Aratus: Phaenomena

by Douglas Kidd, Douglas Kidd (Editor)

Aratus of Soli was a highly original poet of the early third century BC, famous throughout antiquity for his poem on constellations and weather signs, and imitated by later Greek and Latin poets. This volume presents for the first time in English an edition of the poem with a full introduction, a facing translation and a line-by-line commentary. The text is based on a new reading of the manuscripts, including one not used before. The work provides a valuable basis for further research on Aratus and on Hellenistic poetry in general.

Genres: Poetry, Classics, Ancient History

616 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 277

Reviews

[Mike · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sometimes I stumble on wonderful surprises while browsing a library or looking for one particular work and finding another. I was reading texts on Callimachus when I first saw Aratus’ name mentioned. When I saw the Phaenomena at the library, I decided to pick it up. Who would have thought that a poem describing the night sky and the natural world’s connections to weather patterns would be so engaging? This text celebrates the meeting of ancient poetry, astrology, astronomy, meteorology, geography, and animal biology.

Aratus describes the swirling night sky in language that flows: from star to star, from constellation to constellation, from dusk to dawn to dusk, and from hemisphere to hemisphere. I could close my eyes and almost see the star patterns take shape. His language is not flowery or verbose, but he paints the night sky with the eye of a keen observer. (This is despite all the footnotes which listed all the contemporaries and later scholars who disputed some of his observations and descriptions! I found these insights to be more humorous than anything else. Whether due to poetic license or just mistaken observations, Aratus’ errors can be forgiven because his passion shines through.)

The final section on meteorological patterns and animal responses to changes in weather ranged from silly old folk tales to quite accurate observations of natural phenomena. This was a pleasant surprise that makes me want dig deeper into Greek astrological/astronomical writings.

[giorgia carli · Rating 5 out of 5]

un piccolo gioiellino✨

[Anders · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pretty good. I only gave a cursory scan of the commentary which makes up the majority of this...commentary. But from what I read of it, it seemed just fine. I found the intro informative; not thoroughly, but not excessively either. It has some nice comments about the cultural milieu and the style. I really picked this up to have a quick read through of the translation with the Greek facing, which I'd say this book performed that task completely. The translation is prose which doesn't stay true to the hexameters but I think it turns out fine. I've heard it's hard to translate Aratus' succinct yet flowing style into verse in English, but I also hear Poochigian gives it a decent go--perhaps I will find that in my future.

As for the poem itself, the Hellenistic use of epic is great and makes me nostalgic for Homer and Hesiod. At times the innovation can be blinding. The proem is great--Stoic invocation to Zeus and the Muses. Then a large chunk of how to spot constellations with a tad bit of etiological myth (The Maiden-Justice brings up Hesiod's age of metals myth, Orion and the Scorpion) and didactic elements dusted on top. Then there's a boring section about the axes that all the constellations are positioned on and how they revolve. And the last bit is about how you can predict the weather from sky signs but also animal behavior and more didacticism. Overall a fun, short read. Impress your friends with knowledge of this Hellenistic new age Stoic Hesiod! Everyone in the Roman world loved him; Vergil, Ovid, and Cicero all did translations. And, famously, Germanicus also did a Latin translation. He even (likely) was copied by none other than the foremost pastoral poet of the Hellenistic Period, Theocritus. Scholars say that he was born with a lyre in his hands and at the age of 5 he defeated Callimachus (who was also a five year old) in a Hellenistic battle of poetry. uh-RAY-tus

[Alp Kantoğlu · Rating 5 out of 5]

A must read book to understand the latest works on astronomy and astrology of Greeks and Romans.

[Vasilis Kanatas · Rating 5 out of 5]

Aratus was the first ever poem writer of antiquity that's describing the 48 ancient Constellations and most prominent stars in his famous poem "Phenomena".

[Francisco Vazquez · Rating 5 out of 5]

Muy buena traducción de un tema llena de tecnicismos griegos antiguos

[Santiago González · Rating 5 out of 5]

Una de éstas sorpresas positivas que uno no espera encontrar.

Los Fenómenos de Arato son un poema bastante bonito sobre astronomía, aunque con bastantes toques religiosos, que tuvieron una influencia muy grande y fue estudiado hasta por cristianos (4/5*)

Los Introducción a los fenómenos de Gémino son un texto relativamente raro que hasta hace poco apenas fue traducido, llegaron a ser conocidos como una introducción a Ptolomeo. Me ha parecido muy interesante, discute temas curiosos que me han parecido muy guays, más allá del típico contenido de constelaciones que ignoro. (4.5/5*)

Además hay un par de breves fragmentos de resúmenes de Proclo bastante valiosos en mi opinión (4.5/5*)

No me esperaba encontrar algo tan interesante en una obra relacionada con la astronomía, tema que ignoro y no me interesa particularmente. Recomendado

[Red · Rating 3 out of 5]

Eridanus, River of many tears

[Lecy Beth · Rating 5 out of 5]

In this ancient text, Aratus basically outlines the skies, describing the constellations and other celestial bodies and sharing their stories, beginning with Zeus himself. This was a nice combo of learning about the zodiac and getting to read more ancient poetry.