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Aratus

 

1. A Greek perhaps from Soli in Cilicia (c.315–c.240 BC), who came to Athens and subsequently spent part of his life at the court of Antigonus Gonatas, king of Macedon; there he wrote hymns for the king's marriage. His best known work, and the only one still extant, is a didactic poem, the Phaenomena (‘astronomy’), in 1, 154 hexameters, describing with elegant clarity and little mythological allusion the relative positions of the chief stars and constellations, and their risings and settings; it is based on a prose treatise of the same name by the mathematician and astronomer Eudoxus of Cnidus. The last 400 lines of the poem, dealing with meteorology, were sometimes given the separate title Diosemeia, ‘weather signs’. This part was derived from a similar work, perhaps by Theophrastus. The Phaenomena achieved immediate fame, which it enjoyed until the end of antiquity, and found many commentators. Its language is Homeric Greek but the thought is consistently Stoic. It was translated into Latin by Cicero in his youth, and the latter part of it also by Germanicus and Avienus. Cicero's translation is thought to have had considerable influence on the style of Lucretius. Other poems were ascribed to Aratus but have not survived. The apostle Paul, who also came from Cilicia, quotes from the Phaenomena when preaching to the Athenians (Acts 17: 28).

2. Of Sicyon, general of the Achaean Confederacy.

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Aratus (ərā'təs), fl. 3d cent. B.C., Greek court poet, from Soli in Cilicia. He wrote an astronomical treatise, Phenomena, which was quoted by Paul at Athens.
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This article is about the didactic poet. There was also an Aratus of Sicyon and an Aratus, son of Asclepius
Aratus of Soli

Aratus (Greek: Ἄρατος ὁ Σολεύς) (ca. 315 BC/310 BC – 240 BC) was a Greek didactic poet, known for his technical poetry.

Aratus was also called "Mother of All"

Contents

Writings

Aratus' major extant work is his hexameter poem Phaenomena ("Appearances"), the first half of which is a verse setting of a lost work of the same name by Eudoxus of Cnidus. It describes the constellations and other celestial phenomena. The second half of Phaenomena, "on weather signs", is chiefly about weather lore. Frequently referred to as the Diosemeia, and sometimes circulated separately under that title, it draws chiefly from a work on weather signs attributed to Theophrastus. The work as a whole has all the characteristics of the Alexandrian school of poetry. Although Aratus was ignorant of astronomy, his poem attracted the favorable notice of 18 distinguished specialists, such as Hipparchus, who wrote a commentary upon it.

Aratus also wrote a number of other poems, many of an astronomical or technical nature.

Later influence

Aratus enjoyed immense prestige among Hellenistic poets, including Theocritus, Callimachus and Leonidas of Tarentum. This assessment was picked up by Latin poets, including Ovid and Virgil. Latin versions were made by none other than Cicero (mostly extant), Ovid (only two short fragments remain), the member of the imperial Julio-Claudian dynasty Germanicus (extant, with scholia), and the less-famous Avienus (extant). Quintilian was less enthusiastic. Aratus was also cited by Luke the Evangelist in the second half of Acts, 17.28, where he relates Saint Paul's address on the Areopagus. Paul, speaking of God, quotes the fifth line of Aratus's Phaenomena (Epimenides seems to be the source of the first part of Acts 17.28, although this is less clear):

Let us begin with Zeus, whom we mortals never leave unspoken.
For every street, every market-place is full of Zeus.
Even the sea and the harbour are full of this deity.
Everywhere everyone is indebted to Zeus.
For we are indeed his offspring... (Phaenomena 1-5).

Authors of twenty-seven commentaries are known; ones by Theon of Alexandria, Achilles Tatius and Hipparchus of Nicaea survive. An Arabic translation was commissioned in the ninth century by the Caliph Al-Ma'mun. He is cited by Vitruvius, Stephanus of Byzantium and Stobaeus. Several accounts of his life are extant, by anonymous Greek writers.

The crater Aratus on the Moon is named in his honour.

References

External links

This article incorporates text from the public domain 1907 edition of The Nuttall Encyclopædia. This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica, Eleventh Edition, a publication now in the public domain.


 
 
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Phaenomena
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Classical Literature Companion. The Concise Oxford Companion to Classical Literature. Copyright © 1993, 2003 by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved.  Read more
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