation Virgo; the Scales of Justice she carried became the nearby constellation Libra. Originally the Greeks saw the Scales of Balance as being the claws of the Scorpion. Read what writers on mythology have said about Astraea on this Theoi Project webpage "They named Libra from the equal balance of this month because on September 24 the sun makes the equinox while running through this sign. Whence Lucan also says (Civil War 4.58): To the scales of just Libra” [The Etymologies of Isidore of Seville, 7th century AD, p.106.] The word Libra, from Latin libra, plural librae, Greek lithra, a weighing scale, is related to the words: level, lira, deliberate, equilibrium (from æquus, equal + libra), litra (name of a Greek weight and coin), litre (liter, a metric unit of volume)", librate (land worth a pound a year, the word used to mean; to vibrate as a balance; to be in equipoise; to waver between one thing and another). The process of librating or swinging from side to side is spoken of as libration.