Historically, there were basically 2 aspects of fundamental astrological consideration: solar and lunar.
The golden path of the ecliptic was connected with the solar: this is also the path of all of the planets. Either the starry constellations along this path, or the division of space into 12 directions (12 equal divisions of the circle of the sky), were applied as the underlying influence: these were the 12 constellations (out of the observable 22) chosen by, for example, Vedic astrology; or the 12 equal divisions of the circle of the sky (12 directions of space) chosen by the later Egyptians, followed by the Greeks, and forming the basis of the tropical zodiac.
The other historical fundamental aspect of astrological understanding was the path of the Moon. This was always-as far back as documented history goes-sidereal: stars or small groups of stars (asterisms) gave their influence through the Moon passing in front of them. In very ancient China (1000 BC at the latest, from documentation) there were 28 such "stations", called by the Chinese "palaces" (hsiu); it is believed by most astrological historians (eg, David Pingree) that the 28 nakshatras (pretty much covering the same sky areas as the Chinese hsiu) predated the introduction of the solar ecliptic-referenced starry constellations into Vedic astrology (generally jyotish considers only 27 nakshatras, one being applied only to prasna-horary-delineations) Ancient Arabia had the same Lunar/starry astrological system, which they referred to as the 28 "manzils", famous up through medieval European times as the "Mansions of the Moon".
So, basically-from the historical perspective-essentially 3 fundamental outlooks have existed regarding this matter:
1) Signs of the zodiac as equal divisions of the directions of space/circle of the sky
2) Solar path, ecliptic-referenced constellations of the zodiac (anciently reduced from 22 observable starry constellations-or 19 constellations before which all of the ancient 7 planets passed-down to 12 constellations)
3) Moon centered astrology, sidereal in essence, with its 28 star/star-group areas of the sky before which the Moon passes in the course of its monthly flight: ie, the sidereal Lunar Zodiac (an excellent reference to this Lunar Zodiac, its history and its practical applications-outside of Vedic astrology-is to be found in Volguine's book, "Lunar Astrology")