 Images of the decans are described in Hermetic writings, by the Indian astrologer Varāhamihira, in the Picatrix, and in Japanese writings.Varāhamihira's images of the decans was influenced by Greco-Egyptian, if not Hermetic, depictions of the decans by way of the Yavanajataka.Their role in Japanese astrology may have derived from an earlier Chinese or Indian form possibly from adding the twelve animals of the Chinese zodiac to a list of twenty-four hour stars.