Marcus Manilius

Marcus Manilius (fl. 1st century AD) was a Roman poet, astrologer, and author of a poem in five books called Astronomica.

The Astronomica

Main article: Astronomica (Manilius)

The author of Astronomica is neither quoted nor mentioned by any ancient writer. Even his name is uncertain, but it was probably Marcus Manilius; in the earlier books the author is anonymous, the later give Manilius, Manlius, Mallius. The poem itself implies that the writer lived under Augustus or Tiberius, and that he was a citizen of and resident in Rome. According to the early 18th century classicist Richard Bentley, he was an Asiatic Greek; according to the 19th-century classicist Fridericus Jacob an African. His work is one of great learning; he had studied his subject in the best writers, and generally represents the most advanced views of the ancients on astronomy (or rather astrology).

Manilius frequently imitates Lucretius, whom he resembles in earnestness and originality and in the power of enlivening the dry bones of his subject. Although his diction presents some peculiarities, the style is metrically correct.

The astrological systems of houses, linking human affairs with the circuit of the zodiac, have evolved over the centuries, but they make their first appearance in Astronomicon. The earliest datable surviving horoscope that uses houses in its interpretation is slightly earlier, c. 20 BC. Claudius Ptolemy (c. AD 130 - 170) almost completely ignored houses (Templa as Manlius calls them) in his astrological text, Tetrabiblos.

Quotations

Speak that I might see you!

Еditions

• J. R. Bram (ed), Ancient Astrology: Theory and Practice. Matheseos Libri VIII by Firmicus Maternus (Park Ridge, 1975).
• Manilio Il poema degli astri (Astronomica), testo critico a cura di E. Flores, traduzione di Ricardo Scarcia, commento a cura di S. Feraboli e R. Scarcia, 2 vols. (Milano, 1996–2001).
• Wolfgang Hübner (ed.), Manilius, Astronomica, Buch V (2 Bde) (Berlin/New York: De Gruyter, 2010) (Sammlung wissenschaftlicher Commentare).

Studies

• Hermann, M. Metaforyka astralna w poezji rzymskiej (Kraków, 2007).
• Habinek, T. "Probing the Entrails of the Universe: Astrology as bodily knowledge in Manilius' Astronomica," in Jason König and Tim Whitmarsh (еds), Ordering Knowledge in the Roman Empire (Cambridge, 2007), 229-240.
• Caseau, B. "Firmicus Maternus: Un astrologue converti au christianisme ou la rhétorique du rejet sans appel," in D. Tollet (ed), La religion que j'ai quittée (Paris, 2007), 39-63.
• Volk, K. Manilius and his Intellectual Background (Oxford, 2009).
• Steven J. Green, Katharina Volk (ed.), Forgotten Stars: Rediscovering Manilius' Astronomica (Oxford, Oxford University Press, 2011).

External links

• The Astronomica of Manilius at The Latin Library
• Die Astronomica of Manilius at Opolska Biblioteka Cyfrowa
• A.E. Housman's introduction

This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. {{cite encyclopedia}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)