Aratus

Aratus of Soli (3rd century bce) is the author of the Phaenomena, a hexameter poem of just over one thousand lines on constellations and weather signs, presented as clues to the will of Zeus. This work, combining interpretations of Hesiodic poetry with the material of astronomical and meteorological treatises, prompted numerous translations and commentaries within Antiquity and is a prominent model for didactic literature such as Virgil’s Georgics, Book 2 and Manilius’s Astronomica Book 1. Aratus’s acquaintance with Stoic ideas is apparent particularly in the Phaenomena’s introduction, which takes the form of a hymn to Zeus. The astronomical part of the poem may be subdivided into a map of the constellations followed by a description of star belts and how to estimate time from risings and settings; the second part, titled Diosemeiae in some manuscripts, is concerned with weather signs in nature and in animal behavior. Aratus was much praised by his contemporaries, but nothing survives of his other works, which included encomia, an anthology of “light verse,” didactic letters, and works on planets.