Scorpions as a symbol of war (by even non-astrologers)

Darth MI

This is something I meant to ask for a while.As someone who's been enamored by the military all his life and attempted to join several times but has been rejected, I am very familiar with military history. To clarify before going into details, I am a Scorpio dominant and my Lot of Armies is in Scorpio. My Mars maybe in Aquarius but according to traditional astrology, it is my Almuten (and Mars is the planet of war in Western astrology PERIOD).

Loooong before I got into astrology, I'd often notice the term "Scorpio" is often used for military related things.

Scorpio "Scorpion" was Latin according to the bible for Flagrum. Flagrum or more commonly as it was called, the scourge, was a tool used by the Roman military to discipline troops. One hit from it often left multiple scars.

The Romans even had a stationary crossbow called the Scorpio. It was used in sieges as an artillery weapon. Such was its speed and power that it could not only pierced through shields but it can also pierce through the strong armor of the time and wound soldiers directly. It was so effective as a projectile launcher even Julius Caesar described it as terrifying weapon.

The Sassinids (Persians in the period of the Roman Empire) had a nasty weapon called the Scorpion Bomb. Basically this was a ceramic vessel the size of the bowling bowl that was thrown against the enemy army. It would break and angry Scorpions inside it would come out and begin stinging foes to death. One town in what is modern Iraqi, Mosul, in particular used this to fight off the Roman Empire's legion.

Even in modern military, Scorpio and Scorpion are common names for military vehicles. Sweden even has a unit called "Task Force Scorpion" which is intended to counter biological warfare.

Many fictional military stories, particularly games like Command and Conquer and Warhammer, commonly have tanks that are titled with Scorpio or Scorpion in their name. Hell one of Command and Conquer's major faction, the Brotherhood of Nod, uses the Scorpion as its flag and general logo!

Throughout history Scorpions have been used as a symbol of war and in military analogies. As far as the Ancient Greeks, Scorpions were described as representation of military might and how terrifying war goes and later cultures including the Romans, medieval Muslims, and so on often dubbed someone as "Scorpio" or Scorpion if their prowress in war was of the utmost calibre. In Sparta there were a large number of Spartans who used the Scorpion as their shield's painting and family banner.

When I was first getting into astrology and I learned I had Scorpio Ascendant I was shocked beyond words about Scorpio's interest in warfare and the military. It totally described me! Particularly about the military being the classic Scorpio profession and Scorpio's worship of the military as a sacred cow and the fascination with military tactics, strategem and general military science.

In all cultures that uses the basic Babylonian zodiac as its basis from Hellenistic Astrology to Renaissance and even the distinctly different Vedic astrology, Scorpio is seen as the sign of warfare and militarism and all describes soldiering as a classic Scorpio occupation (yes even Vedic) though the extent of fascination varies from system to system.

I have to note though the use of the Scorpio motif as a banner of war was by people who were so unfamiliar with astrology they didn't even know what a Capricorn was. No one in the modern military who develops tanks can even tell you what their Sun Sign is and nothing in historical texts indicates Spartans who used Scorpions as a shield painting or generals who were dubbed Scorpion or military theorist who use the Scorpion for the military axioms had any idea of who the big names in astrology were in their time, let alone knew what sign their Ascendant was and likely couldn't even name the Zodiac in order.

So I have to ask why is Scorpion such an animal so associated with war even people who never heard of what astrology is use it as a symbol for militarism? Has astrology unconsciously influenced pop culture (specifically military) with the Scorpio motif?